bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Geochemistry of Natural Waters
Authors: Long Austin
Published: October 2006

The recent increased interest in aqueous geochemistry courses is likely driven by our need to understand, as quantitatively as possible, processes controlling chemical compositions in polluted waters that require remediation. However, to understand anthropogenic influences, one must understand natural processes and environmental conditions.

Most Earth science departments now offer courses that address the area described as low‐temperature geochemistry or aquatic chemistry or environmental geochemistry. Drever's book is prominent among several texts available as resources for this type of course. The third edition of Drever's text is ideal for a first class in low‐temperature geochemistry.
AIP Conference Proceedings #383 from the Taos Meeting: Workshop on the Earth's Trapped Particle Environment
Authors: Spjeldvik Walther N.
Published: October 2006

Studies of the Earth's radiation belts were among the first in situ space experiments in the late 1950s, the 1960s, and the early 1970s. A series of annual McCormack‐conferences were held during those early years. After that the field received less attention and decreasing resources; during the late 1970s and the 1980s radiation belt physics were discussed at only a few topical conferences. However, the fields of radiation belt and ring current research experienced a small renaissance during the 1990s.
Workshop focuses on study of climate's effects on health
Authors: Diaz Henry F. , Epstein Paul R. , Aron Joan L. , Confalonieri Ulisses E. C.
Published: October 2006

Changes in temperature, precipitation, humidity, and storm patterns influence upsurges of waterborne diseases such as hepatitis, shigella dysentery, typhoid, and cholera as well as vector‐borne pathogens such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever, encephalitis, schistosomiasis, plague, and hantavirus. Cycles of flooding and drought directly affect factors such as the multiplication rates of disease vectors, the biting rate of vectors, and the amount of host‐vector interaction. Indirectly, climate influences parameters important to vector spread or survival such as agricultural practices, the disruption of ecosystems, or changes in social systems and practices, which in turn change the relationship between the parasite, the vector, its predators, and the host.
Workshop participants assess Monte Carlo simulations in oceanography
Authors: Henyey Frank , Müller Peter
Published: October 2006

Oceanographers enthusiastically integrate global ocean circulation models in conjunction with atmospheric models over periods of thousands of years in order to assess future climate states—without actually knowing the skill of their ocean models. Oceanic circulation models represent the turbulent ocean as a laminar flow. This representation, except in the most fortuitous of circumstances, involves some grave errors whose effects need to be understood and quantified. Usually, models are validated and/or calibrated by comparing their predictions with observations. This has worked well for weather prediction models, but we cannot wait out climate changes.
José Pinto Peixoto (1922–1996)
Authors: Oort Abraham H. , Saltzman Barry
Published: October 2006

José Pinto Peixoto, one of the most prominent Portuguese scientists of this century, died on December 6, 1996, in Lisbon, Portugal. He was professor of physics and director of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Lisbon, and president of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, the main scientific academy in Portugal.
Langmuir receives Bowen Award
Authors: McDonough William , Langmuir Charles H.
Published: October 2006

The 1996 N. L. Bowen Award was presented to Charles Langmuir at the AGU Fall Meeting on December 16, 1996. The award is given by the Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology section for a single outstanding contribution to volcanology, geochemistry, or petrology made during the preceding 5 years. The award citation and Langmuir's response are given here.
Haakon Mosby Mud Volcano provides unusual example of venting
Authors: Vogt P. R. , Cherkashev G. , Ginsburg G. , Ivanov G. , Milkov A. , Crane K. , Sundvor A. , Pimenov N. , Egorov A.
Published: October 2006

A seafloor mud volcano north of Norway is presenting researchers with an uncommon example of venting and is raising important questions. Seafloor aqueous vents, gas vents, mud volcanoes, and mud diapirs are found in a variety of geological settings. However, scientists did not expect to discover venting at the northern site, now known as the Haakon Mosby Mud Volcano (HMMV). It is considered especially unusual because of its Arctitc Location (72°N), its development largely within glacial marine sediments, and its lack of association either with salt tectonics or with plate subduction. Further, the volcano is posing questions for investigators about the relationship of methane generation and mud volcanism to thick, rapidly deposited sediments; sediment failure; and gas hydrates (GH).
Global climate negotiations begin in Kyoto
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Ancient temples and shrines and weathered cherry trees speckle the city of Kyoto, Japan, on the Island of Honshu. The edifices, many of them world heritage sites filled with statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, hearken back to the thousand year period from 794 A.D. until 1868 A.D. when Kyoto held sway as the country's center of government, culture, and commerce—and to a different climate, when the atmosphere contained less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

From December 1–10, thousands of delegates from about 150 countries, along with additional thousands of observers from non‐governmental organizations, converge on this ancient city to discuss a very modern problem.
Currents of Change: El Niño's Impact on Climate and Society
Authors: Scherm Harald
Published: October 2006

More than 450 scientific articles have been published over the past 6 years with titles containing at least one of the key words El Niño, La Niña, Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. Almost 15% of these articles studied ecological impacts of El Niño ranging from infectious disease outbreaks, to intertidal community dynamics, to wheat yields. A mere 2% explicitly examined the phenomenon's socio‐economic effects on such vital issues as water management or profit‐maximizing input levels for crop production. Thus, a large gap exists between the information being generated by the scientific community about El Niño and its actual utilization by society.
Team of three JGR‐Space Physics editors appointed
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Three editors from the United States, Europe, and Asia have been appointed to lead JGR‐Space Physics into the new millennium. This new team will recognize and foster the substantial contributions that scientists from the international community make to the journal. Janet Luhmann, a Senior Fellow at the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, will serve as Senior Editor. Luhmann will play a coordinating role for the regional editors, which will be especially important as the Union moves into electronic publishing and adopts new ways of using the technology to publish research findings.
Small comet hypothesis draws renewed attention
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Five papers that will appear in the December 15 issue of the AGU publication Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) are heating up an ongoing debate about a hypothesis that small and watery comet‐like objects, each about the size of a small house and most weighing 20–40 tons, bombard the Earth 10 million times each year and deposit water vapor into the upper atmosphere.

Louis Frank, physics professor at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and John Sigwarth, senior research associate there, say that these small comets dissipate into water vapor and may have sprinkled enough water over the history of the planet to fill the oceans.
Eagleson receives the Stockholm Water Prize
Authors: Falkenmark Malin , Bras Rafael L.
Published: October 2006

Peter S. Eagleson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been awarded the 1997 Stockholm Water Prize. He received the prize from Sweden's King, Carl XVI Gustaf, at a ceremony in the Stockholm City Hall on August 14, 1997.

Eagleson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT, is recognized as a world leader in hydrology. In fact, it is nowadays impossible to think hydrology without his name coming to mind. He worked to establish the physical principles behind all hydrological processes and systematically integrated them, making it possible to better understand river basin response. His textbook, Dynamic Hydrology, was a catalyst in the redefinition of hydrology as a rigorous and quantitative science. In 1970, when it was published, this was a bold and different approach; it has taken some time, but hydrology is now accepted as a key element of the earth sciences.
The Once and Future Moon
Authors: Coombs Cassandra
Published: October 2006

Have you ever stood in your back yard gazing at the Moon and wondered about the origin of its various features? What makes part of it dark? Light? Smooth? Rough? As old as the Earth, the Moon seems cold and obscure, orbiting in its naked environment more than 356,000 km away. Yet, as scientists have shown us, and returned mission data have confirmed, the Moon is rich with information. Many refer to the Moon as a Rosetta stone, believing that it holds the keys to understanding the origin and evolution of our Solar System.
Toward a comprehensive catalog of global historical seismicity
Authors: Villaseñor AntonioAntonio , Bergman Eric A. , Boyd Thomas M. , Engdahl E. Robert , Frazier David W. , Harden Margo M. , Orth Jennifer L. , Parkes Richard L. , Shedlock Kaye M.
Published: October 2006

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) have initiated a project to locate more accurately all earthquakes recorded by instruments during the period 1900 to 1963. Seismicity for this period (hereafter referred to as historical seismicity, following Lee et al. [1988]) is still poorly understood, even for basic parameters such as earthquake locations (see Figure 1). In some cases this is the result of inherent limitations in the distribution, response characteristics, and timing of the instruments. However, locations for most of the pre‐1964 earthquakes are poorly determined simply because modern data analysis techniques have yet to be applied to the available arrival‐time observations, which are mainly preserved as printed bulletins and not in a computer‐ready digital format. The arduous task of hand‐entering these data has prevented the systematic analysis and relocation of historical seismicity.
Scientists unveil new theory and findings about solar eruptions
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

With a coronagraph on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) blocking out direct sunlight, an image of the Sun taken at 5:28 a.m. EST last November 6 picked up some wisps of gas streaming away into space. Yet, only a few hours later the picture from SOHO, which is jointly operated by NASA and the European Space Agency, had dramatically changed. At 8:46 a.m. EST, a subsequent image revealed a bursting coronal mass ejection (CME) and a resulting blizzard of accelerated protons that looks like static snow on a television.

This solar eruption, whereby “a big chunk of the Sun's atmosphere is thrown out into space,” as Spiro Antiochos of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory puts it, was the first in a new cycle leading to the solar max. During the maximum of the new solar cycle, expected around 2000 and 2001, more frequent solar storms should occur. Some could carry 10 billion tons of matter and travel as fast as 1000 m/s. The eruptions' magnetic fields and speed could affect spacecraft, navigation, and communications systems, as well as ground‐based electrical grids.
Real‐Time GPS network facilitates geophysical studies
Authors: Fulker Dave , Ware Randolph
Published: October 2006

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is being widely used to monitor lithospheric processes with millimeter precision, which it achieves by correcting for signal delays induced by the ionosphere [Ho et al., 1996] and atmosphere [Businger et al., 1996]. Alternatively, uncorrected GPS data can be used to estimate properties of the ionosphere and atmosphere important to meteorology, climate, and space weather.
Unknowns about climate variability render treaty targets premature
Authors: Singer S. Fred
Published: October 2006

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) calls for a “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” That level is nowhere defined, however, nor is the definition addressed in any of the reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC, 1996]. A reasonable interpretation might be that “dangerous” refers to the stability of the climate system rather than to a simple warming. For example, could higher GH gas (mainly CO2) concentrations produce a sudden, major change in the state of the climate?
[Comment on “Unknowns about climate variability render treaty targets premature”] Time to act is now
Authors: Dickinson Robert E.
Published: October 2006

While I can agree with several of Singer's points, I think his discussion distorts and confuses by ignoring the more important questions to be asked. What the United States can or should do about the buildup of greenhouse gases is much more of an ethical, moral, and economic issue than one that can be answered by science alone, and thus, is rightly being decided by political processes rather than by scientific committees. We do know much more about the question of climate change from greenhouse gases than we did 20 years ago when the issue first became of major concern. Indeed, it would take thousands of pages to put down in full all the details of what we now know; and such a description would also require hundreds of pages to say what we still don't know. The past Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports have been carefully crafted, albeit heavily abbreviated, summaries of our current scientific understanding. It is fairly certain that in another 20 years our scientific understanding will be yet much more improved, but there will also still be many important unknowns.
The Tectonic Evolution of Asia
Authors: Lee Tung‐Yi
Published: October 2006

Asia is the youngest continent on our planet and has been assembled largely over the past 400 m.y. In the past decade, following rapid developments on the economic front and political transformations in Asia, Earth science research has continuously become more important for both natural resources evaluation and hazards reduction. Consequently, more and more attempts have been focused on Asia in order to understand this complex region. The more the geoscience community works in this region, however, the more we realize our insufficient knowledge of the largest continent on Earth. This problem is not only caused by the region's inaccessibility, but also by cultural and political barriers.
A FORTE for lightning
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

A newly launched satellite designed to test technology to monitor compliance with arms control treaties is detecting thousands of more radio bursts from lightning strikes and other phenomena than previously reported from other satellites, according to a poster presented at the AGU Fall Meeting in December.

Instruments on board the Fast On‐orbit Recording of Transient Events (FORTE) satellite—a joint project of the United States' Department of Energy's Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories—are detecting powerful radio bursts that are 100 times stronger and 1,000 times briefer than radio emissions generated by lightning, and are believed to originate from an altitude of 3–10 miles in the vicinity of thunderstorm complexes.
Follow the roving hotspots
Authors: Richards Mark A. , Stock Joann M.
Published: October 2006

As if to emphasize a bridge forming between disciplines, over 100 scientists gathered last spring for a Chapman Conference on global plate motions at Pt. Reyes National Seashore, astride the section of the San Andreas Fault that ruptured in the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
Outstanding student paper award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Section presented one Outstanding Student Paper Award at the AGU 1997 Spring Meeting in Baltimore last May.

Stephen Zatman presented a paper titled “Oscillations in the Flow at the Top of the Earth's Core.” Zatman was born near London, England, and attended the Haberdashers' Aske's School in Elstree. After completing a B.A. with honors in physics at Cambridge University (Christ's College) in 1993, he moved to Cambridge, Mass., to study at Harvard University, supported by an NSF graduate fellowship. Zatman graduated with a degree in applied mathematics in 1995, and is currently completing his Ph.D. dissertation in geophysics under the supervision of Jeremy Bloxham. The general topic of Zatman's research is the transfer of angular momentum within the Earth. His presentation concerned part of his project to produce the first simple maps of a magnetic field component within the core.
Hydrology for Engineers, Geologists, and Environmental Professionals
Authors: Ince Simon
Published: October 2006

For people who are involved in the applied aspects of hydrology, it is refreshing to find a textbook that begins with a meaningful disclaimer, albeit in fine print on the back side of the frontispiece:

“The present book and the accompanying software have been written according to the latest techniques in scientific hydrology. However, hydrology is at best an inexact science. A good book and a good computer software by themselves do not guarantee accurate or even realistic predictions. Acceptable results in the applications of hydrologic methods to engineering and environmental problems depend to a greater extend (sic) on the skills, logical assumptions, and practical experience of the user, and on the quantity and quality of long‐term hydrologic data available. Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility or any liability, explicitly or implicitly, on the results or the consequences of using the information contained in this book or its accompanying software.”
Mixing it up right with the media
Authors: Bruce Victoria
Published: October 2006

This summer, AGU sponsored my tightrope walk between scientists and the media. I am a graduate student from the University of California, Riverside, in geochemistry and an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1997 Mass Media Science and Engineering fellow. The fellowship program partners science grad students with news organizations all over the country, with the goal of shaking up the oil and water mixture of the two vastly different, but symbiotic disciplines. Instead of looking down a microscope as a scientist, I had the chance to look back up at scientists themselves. In the end, I came away with a journalist's perspective of scientists, and a few ideas to improve the relationship from the scientific side.
Antarctica's role in global change research examined
Authors: Webb Peter‐Noel , Cooper Alan K.
Published: October 2006

The greatest discoveries about Antarctica's late Mesozoic and Cenozoic geologic history have been made since the International Geophysical Year in 1957. These discoveries were made by Earth scientists who conduct research in many countries under their National Antarctic Programs, which in turn follow the broad science guidelines recommended by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). SCAR has many subgroups that address thematic issues.

One of these groups, the Antarctic Offshore Stratigraphy Project (ANTOSTRAT), was tasked by SCAR to bring together a cross‐section of Antarctic Earth scientists to outline the critical thematic topics related to the last 100 m.y. of Antarctic Earth history and to recommend objectives for the coming decade of Antarctic Earth science studies. Such a group of specialists met at a recent workshop, with participation of over 40 scientists from 11 countries. A second SCAR workshop was held simultaneously by the Antarctic Ice Margin Environment (ANTIME) group to focus on the last 20,000 years of Earth history.
Mapping the world with remote sensing
Authors: Mahmood Ahmed , Crawford John P. , Michaud Rejean , Jezek Kenneth C.
Published: October 2006

The launch of Canada's RADARSAT‐1 satellite on November 4, 1995, marked a significant advance in spaceborne microwave remote sensing and a major contribution toward creating a viable international market for remote sensing data. The satellite is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and is the first radar‐imaging satellite designed to meet the scientific and operational needs of remote sensing data users. In addition to a network of ground SAR data receiving stations, the satellite's onboard tape recorder allows global coverage. Compared to previous spaceborne radar imagers, RADARSAT‐1 offers a wide choice of ground resolution, imaging swath width, and incident beam angle. Its ScanSAR beam with 500‐km‐wide imaging swath and 100‐m resolution is well‐suited for global‐ or regional‐scale synoptic observations, and fine beam with 50‐km‐wide imaging swath and less than 10‐m resolution is ideal for local, detailed studies.
Stephan Mueller (1930”1997)
Authors: Olsen Kenneth H. , Ansorge Joerg
Published: October 2006

Stephan Mueller, professor emeritus at the Institute of Geophysics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and highly respected leader of international geoscience, died February 17, 1997. His untimely death, due to pneumonia following intestinal surgery, came just 18 months after his retirement from the ETH Chair of Geophysics and Directorship of the Swiss Seismological Service. He is survived by his wife, Doris, two sons, and six grandchildren.

Mueller received a diploma in physics at the University of Stuttgart in 1957 and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Columbia University in New York in 1959. As an undergraduate at Stuttgart, he was influenced by seismologist Wilhelm Hillerand geophysics quickly became his major academic and career objective. After receiving a 1954–1955 German Academic Interchange Scholarship at Columbia, Mueller sought out Maurice Ewing and his group at Lamont Geological Observatory, where Mueller's enthusiasm for geophysics was strongly encouraged. While at Lamont, he participated in the first U.S. deep‐sea geophysical expedition in the Mediterranean Sea during the summer of 1956 aboard the RV Vema.
van der Hilst and Bard receive Macelwane Medals
Authors: Turekian Karl K. , Bard Edouard , Engdahl E. R. , van der Hilst Robert D.
Published: October 2006

Edouard Bard and Robert D. van der Hilst were awarded James B. Macelwane Medals at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held on December 10, 1997, in San Francisco, California. The Macelwane Medal recognizes significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by a young scientist of outstanding ability. The citations and responses are given here.
Astronomers fight to save the night sky from light pollution
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

While some astronomers are peering into far reaches of the universe, most people on the Earth can no longer even see the Milky Way. A veil of sky glow caused by light pollution from billions of light bulbs has shrouded the stars that served as beacons for our ancestors.

Some people worry that the great natural heritage of the night skies is being lost.

“What is more fundamental than seeingwhere we are in the universe, understandingthat we are a small part of the bigger structureof what's out there?” asks Don Davis, directorof the Planetary Sciences Institute in Tucson, Arizona. “Is there anything as liberating to the imagination?”
1997 was century's hottest year
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

1997 was the warmest year of this century, based on land and ocean surface temperature data, according to a team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.

The record‐breaking warm conditions of 1997 continue a pattern of very warm global temperatures, the team says. Including 1997, the 10 warmest years over land all have occurred since 1981, with the five warmest years occurring since 1990.
[Comment on “Science and Sociology Butt Heads in Tomography Experiment in Sacred Mountains”] Learning Lessons From Science Experiments
Authors: Hollister Lincoln S.
Published: October 2006

I am writing to comment on the article by Baldridge et al., “Science and Sociology Butt Heads in Tomography Experiment in Sacred Mountains” (Eos, September 30,1997). I strongly support their conclusion that scientists must learn to communicate with the public if we are to continue to receive taxpayer support for our projects.

I am lead principal investigator of the interdisciplinary project ACCRETE (funded by the Continental Dynamics program of NSF), which also involved what could easily have been perceived to be an environmentally and culturally invasive seismic experiment. We proposed to take the 240‐foot seismic ship R/V Maurice Ewing through the inland waterways of southeast Alaska and British Columbia, firing airguns every 20 seconds for 10 days, all within “earshot” of marine mammals and fish. Consider the permitting challenge involved with two countries engaged in a fish war and three ethnically distinct First Nations who are in the midst of land claims negotiations. In addition, we had to deal with commercial fishing interests (imagine sailing a ship with 4 km of towed instruments through a couple hundred fishing boats with their nets out), marine mammal protection groups, a wilderness area, and a nuclear submarine base. We had many of the experiences Baldridge et al. report, but nevertheless were able to do our experiment as planned, without any modification imposed by local groups.
Researchers discuss the magnetospheres of the outer planets
Authors: Pontius Duane H. , Bolton S. , Connerney J. , Dougherty M. , Horanyi M. , Kurth B. , McGrath M. , Neubauer F. , Zarka P.
Published: October 2006

Significant progress has been made during the last two years in unraveling a number of puzzles involving planetary magnetospheres, especially those of Jupiter and Saturn. That was the consensus at the 1997 Magnetosphere of the Outer Planets Conference.

Since the last conference two years ago, the Galileo spacecraft and remote observations supporting that mission have provided much data. The impacts of Comet Shoemaker‐Levy 9 fragments on Jupiter also provided a unique opportunity for study. As a result, Jupiter and its satellites garnered the most attention at the 1997 meeting.
AGU's Public Outreach Programs to expand
Authors: Solomin Sean C.
Published: October 2006

“Science is public knowledge.” [Ziman, 1968] The Union's programs in public outreach and education are poised for further growth as a result of an action of the AGU Council taken at its December meeting.

Among the purposes of the Union laid down in the AGU Statutes are two that motivate and guide our activities aimed at engaging and informing the public. The first purpose of the Union is “to promote the scientific study of Earth, Sun, and the solar system and all of their environments and components and to make the results of such studies available to the public.” An additional stated purpose is “to carry out education and other outreach activities to further the public's understanding of the geophysical sciences.”
U.S. Climate and Ecological Data available on CD‐ROM and online
Authors: Kittel Timothy , Schimel David , Rosenbloom Nan , Fisher Hank
Published: October 2006

A climate, vegetation, and soils data set for the United States, assembled by the Vegetation/Ecosystem Modeling and Analysis Project (VEMAP), is now available on CD‐ROM and online. VEMAP is an international, multiinstitutional collaboration with the goal of evaluating the sensitivity of ecosystem structure and function to altered climate, CO2, and other forcings.
Clinton proposes science funding increase
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

President Bill Clinton proposed a major increase in science funding and several science and environment initiatives during his State of the Union address on January 28.

As part of the White House Millennium Program the administration established to promote the nation's creativity and innovation, the President proposed a 21st Century Research Fund for scientific inquiry that would provide the largest one‐year funding increase in history for the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health, and National Cancer Institute.
Wegener revisited
Authors: Girdler R. W.
Published: October 2006

In his reply to the comment by Marotzke and Adcroft that “The connection between Mediterranean salinity and Ice Age initiation is only postulated but not substantiated through quantitative reasoning supported by data,” (Eos, Nov. 11, 1997, p. 507) R. G. Johnson states, “By these standards Alfred Wegener's ‘outlandish’ continental drift hypothesis would never have been published.”

This is grossly unfair to Wegener. If welook at any edition of Wegener's famous book The Origin of Continents and Oceans, we find a large array of arguments supported by geodetic, geophysical, geological, paleontological, biological, and paleoclimatic data. Indeed, it is a remarkable example supporting Marotzke and Adcroft's comments! What we should be pondering is: Why did the scientific establishment reject such a large amount of evidence for so long?
Gravitational lensing helps scientists Probe universe's dark matter
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Gravitational lensing, a technique that explores the phenomena produced when light from a background source is changed by the gravitational pull of a massive object alongits path to the observer, has become a multipurpose tool for cosmologists.

Used one way, some scientists say the technique can help them directly see and measure possible dark matter of intervening objects—such as stars, galaxies, or clusters of galaxies—that is sensitive to gravity. Tony Tyson, an experimental physicist at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies in New Jersey, and a pioneer in the field of gravitational lensing, is among the scientists who say that lensing can make it possible to see dark matter, which he and others estimates makes up 90% of the universe. He and others say that lensing and a better understanding of dark matter could help with some of the “big picture” questions about the universe: its evolution, mass, structure, and rate of expansion.
Krakauer receives Walter Sullivan Award
Authors: Sanders John , Krakauer Jon
Published: October 2006

Jon Krakauer was awarded the Walter Sullivan Award at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held on December 10, 1997, in San Francisco, California. The Walter Sullivan Award recognizes a journalist for a single article or a radio/television report that makes geophysical material accessible and interesting to the public.
Earthquake precursors: Banished forever?
Authors: Gusev Alexander
Published: October 2006

“When a rupture starts, how can it know where will it stop?” [Gregory Podyapolsky, 1973]

Podyapolsky, a brilliant theorist, made this comment many years ago, upon perceiving that the earthquake prediction bandwagon in the Soviet Union was gaining speed. Twenty years later, we can observe just how far the bandwagon has gone. The report on the Assessment of Schemes for Earthquake Prediction Symposium [Geller, 1997a], given by one of its key figures, provides some insight. I hazard to sum up the key points of this report as follows:
Clinton budget request includes substantial increases for science programs
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

When the Clinton Administration unveiled the United States budget for fiscal year 1999 in early February, the first balanced budget in 30 years, the $1.73 trillion request included significant proposed increases for scientific and environmental accounts.

Standing next to dramatic, new pictures of the Martian surface to illustrate the benefits of scientific funding, Vice President Al Gore said at a budget briefing that the funding request provides “the largest commitment to key civilian research in the history of the United States of America.” He said that science and technology, which can lead to economic growth, better health, and an improved quality of life, are among the top budgetary priorities.
Kamide reflects on JGR and the role of editor
Authors: Woods Peter
Published: October 2006

After serving the space physics community for more than 11 years, Y. Kamide of the Solar‐Terrestrial Environment Laboratory at Nagoya University in Toyokawa, Japan, retired as editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research‐Space Physics for the Asian/Pacific region. He had been a JGR editor since AGU first opened two editorial offices in Europe and the Asian/Pacific region in 1989. Even as the initial JGR editor in Asia, Kamide was not new to AGU editorial business. Before accepting the JGR position, Kamide served 3 years as the editor in Japan for Geophysical Research Letters.

According to Kamide, over the last 5 years, the number of high‐quality submissions to JGR in the Asian/Pacific region has increased dramatically, by a factor of 2.5. This increase came mostly from the younger generation of scientists, which bodes well for the future of JGR and space physics in general. Together with the substantial contributions to JGR from the European community, this achievement has been recognized by AGU as proof that JGR is truly an international journal of the highest editorial standards.
Date estimated for maximum of Solar Cycle 23
Authors: Vaughan William W., , Owens Jerry K. , Euler Harold C. , Niehuss Keith O.
Published: October 2006

The Sun's activity follows an approximately 11‐year cycle. For the current cycle, number 23, the minimum, or low point in the Sun's activity occurred in May 1996. Maximum—the peak of the Sun's activity—is expected to occur in May 2000, according to NASA's Marshall Solar Activity Future Estimate (MSAFE) Model.

Our ability to identify the start and approximate profile of a new solar cycle, and to produce viable, consistent, and timely estimates of its behavior, is considerably important since the space environment and associated geophysical effects are all, to one degree or another, affected by aspects of the Sun's activity. Early identification of the magnitude and projected time of minimum (and maximum) amplitude of a new cycle occupies many researchers, especially as the peaks and valleys of the Sun's activity near. Identification of the date and minimum amplitude is particularly important because it is used in models that predict future levels of solar activity as related to spacecraft orbital lifetime predictions, flare frequency, number and severity of geomagnetic storms, and radiation and ionospheric models.
Clinton budget request includes science and environment increases for many federal agencies
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

As part of the Clinton Administration's budget request for fiscal year 1999, a number of science and environment accounts would receive substantial increases. This article focuses on the budgets of some federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It continues the budget survey begun in last week's issue of Eos.
Seismological Center heads in a new direction
Authors: Willemann Ray
Published: October 2006

The International Seismological Centre (ISC), funded mostly by contributions from 55 national institutes in 47 countries, has produced the most comprehensive global seismicity bulletin for more than 30 years. Seismologists use ISC data to investigate the Earth's internal structure, analyze seismic hazards, and evaluate tectonic models. They depend on a consistently high level of qualityin the bulletin from year to year but, due to the growing volume of data, change may be coming to the ISC.

Thanks to an increasing number of regional and national networks around the world/the ISC bulletin has grown to cover more than 60,000 events annually. But even as the bulletin tripled in size over the last 20 years, budgetary restrictions have prevented growth of the ISC staff or significant development of its computer resources. With publication of the bulletin beginning to experience delays, the strain is starting to show.
Outstanding student paper award at the 1996 Fall Meeting
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Planetology Section presented an Outstanding Student Paper Award at the AGU 1996 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, in December 1996. Elissa Koenig, presented a poster entitled “Mapping and Modeling of Radial Fracture Patterns on Venus.” Koenig graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1991 with a B.S.E. form the Geological Engineering Program. She then spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where she studied the fluid dynamics of geyser eruptions. Elissa joined the Geomechanics Research Group at Stanford University in 1993 as an NSF Graduate Fellow, minoring in mechanical engineering. Her Ph.D. dissertation, titled “The Mechanics of Brittle Fracture and Faulting Venus,” explores the processes of both radial dike emplacement and strike‐slip faulting.
Hydrology Section Executive Committee meets
Authors: Bencala Ken
Published: October 2006

Each year, the Hydrology Section Executive Committee holds a meeting to keep members informed of the section's activities and to discuss issues that arise in the hydrologic sciences. Below are a few highlights from the most recent meeting, which was held in December.

The work of the section is most visible at the Fall and Spring Meetings and more and more hydrologists are attending. For example, at the 1997 Fall Meeting, over 1000 abstracts were presented in the Hydrology Section. The Spring Meeting is also well attended by section members, and the next will be held from May 26 to 29, 1998, in Boston, Mass. Planning for the upcoming meeting is well underway, with the list of special sessions now finalized by the Section Technical Committees. Those of you who would like to propose technical sessions in the future should note that the planning horizon is now nearly a full year in advance of the meetings.
Bredehoeft receives Robert E. Horton Medal
Authors: Konikow Leonard F. , Bredehoeft John
Published: October 2006

John Bredehoeft was awarded the Robert E. Horton Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held on December 10, 1997, in San Francisco, California. The Robert E. Horton Medal recognizes an outstanding contribution to the geophysical aspects of hydrology.
Congressional Science Fellow Moses describes work on Capitol Hill
Authors: Moses Julie
Published: October 2006

“In October, I began work as AGU's Congressional Science Fellow in the Office of Representative Dennis Kucinich (Ohio). The logic of my choice follows from my having been a National Research Council post‐doc at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for 3 years. Rep. Kucinich's district includes the NASA Lewis Research Center.

“Most of my work involves NASA issues, most notably the budget, and environmental issues. Rep. Kucinich and Rep. Dave Weldon (Florida) circulated a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House arguing for stabilization of the NASA budget last November. They obtained 201 signatures on the letter which was forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget, the Vice President, and the President. We believe that this letter has made a difference in the Administration's proposed budget for this year.
Charles L. Drake (1924”1997)
Authors: Oliver Jack
Published: October 2006

Charles Lum (Chuck) Drake, professor emeritus at Dartmouth College, president of AGU from 1984 to 1986, and surely one of the best known and most influential leaders of modern Earth science, passed away at his home in Norwich, Vermont, on July 8, 1997, a sudden victim of heart failure while working in his barn.

“His overall contribution to Earth science was greater than that of anyone,” said one prominent scientist, aptly and succinctly describing Chuck's career as many of his colleagues might have done. Chuck was blessed with, and characterized by, a diversity of talents. He used those talents to contribute to almost every aspect of science and to life in general. In an era of narrow specialization in science, Chuck brought breadth and depth and understanding and wisdom, as well as the skills of a specialist, to the subject heloved—the study of Earth.
Program begins assessing the consequences of climate change
Authors: Colucci Joy A.
Published: October 2006

The nation's attention has recently become focused on climate change. But long before this season's El Niño hit the California coast and the Kyoto Conference made global warming a subject of news reports, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) embarked on a national assessment to focus federal agency research on the regional consequences of climate change. The USGCRP provides a framework for federal agencies to conduct research that increases our understanding of the Earth system and provides sound scientific information for national and international decision‐ making on global change issues.

The USGCRP member agencies are now engaged in a national assessment of the consequences of climate variability and change for the United States. The main components of this assessment process have been a series of regional workshops, an Aspen Global Change Institute meeting of regional workshop participants that was held July 29–August 7, 1997, to begin to synthesize the workshop results, and a national forum, which was held in Washington, D.C., last November to engage a broader range of stakeholders in defining issues to be addressed in the assessment.
Geoscientists join broad coalition to lobby U.S. Congress for increased funding
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Laurence Davis recalls reviewing a thick report about expanding a landfill in Nashua, New Hampshire, when he had worked for the state's department of environmental services. He says that although consultants had spent $400,000 on test borings, many of the drillings would have been unnecessary if the consultants simply had referred to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) topographical quadrant map that cost just a few dollars. The map, in this case, detailed both bedrock and surface geology, and indicated that the site the consultants were examining sat on the site of an old glacial lake bed that was not impermeable— an unsuitable location for expanding the landfill.

“Had they bought that map, they could have saved about $300,000 because they wouldn't have had to put in most of those borings,” says Davis, now a professor of Earth and environmental sciences at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. When Davis recently visited congressional offices in Washington, D.C. for the first time, he related that story to elected officials to convince them of the value of scientific research and the need for increased funding for projects such as USGS mapping.
Update on Pioneer 10
Authors: Van Allen J. A.
Published: October 2006

About a year ago NASA announced the formal termination of the extended mission of Pioneer 10 as of March 31, 1997. On March 3, 1997, the 25th anniversary of the launching of Pioneer 10 was celebrated in Washington, D.C., at NASA headquarters and at the National Air and Space Museum. I was among those who gave eulogies for the truly pioneering achievements of this Ames Research Center spacecraft to Jupiter and the outer heliosphere.

The services of the outside contractor for Pioneer 10 operations at the Ames Research Center were, in fact, terminated on March 31, 1997. But, by virtue of informal support by the Deep Space Network and the Ames Research Center, Pioneer 10 has continued to yield valuable data on cosmic‐ray intensity in the outer heliosphere throughout 1997 and is expected to do so through at least early summer of 1998. The r.f. telemetry link margin, at 16 bits per second, is still satisfactory, and the on‐board electrical power from the four radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) is adequate to operate all essential spacecraft systems plus the University of Iowa's cosmic‐ray instrument. A precession maneuver to adjust the pointing of the axis of the spacecraft's parabolic antenna was successfully executed on February 3, 1998.
Ballard receives Excellence in Geophysical Education Award
Authors: Sigurdsson Haraldur , Ballard Robert D.
Published: October 2006

Robert D. Ballard was awarded the Excellence in Geophysical Education Award at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held on December 10, 1997, in San Francisco, California. The award recognizes a sustained commitment to excellence in geophysical education.
Outstanding student paper award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Planetology Section presented an Outstanding Student Paper Award at the AGU 1997 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, on last December.

Mark I. Richardson presented a poster titled “Comparison of Microwave and Infrared Measurements of Martian Atmospheric Temperatures: Implications for Short‐term Climate Variability.” Mark conducted his undergraduate studies in physics at Imperial College in London. Before graduating with a B.Sc. in 1992, he spent 3 months at the Caltech/NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow. Since 1992, Mark has been at the University of California, Los Angeles, as a NATO Fellow, receiving M.S. degrees from both the Department of Earth and Space Sciences and the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. Under the supervision of David A. Paige, he is currently completing his Ph.D. dissertation, which focuses on the cycle of water within the Martian climate system.
Volcanoes of the Solar System
Authors: Rowland Scott
Published: October 2006

One of the few geological disciplines that can be exported easily to other planets is volcanology. Aside‐by‐side comparison of volcanic features on these other planets, as is presented in this book, will help to bring both Earth scientists and lay readers up‐to‐date in this interesting field. The title alone should go a long way toward informing the general public that there are indeed volcanoes on other planets. The author is aware of these needs because he states that his book is meant to fill two niches—a popular text for the general public and a technical text for introductory college courses.
Scientists explore relationship between volcanoes, tectonics, climate, and human evolution in Africa
Authors: Arndt Nicolas T. , Manighetti Isabelle
Published: October 2006

Did Ethiopian flood basalts cause rifting of the African continent, or were they merely a passive response of plate movements on a far larger scale? We know that the 30 Ma eruption of the youngest major flood basalt province was followed by opening of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and that volcanic and tectonic activity continues to the present day along rift zones in the Afar depression. But we do not fully understand the link between these phenomena.

Eruption of the Ethiopian flood basalts coincided with major climate changes, but not with mass extinctions, unlike the events at the Cretaceous‐Tertiary and Permian‐Triassic boundaries. Was this due to the character of the volcanism, or to other factors? Lucy and the first hominoids were found in rift valleys in central Afar. Could human evolution have been related to peculiar climatic, geographic, or geomorphological conditions in Ethiopia 500,000 years ago?