The International Commission on Planetary Atmospheres and their Evolution (ICPAE) provides a focus for research on atmospheres of planetary objects. It is one of the ten commissions of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS), which is in turn part of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG).
A commission of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS)
ICPAE has three primary functions:
- to promote scientific work into the field of planetology in general and of the atmospheres found in the planetary systems in particular by maintaining liaison among active research workers. ICPAE is essentially devoted to all aspects of our current understanding of all planetary, cometary and satellite atmospheres and their evolution (including the Earth, when considered as a member of the Solar System).
- to organize symposia on ICPAE subjects at the biannual meetings of IAMAS.
- to co-ordinate contacts and exchanges among related associations such as the Division of Planetary Sciences (DPS of AAS), the European Geophysical Union (EGU), the Asian-Oceanian Geophysical Society (AOGS), etc and to co-sponsor meetings and workshops during the Assemblies.
ICPAE also fosters international cooperation in research into the science of the planetary atmospheres, defined loosely as covering all objects in our solar system with a gaseous envelope (even tenuous). In addition to holding its biennial meetings in conjunction with IUGG, IAMAS or IAGA, ICPAE sponsors or cosponsors other meetings and workshops (see above). ICPAE may also help organise a number of working meetings/workshops to facilitate cooperation in particular areas (such as for instance the study of the planetary atmospheres by space missions, or in the framework of comparative planetology).