The fifth conference known as ASA (Atmospheric Spectroscopy Applications) took place in Reims, France, 1-3 September 1999.

After Oxford (1987), Moscow (1990), and Reims (1993 and 1996), this latest conference took place again in Reims, at the Congress Center, with more than 100 participants. The history of the ASA Conferences, which arose from working groups of the International Ozone Commission and the International Radiation Commission, has been given in the preceding Editorial of the Proceedings of 1993 (also in the Special Issue of the Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer volume 59, numbers 3-5 (1998)). As before, six principal topics have been chosen for the sessions: (1) Line shape, Line-coupling, and Continua; (2) Atmospheric Observations; (3) Experimental Techniques; (4) Laboratory Data; (5) Databases; and (6) Non-local Thermodynamic Equilibrium Processes

For this latest conference, the results have been presented primarily in the form of posters (66), with six speakers having been invited to present subjects of general interest to the ASA community: J.-M. Hartmann (Université de Paris-Sud, France), M. de Mazière (Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium), J. Orphal (Universität Bremen, Bremen, Germany), N. Jacquinet-Husson (Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France), L.S. Rothman (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass, USA), M. Lopez-Puertas (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucia, Grenada, Spain). In addition, nine contributed oral presentations took place during the different sessions.

A number of interesting scientific discussions took place, arising from parts of sessions scheduled for this effect. The problem of financial support for spectroscopy was brought up. Equally noted was the strong representation of laboratory spectroscopists at the meeting with respect to spectroscopists involved with atmospheric measurements.

For the next ASA Conference, which will take place in September 2002 but whose location has yet to be determined, it was deemed necessary to attract scientists involved in the fields of planetary studies, satellites, and interstellar research. However, a great difficulty encountered is the large number of meetings and conferences to which these researchers have been committed. It would be desirable to enlarge the scientific committee of ASA to include individuals known in these diverse fields.

All suggestions and recommendations are welcome and can be addressed by e-mail to ASA: asa99@univ-reims.fr .