About IAMAS

A brief overview

The atmosphere - the very thin gaseous envelope around the Earth - protects life on our planet, moves ceaselessly to distribute heat, water and many constituents between poles and equator, from oceans to continents, and constitutes THE global player for weather and climate. The IAMAS signet symbolizes the vertically stacked atmospheric layers, including the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere. These layers encircle schematic cloud structures linked to extratropical cyclones in both hemispheres separated by the inter-tropical convergence zone, as it might be seen from a geostationary satellite in plan-view.

For 90 years, IAMAS has been one of the Scientific Associations of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), being focused on providing the scientific community with platforms to present, discuss and promote the newest achievements in meteorology, atmospheric science and related fields. IAMAS also facilitates and coordinates research that requires international cooperation, especially through its ten Commissions and one Committee (abbreviations & links to their separate homepages in the page header above). In addition to the biennial scientific assemblies of IAMAS, the commissions organise a wide range of scientific meetings, all of which are open to scientists from around the world.

All Commissions, and IAMAS as a whole, play a leading role in the global communication and discussion of latest research results. Scientists from many countries serve on a voluntary basis as presidents and secretaries for all these bodies. Their cooperation forms an important supplement and extension to research activities and applications overseen by the National Meteorological Services under the umbrella of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.