Summary of Initial COLAGE and the complete List of Meetings

Every three years the ALAGE organizes the Latin American Conference on Space Geophysics (COLAGE), which brings together researchers and students from all Latinoamerica. The objective is the exchange of knowledge and the promotion of multinational projects. The last XII COLAGE was held online in Puerto Varas, Chile, from 22-26 of November 2021. In order to illustrate the history of the COLAGE meeting, we present in the following a brief summary of the previous meetings.

The First COLAGE was organized from the 21st to the 25th of November of 1988, in Águas de Lindóia, São Paulo, Brazil. During this meeting, representatives from the most significant research groups in Space Science from Latin America gathered for the first time to present the latest results of their research and promote scientific discussions. It was hosted by the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE). It was attended by 125 participants, who presented 85 contributions in the different areas of interest 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 Mexico (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 issue 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 1st to the 5th of November of 1993 in La Havana, Cuba. It was hosted 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 1st to the 5th of October of 2001 in Puerto Tomé, Concepción, Chile. It was sponsored by the Academia Chilena de Ciencias, Universidad del 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, which 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, Brazil).

The meetings that followed these first meeting ruled over the same subjects are listed below: