Regional Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe


Regional Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe is the sub-commission of the International Association of Geodesy, part of the Sub-Commission 1.3, under IAG Commission 1.
EUREF deals with the definition, realization and maintenance of the European Geodetic Reference Frame. The goal of EUREF is to establish a unified geodetic datum and a consistent network of reference stations throughout Europe. EUREF was founded in 1987 at the IUGG General Assembly held in Vancouver.

Mission

EUREF is driven by a voluntary agreement of scientific organisations and national geodetic/geographic agencies of the member countries, who are willing to replace their legacy national geodetic datums with a unified European Reference Frame and join their national networks of reference stations into a common European network. The mandate of EUREF is to foster and coordinate the activities of the member countries, which are financed and managed on the national level. EUREF realizes and maintains ETRS89, the European geodetic datum, which is to become a single datum used for geodetic applications in all the member countries. A key instrument in maintaining ETRS89 is the EUREF Permanent Network, a network of reference stations which covers the European continent. EUREF is also working on the European Vertical Reference System, which goal is to determine a unified dm-level accurate geoid model and gravity-referenced height system throughout Europe. EUREF coordinates its activities with EuroGeographics.

Structure

The activities of EUREF are discussed and decisions are taken at the annual symposium. The last symposia have been attended by more than 120 participants coming from about 30 member countries of Europe. The results of EUREF are available in the symposia proceedings, which contain the presented scientific papers as well as national reports, resolutions and documentation. Current activities are led by the Governing Board, formerly Technical Working Group, which is elected at the symposia and is meeting three times a year to manage current activities. The minutes of the GB meetings are published online together with the symposia proceedings.

Projects

There are several projects under development at EUREF.