ALAGE: Latinamerican Association of Space Geophysics
The Asociación Latinoamericana de Geofísica Espacial (ALAGE) was created in 1993. It is a scientific autonomous society that attempts to motivate the development of research in Space Geophysics, taking advantage of the human resources and the cultural unity, as well as the similar economic conditions of Latin America. ALAGE seeks to complement the activities of the existing regional geophysical and astronomical organisms.
One of the main activities of ALAGE is the periodical organization of meetings that are attended by most of the scientists working in the ALAGE areas of interest: the middle and high atmosphere, the ionosphere, the magnetosphere, the interplanetary medium, the cosmic rays, the planets, satellites, minor planets and small bodies, the Sun and the Solar-terrestrial relations. These meetings are called Conferencia Latinoamericana de Geofísica Espacial (COLAGE). Up to now we have organized nine of them in different Latin American countries. The COLAGE meetings have been attended each time by few hundreds of scientists and graduate students not only working in Latin America but also from all over the world.
Another important activity of ALAGE is the Bulletin, it is the way in which we communicate relevant information from our countries. Until now, we have elaborated 34 bulletins.
At almost 25 years of the first COLAGE meeting, we have reached a wide recognition in Latin America and also in several other countries outside the region. We have incorporated by now almost all the researchers working in the region, counting at present with 149 active members. Therefore, we are the Association that effectively represents most of the Space Physics research carried out in Latin America.
SUMMARY OF COLAGE MEETINGS
The First COLAGE was organized from the 21rst to the 25th of november of 1988, in Águas de Lindóia, São Paulo, Brazil. Was sponsored by the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE). It was attended by 125 participants, who presented 85 contributions in the differente areas of interes of the ALAGE. There were 25 invited speakers from Asia, Europe, Latin America and USA.
The Second COLAGE was organized from the 7th to the 11th of june of 1991 in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Was sponsored by the Instituto de Geofisica of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The meeting coincided with the solar total eclipse of the 11th of june observed in the central part of Mexico. It was attended by 110 participants who presented 80 contributions. Nearly 80 works were published in a special volumen of Geofísica Internacional, a journal belonging to the SCI. There were 12 invited speakers from Asia, Europe, Latin America and USA
The Third COLAGE was organized from the 1rst to the 5th of de november of 1993 in La Habana, Cuba. It was sponsored by the Academia de Ciencias and the Centro de Convenciones Pedagógicas of the Ministerio de Educación de Cuba. There were 68 contributions that were published in the cuban journal “Ciencias de la Tierra y del Espacio” of international circulation. There were 9 invited speakers from Europe, Latin America and USA. During this COLAGE, all the participants decided to create the Asociación Latinoamericana de Geofísica Espacial (ALAGE), as a way of collaboration among all Space Physics researchers working in Latin America. The document with the objectives and statutes is found in the ALAGE web page under the title RESOLUTION OF THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE III LATINAMERICAN CONFERENCE ON SPACE GEOPHYSICS.
The Fourth COLAGE was organized from the 22th to the 26th of april of 1996 in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. It was sponsored by the Laboratorio de Ionosfera of the Instituto de Física de la Facultad de Ciencias y Tecnología of the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. There were 75 contributions, also, there were 21 invited speakers from Asia, Europe, Latin America and USA.
The Fifth COLAGE, was organized from the 3rd to the 7th of november of 1998 in San José de Costa Rica, Costa Rica. It was sponsored by the University of Costa Rica. There were 127 contributions, as well as 14 invited speakers from Europe, Latin America and USA.
The Sixth COLAGE was organized from the 1rst to the 5th of october of 2001 in Concepción, Chile. It was sponsored by the Academia Chilena de Ciencias, Universidad de Bío-Bío, Universidad de Concepción, Universidad de Chile and Universidad de Santiago de Chile. There were 135 contributions and 80 participants. Many of these works were published in Geofísica Internacional, that belongs to the SCI. There were two plenary conferences: Dynamic trapping of electrons in collisionless space plasmas (C.G. Fälthammar, from Sweden) and Ulysses Mission (B. Tsurutani, USA) and two invited speakers: Present status of magnetometers and digisonde observations in Peru (Oscar Veliz, Peru) and Upper atmosphere research at INPE (B. Clemesha, Brasil).
The Seventh COLAGE was organized from the 29th february to the 2nd of march of 2004 in Atibaia, Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was sponsored by the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) of Brazil. There were 148 participants and 216 contributions. Many of these works were published in the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, belonging to the SCI. Also, there were 30 invited speakers from Asia, Europe, Latin America and USA.
The Eight COLAGE, was organized from the 11th to the 17th of july of 2007 in Mérida Yucatán, México. It was sponsored by the Instituto de Geofísica and other dependences of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) and the Centro Latinoamericano de Física (CLAF). There were 122 participants, 46 students and 76 researchers, 191 contributions, and 15 invited speakers from Asia, Europe, Latin America and USA. A new activity was included in this meeting: the Second Latinamerican School in Space Geophysics, aimed at graduate students and posdocs. The teachers were: Dr. Mario Acuña (NASA, USA), Dra. Inéz Batista (INPE, Brazil), Dr. Rainer Schween (Max Planck, Alemania), Dr. Akira Kadokura.(Polar Research Institute, Japan) , Dra. Cristina Mandrini (IAFE, Argentina). The were 50 participants: 47 graduate students and 4 posdocs.
The Nineth COLAGE was organized from the 4th to the 8th of april of 2011 in Punta Leona, Costa Rica. It was sponsored by the Centro de Investigaciones Espaciales (CINESPA) and the Planetario de San José of the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de Costa Rica (CONICIT), Centro Latinoamericano de Física (CLAF) and Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). There were 110 participants, 31 students and 79 researchers, and a total of 132 contributions. There were 28 invited speakers from Asia, Europe, Latin America and USA. Many of these works have been submitted for publication to Advances in Space Research, in a special volume “Advances in Theory and Observation of Solar System Dynamics”. Also the Advanced School of Space Environment (ASSE) was carried out, aimed to graduate students and posdocs. The teachers were: Dr. María Josefina Olascoaga, Dr. Merav Opher, Dr. Bruce Tsurutani (USA), Dr. Jorge Chau (Peru), Dr. Daniel Gómez (Argentina), Dr. Fernanda São Sabbas (Brazil), Dr. Juan Valdivia (Chile), and Dr. Gaetano Zimbardo (Italy). There were 45 participants, 39 students and 6 posdocs.
The Tenth COLAGE will be held in 2013 in Peru.
COLAGE AWARDS
The ALAGE has two awards: Ruth Gall and Roberto Manzano.
The Ruth Gall Award is presented to a distinguished researcher that does not work in any Latinamerican institution but that has collaborated in an outstanding way with more than one Latinamerican research group.
The Roberto Manzano Award is given to the best works presented at the COLAGE meetings with graduate students as main authors.
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