A Joint GGOS/IAU Science Workshop “Observing and Understanding Earth Rotation” was held during Oct 25–28, 2010 at Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. It was organized by both the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) and the Commission of Earth rotation of the International Union of Astronomy (IAU).

There were about 90 scientists from 12 countries participated. 53 presentations, including 2 posters, were made with following topics:

1. Earth rotation measurement techniques,

2. Earth rotation analysis and prediction,

3. Excitation by surface geophysical fluids,

4. Excitation by non-fluid processes, and

5. Integrating earth rotation, gravity, and shape measurements into a global geodetic observing system.

This joint Science Workshop provided a forum for assessing our current ability to observe the Earth’s time varying rotation, for assessing our current understanding of the causes of the observed variations, for assessing the consistency of Earth rotation observations with global gravity and shape observations, for exploring methods of combining Earth rotation, gravity, and shape observations to gain greater understanding of the mass load acting on the surface of the solid Earth, and for identifying improvements in the global geodetic observing system needed to further our understanding of the Earth’s variable rotation. 

During the workshop, a field trip was organized to visit Sheshan station of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory.

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