Prof. Michel Menvielle

Prof. Menvielle of the French magnetic observatory was awarded an International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy long service medal for his extensive and sustained contributions to IAGA and geomagnetism.

Prof. Menvielle was the French national delegate to IAGA for a number of years, and served on IAGA's Executive Committee from 1995 to 2003, during which time he translated the statutes and by-laws into French. He has also served on its Resolutions Committee several times, again taking responsibility for the French translation. He was a valuable Local Organising Committee member for the 2005 Scientific Assembly in Toulouse.

The International Service of Geomagnetic Indices (ISGI), of which Prof Menvielle has been Director since 1988, keeps definitive digital and digitised records of IAGA-endorsed indices and geomagnetic events, many of which now have very long homogenous series. Some indices were introduced by Prof Menvielle, and the K-index is now produced automatically based on his analysis of methods recommended by IAGA. Ready access to these long time series, which he facilitated, is important, for example, to select data for IGRF candidate modelling. Another service provided by IGSI is near real time indication of magnetic activity. Its importance is recognised by membership of the ICSU World Data System. Prof Menvielle's other scientific interest is electromagnetic induction, where his contributions include algorithms applicable to planetary induction studies from orbiting and lander magnetometers, and research into the coast effect and the utility of ocean bottom magnetotelluric measurements. He has led several working groups and ad hoc committees, and convened or co-convened many scientific sessions and workshops, on both electromagnetic induction (including joint inversion of electromagnetic, geodetic and seismic data) and geomagnetic indices. He has been a proponent of satellite missions to the Earth and other terrestrial planets to measure and characterize their magnetic field environments, as well as for induction studies. Related to this he has recently been studying the thermosphere response to geomagnetic activity forcing, in order to develop a new thermospheric model that allows an accurate estimate of aerodynamic braking.