This report represents a summary of events as recorded by E. Rohling and none of the information is binding. An official record will be held at the international IMAGES office, and any recommendations are subject to approval by the ExCom.

The meeting started with general statements, approval of the Sapporo SciCom and San Francisco ExCom meetings, the report of the chairman (Bill Curry, WHOI) and that of the executive director (Michael Sarnthein, Kiel). The budget was discussed next. The rough outcome of all this is that the IMAGES office is running well, with a new and enthusiastic/involved data manager, that the chair has now fully familiarised himself with the requirements, and that there was a successful search for the new location of the IMAGES head office (more below). The budget that was presented was approved. It is sound, and leaves some room for the office to support travel for participation of 4 young scientists to IMAGES cruises. Several commitments for (partial) support to IMAGES workshops were included in the projections. A number of countries had voluntarily increased, by varying amounts, their annual contributions to IMAGES from the standard US$10k. The UK is contributing the standard US$10k per year, and its payment for 2001 has been received. The 2002 contribution is still outstanding (This statement was updated 22-01-2003, based on info from central IMAGES office). The UK has a high involvement in IMAGES activities. Given this level of participation, the committee requested that an increase in the UK contribution would be considered, as for several other “richer” nations, up to possibly US$ 14k per year. I will bring this up in discussions with NERC.

Next we discussed the National annual activity reports. All countries represented had brought a report. I reported that since taking over the UK office there have been individual bits of information coming in, but that a comprehensive integration of information did not yet exist. An important problem in the UK is the large number of groups with IMAGES-related activity, and the haphazard way in which IMAGES issues are discussed between the groups. I suggested that a key issue in the correct representation of the wide-ranging UK IMAGES participation of the UK is that we have a UK IMAGES meeting, where all IMAGES participants (and interested parties) come together to discuss such issues as the level of participation, a strategy for reporting our activity, highlighting major discoveries from IMAGES work, and possibly organising future exploits. Also, we need to evaluate the link between IMAGES and RAPID, especially since our financial budget is now held under the RAPID  programme. I have contacted NERC about this possibility; they asked for suggested dates and mentioned that the request for (partial) support would need approval from RAPID (the budget holder). I welcome you input on this!

I reported to the SciCom that I have started an improvement in the dissemination and collation of UK IMAGES information by setting up the current website (NB. You are all invited to mail information to me for a NEWS section - think about up to 2 pages incl. possible figures). The website will be the focus for information exchange leading to the development of our annual activity reports.

The biggest item on the agenda came next: potential links between IMAGES and IODP. IMAGES considers the RV Marion Dufresne and the CALYPSO corer as a potential component of the multiple mission-specific platforms of the European component of IODP. Discussions to date have been leading to mutual misunderstandings, and we drew up a strategy to approach IODP on a completely fresh basis. I have passed on the gist of this proposal to David Flavey, who I was informed is the UK rep on IODP ExCOm. More as the story develops.

Thereafter, several scheduled, ongoing and recent working groups and cruises were reported on, as well as the development of an international IMAGES brochure.

The next big item was on the future location of the IMAGES head office. Only one offer had been received. Ralf Schneider at Bremen offered to take charge of the international office from next year. This was discussed, some (mostly financial) conditions were decided, and Bremen was phoned to discuss these. They were agreed upon, and the SciCom passed a recommendation that the office should indeed move from Kiel to Bremen.

The data management was next, and the overall consensus was that with the new enthusiastic and involved data manager, things are looking very good. There is a good level of organisation now, and the integration with global data centres is in an advanced state.

There was a vote on the composition of ExCom and the list of scientific experts for consultation, and both lists underwent changes that will be made available through the head office.

Future meetings were planned. Next ExCom meeting at the EGS-AGU conference in Nice (April 2003); next SciCom on 6-7 Dec 2003 in association with the AGU fall meeting in San Francisco (meeting); an open ExCom meeting at the Open Science Conference of IGBP-PAGES in Bejing in March 2004; and the following SciCom at the 6-10 Sept 2004 ICP meeting in Biarritz.

End of meeting.
 

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