Our status

The Swiss Geophysical Commission is an institution of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (ScNat) and was founded in 1972 by Professor Stephan Mueller. Its duties were defined by the governmental decree of May 5 1975, and are performed under a contract between the commission and the Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo).

It has 10 to 20 members who are geo-scientists or engineers from Swiss universities, private companies and/or public institutions.

Our tasks and functions

• Geophysical survey of Switzerland by mapping of the geophysical parameters e.g. gravity field, magnetic field, seismicity, electrical resistivity, density, heat flow etc. and their temporal variations.
• Publication and updating of maps compiled from these surveys and available data which are carried out and collected on behalf of the commission by its members and/or other institutions and organisations. Publication of research results derived from these data.
• Recording of temporal variations of geophysical parameters like components of the Earth's magnetic field, telluric currents, Earth tides.
• Consulting upon request federal agencies, for geophysical topics.
• Co-ordination, planning and participation in research projects of large scale solid Earth science of national interest in co-operation with other commissions of the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences (Geologic, Geodetic, Geotechnique, Glaciology Commissions) and other national instititions.