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Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

If you are not part of the historymaking team that will send the Cassini orbiter to Saturn, you can participate vicariously. Volunteers from The Planetary Society have offered to scan a million signatures from would‐be space explorers into digital form so that they can be included in a CD‐ROM mounted on the spacecraft. Earlier NASA spacecraft—including Voyager 1 and 2, Magellan, and Galileo—carried the marks of their human creators, but Cassini will be the first mission to bear Earthly greetings in electronic form.
Storm
Authors: Kennedy Guinevere
Published: October 2011

As geophysicists, we study the Earth and its environment to understand, quantify, explain, predict. We live intimately with the power of nature. Knowing that we cannot master nature physically, we nevertheless seek to master it intellectually. And we know that the destruction caused by the forces we study is neither directed nor purposeful.

But, occasionally, we may benefit from another outlook. Asked to write about a storm as part of an atmospheric education class, 14‐year‐old Guinevere Kennedy saw it quite differently. Here is her perspective.
Back to basics
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

In an effort to educate the public about the long road from obscure experiment to life‐changing discovery, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has been enlisting prominent researchers, science writers, and scientific organizations such as the AGU. More than two years in development, the NAS basic science initiative “Beyond Discovery: The Path From Research to Human Benefits” is an attempt to translate peer‐review‐quality science papers into general‐interest science articles and booklets.

As conceived by NAS vice‐president Jack Halpern and a host of representatives from the scientific community, the Beyond Discovery initiative will “develop case studies that identify and trace the origins of important technological and medical advances.” These case studies will be written by scientists in a style publishable in a journal such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. The articles are intended to be understandable to educators, college students, and the scientifically literate public. The case studies then will be further distilled by science writers into articles for a wider audience of policy makers and the general public.
Genesis of a bad idea
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

According to an article in Business Week (June 10), Macmillan/McGraw‐Hill Inc. has agreed to custom‐publish a version of its fourth‐grade textbook Changing Earth in order to omit a chapter entitled “Birth of Earth.” Parents in the Cobb County, Georgia, school district complained that since the chapter does not include creationism as a theory for the origin of the universe and of Earth, the entire discussion ought to be left out.

According to McGraw‐Hill, customizing its textbooks is good business. Changing Earth and other such books are designed to allow teachers to build their own programs; the company is willing to customize texts because it does not want to dictate curricula, and it tries to meet demands of school districts. Business Week noted that the theory of evolution still is taught in the sixth and eighth grades, as well as high school, in Cobb County. Changing Earth also contains references to evolution in other chapters besides the one being deleted.
Drinking problem
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

Despite 25 years of environmental legislation, many Americans are drinking and fishing in water that does not meet public health standards. On June 11, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report entitled “Environmental Indicators of Water Quality in the United States” which documents U.S. water woes.
Guidelines for reporting stable H, C, and O isotope‐ratio data
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Authors are requested to report stable hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen isotopic data as follows, and to state the analytical methods employed. All assigned values given below are exact. These guidelines were adopted in response to recommendations and discussions of the Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the 38th General Assembly in 1995 in Guildford, United Kingdom.
Waves of new research
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

The U.S. Office of Naval Research has announced two new programs to study the development and evolution of ocean waves, particularly as they are affected by winds. The first program is a 5‐year, $8 million department research initiative to study shoaling surface waves. By focusing on coastal water (excluding the surf zone) and wind and sea swell, ONR hopes to improve understanding of the physical processes affecting waves as they propagate and evolve from deep water to the edge of the surf zone. For more information, contact Thomas Kinder by phone at 703‐696‐1206 or by e‐mail at kindert@onrhq.onr.navy.mil.
Heading in the other direction
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

While the U.S. government is paring its budget for science, the Japanese cabinet recently announced a plan to spend $170 billion on science over the next 5 years. According to a report in Science, Japan's Council for Science and Technology recommended in June that the nation's investment in science should grow to nearly 1% of the gross national product (the United States currently spends about 1% of its GNP on science). The plan would effectively double the $21 billion the Japanese government spent on research in 1992; Japan will spend roughly $27 billion in 1996.
The next wave
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

Rather than anticipating geomagnetic storms just minutes to hours ahead of time, a team of researchers hopes to soon provide predictions of storms as much as three days in advance.

Researchers from the University of California‐San Diego, Phillips Laboratory at Hanscom Air Force Base (Massachusetts), and the University of Birmingham (U.K.) are designing a new instrument, known as the solar mass ejection imager (SMEI) that might give communications and electric power managers more time to prepare for incoming space storms.
Reply [to “Comment on ‘Federal funding at a time of budget austerity’”]
Authors: Press Frank
Published: October 2011

National laboratories are indeed engaged in many educational activities, particularly those with close connections to universities. These activities are especially strong where they are linked to unique facilities or programs, which many are. The NRC report urges greater discipline in assessing their quality and role in education and training, but those institutions that have maintained high quality and that do indeed help educate the next generation about science and technology would fare well under the kind of review proposed. The report urges that federal laboratories focus on mission requirements. It also recommends that federal funding “generally favor” academic institutions. To the extent that some national laboratories function as “academic institutions” in the senses noted in the report, they should not only survive, but prosper. A few clarifications may be useful.
Warming by methane?
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

While Wallace Broecker is focusing on cooling events and tropical temperatures, James Kennett, an oceanographer from the University of California, Santa Barbara, is examining rapid warming events in sediments from the Santa Barbara basin. Studying methane levels in fossilized plankton and benthos gathered on a recent leg of the Ocean Drilling Program, Kennett has found evidence that Pacific Ocean temperatures rose as much as 4–7°C in just a few decades during the last Ice Age.
Dollar squeeze
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

According to Science & Engineering Indicators 1996, concerns about funding for research are well founded. Data gathered by the National Science Board indicate that total spending on research in the United States has been in steady decline during the 1990s.

Industry has held the research and development line item steady at about $97 billion since 1987, but the value has dropped about 1.5$ per year in real dollars (adjusted for inflation). In that same period, the government contribution to R&D has dropped 20% from its peak in 1987. Overall R&D has dropped from 2.8% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1991 to 2.4% in 1995, and spending on nondefense research has dropped below 2% of the GDP. Japan now invests 2.7% in nondefense R&D; Germany, 2.4%.
For the industrial physicist…
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Industrial Physicist, a new magazine published by the American Institute of Physics, addresses the specific needs of physicists in industry. The magazine focuses on research and development and practical applications of new techniques and technologies. This publication also provides resources for professional development by including articles on career concerns specific to science in industry. Individuals are encouraged to submit articles to be considered for publication. Regular subscription rates are $18 for members of affiliated societies, including AGU, and $24 for nonmember individuals.
GOES slows
Authors: Lawson Laura
Published: October 2011

On August 20, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began a 2‐week period of special operations to try to prolong the life of instruments on the GOES‐9 weather satellite, which monitors the Pacific Coast of the United States and the ocean. “GOES‐9 is operating as it should, but has lost a backup motor on the imager,” said Gary Davis, NOAA's director of satellite operations. “The problem has been proven to be caused by heat.”
Missing sink
Authors: White M. Catherine
Published: October 2011

Preliminary results at a Duke University research forest exposed to high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide suggest plants might transfer excess CO2 into groundwater, where it could remain stored away for thousands of years. The finding, if bolstered by further research, might lower predicted impacts of global warming due to CO2 emissions from industry and vehicles as well as help solve a mystery: why there is 29% less CO2 in the atmosphere than current emissions inventories suggest there should be. “While it wouldn't explain all of that “missing sink,” if you push the calculations, it may explain maybe one‐fifth of it,” said Duke botanist William Schlesinger.
Career planning resources
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

To Boldly Go: A Practical Career Guide for Scientists, written by Peter S. Fiske and published by AGU, is aimed at professionals and students considering nonacademic careers. Beginning with an assessment of the current job situation in academia, this book examines other opportunities in science, shows how to explore possibilities, and diagrams job search strategies. Outlines and samples illustrate clear and effective curriculum vitae, resumes, and cover letters. For more information, see http://www.agu.org/careerguide; call 1‐800‐966‐2481 in North America to order; elsewhere, call 202‐462‐6900. The price for AGU members is $13.30 per copy, $19.00 for nonmembers.
Journey's end
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

Nineteen years and five broken gyroscopes after its launch, the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) was finally decommissioned on September 30. The shutdown of IUE marked the end of what NASA officials called one of “the longest and most productive missions in the history of space science.” IUE was a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (United Kingdom).

Designed to last just 3 years, IUE operated for about 24 hours a day from a geosynchronous orbit for nearly two decades. The observatory and spectrographic instruments enabled studies of phenomena that emit ultraviolet radiation, and the results were prodigious.
Virtual classroom
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

After four decades of perfecting techniques for communication with spacecraft on the way to other worlds, space scientists are now working on new ways to reach students in this one. In a partnership between NASA and the University of North Dakota (UND), scientists and engineers from both institutions will soon lead an experiment in Internet learning.

Starting January 22, UND will offer a threemonth computerized course in telerobotics. Using RealAudio and CU‐SeeMe channels of the Internet to allow real‐time transmission of video and audio, instructors will teach college‐and graduate‐level students the fundamentals of the remote operation and control of a robot.
No indian summer
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

Temperatures in Earth's lower stratosphere (from 14 to 22 km in altitude) were lower in September 1996 than at any other time since such temperatures were first systematically measured in 1979. Using microwave sensors aboard the TIROS‐N series of polar‐orbiting weather satellites, researchers from the Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC) in Huntsville, Alabama, found that air in the stratosphere was 0.7°C cooler than the baseline temperature of the past 17 years.

The cool month fits into what the researchers see as a 15‐year cooling trend and is thought to be consistent with the depletion of ozone in the lower stratosphere.
Kids in space
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

The 81st mission in NASA's space shuttle program was the 2nd for KidSat, a program to bring space exploration down to Earth for middle and high school students. A joint program of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), and the Johns Hopkins University Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth, the KidSat program allows students to direct the operation of a camera mounted on space shuttle Atlantis.

After the launch of Atlantis on January 12, a KidSat operations center (modeled after Mission Control at Johnson Space Center) went on‐line at UCSD, staffed by undergraduate and high school students. Those students receive telemetry directly from the shuttle and are able to listen to communication between NASA's flight controllers and astronauts. The KidSat operations center processes and delivers up‐to‐the‐minute information about the shuttle to 15 middle schools in the United States.
Uncertain forecast
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

If the United States' government doesn't find funds soon to replace some of the weather satellites in its constellation, the nation runs the risk of going without some important weather data, a panel of the National Research Council (NRC) recently noted.
Get a job
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

At AGU's 1996 Fall Meeting, a record number of jobs were advertised through the AGU Job Center. Approximately 150 employers advertised 164 jobs at the meeting in San Francisco, while 302 applicants used the center's services and about 50 sat for on‐site interviews. At the 1995 Fall Meeting, the Job Center attracted 87 employers and 230 applicants.
GOES up
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is preparing to launch the third in series of five advanced weather satellites in order to “ensure the continuity” of satellite weather data. NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite‐K (GOES‐K) is scheduled for launch on April 24 from NASA's Cape Canaveral Air Station. GOES‐K will be renamed GOES 10 once it is securely in orbit.
[Reply to “Comment on “Outstanding student papers’”] Gender and respect in Science Editor' Note
Authors: Brown Mary Anne
Published: October 2011

Ms. Brown is correct; the difference in references was the result of inattentive editing. We regret the error.
Reply [to “Gentler term proposed for “borrowers’”]
Authors: Cicerone Ralph
Published: October 2011

The author's basic point is a sound one— that not all inappropriate behavior is misconduct in science. I also appreciate Thomas Peterson's good humor. And perhaps it would be useful to have a word or phrase to help us deal with a sloppiness of scientific habit where there is no intent to mislead. However, just because a problem arises through inattention, misjudgment, or misunderstanding does not mean that the problem should not be taken seriously. AGU takes all such problems seriously, as evidenced by the Union's policy on Misconduct in Science, available at the AGU web site
Reply [to “The debate on protons and electrons in solar flares”]
Authors: Horwitz J. L.
Published: October 2011

Although I explained the revision/review process for these “Great Debates” privately to Dr. Zurbuchen, this letter provides an opportunity to clarify such issues for other Eos readers.

In each of these debates, the participating authors for the introductory “pro” and “con” articles submit their typescripts to the AGU/Eos office in Washington. The Eos editorial staff sends editorial comments and the initial typescripts to me for review. I then send the typescripts as a set to four or more discipline scientists. When all of the reviews are in, I send the typescripts and these (anonymous) reviews to all of the authors. They revise their typescripts as they see fit in response to both the reviewers' comments and in view of the other articles in the set. When these are returned, I ordinarily accept them and forward them to Eos for fine‐tuning and publication.
Right forecast, wrong day
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

Exactly three months after they tracked a solar storm from Sun to Earth, space physicists got a better view of a storm developing on the solar surface. And this time, they took their predictions of an incoming storm directly to the public, only to be thwarted by an uncooperative space environment.

Scientists using the imaging equipment on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected a solar flare at 1400 UT on April 7, followed by a shock wave that propagated into a coronal mass ejection an hour later. “The flare triggered a supersonic wave that swept through the corona like a tsunami on the surface of the ocean,” said Arthur Poland, project scientist for SOHO.
Prized Fellowships
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

To commemorate its 50th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder, the James S. McDonnell Foundation is sponsoring an international competition for ten $1 million fellowships to support the work of “exceptional early‐career scientists and scholars.” The McDonnell Foundation was founded by the renowned aerospace pioneer who started what is now known as the McDonnell Douglas Corporation.
Russian space
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

As well as authorizing NASA's funding for FY 1998 and 1999, the Civilian Space Authorization Act (H.R. 1275) would affect U.S.‐Russia interactions in space. Regarding the International Space Station, the bill: prohibits transferring funds to Russia to pay for work on elements that are Russia's responsibility;
Predicting El Niño
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

In 1982, scientists neither predicted nor recognized the beginning of the most intense El Niño of the century, which caused thousands of deaths and more than $13 billion in damage. But warned that 1986 and 1987 would be wet years, Peruvian farmers avoided costly crop losses by planting rice instead of cotton.

With the establishment of the new International Research Institute last month, more potential climate‐related disasters will likely be averted. The new institute combines the scientists and resources of Columbia University's Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory and the University of California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will provide $18 million over 3 years in a cooperative agreement to establish the institute. Advances in ocean observation systems and new capabilities in computer models for predicting the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) prompted the idea for the new institute. ENSO, a natural global climate cycle occurring irregularly over several years, causes a shift in ocean currents in the tropical Pacific and alters global wind and rainfall patterns.
A bridge between cultures
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Journalists who report on scientific discoveries and the scientists who make them are, in many cases, separated by a Grand Canyon‐sized gap. A recent U.S. survey revealed that journalists believe that scientists' jargon prevents effective communication. Scientists polled in the same survey, conducted by Today Show host Jim Hartz and NASA scientist Rick Chappell, said that journalists need to do a better job of verifying facts and interpreting scientific results.

Panelists representing the scientific and media communities will discuss ways to bridge that gap during the “Science and the Media” episode of Freedom Speaks, to be aired by Public Broadcasting Stations in May and June (check your local listings).
Goosebumps?
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Before surfing the waves at the beach this summer, surf the World Wide Web to learn how warm or cold the ocean water might be. Without sticking a toe in, you'll know whether its ice water or bath water from temperatures placed on‐line by NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center in Silver Spring, Md. Water temperatures are available for beaches along the Atlantic Coast from Eastport, Maine, to Key West, Fla.; along the Gulf Coast from Key West to South Padre Island, Tex.; along the Pacific Coast from Seattle, Wash., to Scripps Pier, Calif. Data for Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and parts of Mexico are also given.
Reading the leaves
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Paleobotanical evidence is reversing previous ideas about the geologic history of the Basin and Range Province of Nevada. Rather than being uplifted within the last 5 million years, as previously thought, the Basin and Range Province collapsed from a higher elevation around 13 m.y.a., new evidence suggests. Much like palm readers inferring a lifestyle from lines on a hand, paleobotanists studied the shape and size of fossil leaves as clues to western Nevada's environment 15 million years ago. J.A. Wolfe of the University of Arizona and colleagues concluded that the plants grew at approximately 3 km above sea level, which is 1–1.5 km higher than western Nevada's present altitude.
Hurricane plenty
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

If new predictions for above‐average hurricane activity in 1997 materialize, the Atlantic Basin will have its most active 3‐year hurricane span ever recorded. Colorado State University hurricane forecasters, led by professor William Gray, predict that 11 tropical storms will form in 1997, and that seven will be hurricanes—three of them intense. If the team's prediction unfolds, the period between 1995–1997 will be the most active 3‐year period in the last 120 years of hurricane tracking—in contrast with 1991–1994, which was one of the calmest 4‐year periods.
Bottom of the iceberg
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the paths of icebergs adrift in the Arctic Ocean were more direct than they are today. Recent evidence suggests that ice in the Arctic now takes a more circuitous route, due to a change in ocean surface currents.

In the July 4 issue of Science, Jens F. Bischof and Dennis A. Darby of the Applied Marine Research Laboratory of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., report their analysis of Arctic ice core samples that represent a longterm sediment record of 560,000 to 780,000 years. They traced bits of debris now embedded in the cores that floated there on ice rafts to their likely sources.
Honoring exceptional educators
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Nominations for the 1998 Outstanding Undergraduate Science Teacher award are due September 22, 1997. Nominees, who must teach natural science at the undergraduate level, will be judged on teaching excellence, scholarship, and service.

The award, offered by the Society for College Science Teachers (SCST) and Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, will be given at the 1998 SCST/National Science Teachers Association annual convention in Las Vegas, Nev., held April 16–19.
Seismic alert
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

One aspect of a bipartisan bill recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would mandate that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) develop a prototype real‐time seismic warning system to enable sensitive facilities such as electric utilities and gas and rail lines to receive advance warnings of devastating earthquakes. The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program for 1998 and 1999, which the House Science Committee marked up on July 30, includes $6 million to develop this network of seismic sensors.
Looking for life
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

With meteorites and extreme environments on Earth providing tantalizing evidence about the possibility of life on other planets, NASA this month issued a draft notice to form an astrobiology institute.

The institute, which would include an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the United States and possibly other countries, will try to coordinate and encourage research in exobiology and evolutionary biology, according to NASA. The institute will explore such questions as how habitable worlds form and evolve, how the Earth and its biosphere influence each other, and how other biospheres can be recognized.
Better, faster, cheaper
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

In space research, as with other endeavors, the right answer often depends on the right question. NASA announced in August that it will design the second and third generation Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites closer to their launch dates—in part to make sure that the agency asks the best, and the latest, scientific questions.

Closing the gap between satellite design and launch from about 8 to 3 years will allow NASA to incorporate scientific data from earlier missions and use better and more compact instrument technology, says Bill Townsend, acting assistant administrator for the Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE). MTPE includes the EOS program, which studies Earth's land, oceans, atmosphere, and ice cover.
USGS considers moving Menlo Park programs
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has instructed the U.S. Geological Survey to examine options to relocate staff and programs at the agency's 16‐acre Menlo Park Facilities within 5 years. The agency was directed on August 21 to submit a preliminary action plan by September 25.

A memo from USGS Director Gordon Eaton states that Babbitt is concerned about high real estate costs in the Menlo Park area and the need for the agency to locate near other Interior and federal offices.
Nailing Pompeii
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Roman hihstorian Pliny the Younger noted that Mount Vesuvius blew its top and destroyed Pompeii in the early afternoon of August 24, 1,918 years ago. Now, a team of scientists, tempted by the certainty of that record, has confirmed the eruption to within 7 years. The team developed and used an improved radioactive argon‐argon dating technique, which they say can reliably establish the age of rocks as old as the solar system or as recent as 1,000 years old.

“We nailed the date to 5% on our first attempt, so we could probably get the error down to 1% or less,” says Paul Renne, adjunct associate professor of geology and geophysics at the University of California at Berkeley and director of the private Berkeley Geochronology Center. “Dating things that are really young has always been the Holy Grail of potassium‐argon [an earlier method] and argonargon dating.”
Lead levels reduced
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

A new study by the U.S. Geological Survey shows that lead concentrations in lakes and reservoirs across the country have declined by as much as 70% following the ban on unleaded gasoline and enactment of the Clean Air Act in the 1970s.

“This documents the results of major expenses on environmental improvement,” says USGS hydrologist Peter Van Metre.
Greenland winter‐over
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

At a remote outpost called Summit, the Sun sets from November until January, and winter temperatures can dip to −60°F or lower. The camp rests on an ice cap nearly 3.2 km (two miles) thick, 774 km (481 miles) from its supply point on Greenland's west coast. There, a crew of two science technicians, an electronics technician and a mechanic already has begun the first attempt supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to winter‐over in Greenland.
Data deposits
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Geologists at the University of Michigan have decoded a precise record of long‐term changes in Earth's ancient climate and ocean currents hidden inside dark, crusty deposits coating rocks on the Pacific ocean floor.

These deposits—called ferromanganese crusts—constitute an important new data source for geochemists who currently rely on ice cores and shells of microscopic ocean animals, among other sources, for data on Earth's paleoclimate, according to John Christensen, assistant research scientist in geological sciences at the University of Michigan. “The isotopic signature is distinctive. It's like adding different‐colored dyes to the ocean and tracking them as they swirl around,” he says.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Anthony J. Clark died recently, at age 67. He had been a member (Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism) since 1994.

Charles L. Drake died July 8, 1997, at age 73. He was a 1967 AGU Fellow (Seismology) who joined AGU in 1950.
AGU candidates for office, 1998”2000, Union officers
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Marcia K. McNutt. AGU member since 1976, Director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Major areas of interest are lithospheric tectonics and mantle geodynamics. B.A. in physics (Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude), 1973, Colorado College; Ph.D. in Earth science, 1978, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Researcher at U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, 1979–1982semi; Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1982–1997. Member of American Association for the Advancement of Science. Authored 74 publications, 45 in AGU journals. Most important publications include The Superswell and mantle dynamics beneath the South Pacific, Science, 248, 969–975,1990semi; Marine geodynamics: depth‐age revisited, Rev. Geophys., U.S. National Report Supplement, 413–418,1995; Mapping the descent of Indian and Eurasian plates beneath the Tibetan plateau from gravity anomalies, J. Geophys. plume theory to explain multiple episodes of stress‐triggered volcanism in the Austral Islands,

Nature, in press, 1997. Awarded Macelwane Medal, 1988; Doctor of Science (honoris causa), Colorado College, 1988; NSF Visiting Professorship for Women, Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory, 1989–1990semi; Griswold Professor of Geophysics, MIT, 1991–1997; Outstanding Alumni Award, The Blake Schools, Minneapolis, 1993; Capital Science Lecturer, Carnegie Institution, 1995; Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, 1996–1997; MIT School of Science Graduate Teaching Prize, 1996. AGU service as Associate Editor and Guest Editor of Journal of Geophysical Research‐Solid Earth, member of Program, Budget and Finance, and Audit and Legal Affairs committeessemi; chair of Publications and Macelwane committees, and President of the Tectonophysics Section.
Bargain breathing
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The Environmental Protection Agency released a report in October indicating that the benefits of the Clean Air Act far outweigh any costs of compliance. The report, issued to satisfy a Government Performance Monitoring Act requirement and to quiet critics' concerns about the price of health and environmental regulations, found that the costs of meeting Clean Air Act standards between 1970, when the law was passed, and 1990 totaled $523 billion while benefits from the Act's programs were about $22 trillion.

The latter figure represents the cost of avoided severe air quality conditions, dramatic increases in illness, and premature death, according to the agency.
Climate booklets available
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a new educational booklet in October called Our Changing Climate, which is the fourth publication in its series, Reports to the Nation on Our Changing Planet.

The booklet, primarily authored by University of Washington professor Dennis Hartmann, covers the greenhouse effect, El Niño, the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and other events linked to climate.
EPA rule could cut pollutants
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule on November 14 that it claims could nearly eliminate dioxin discharges into waterways and reduce other toxic pollutants into the air and water from 155 pulp and paper mills.

EPA estimates that results will include a 96% reduction in dioxin and a nearly 60% reduction in toxic air pollutants. Also, volatile organic compounds and sulfur emissions could be cut in half, with particulate matter cut by 37%.
Three‐dimensional magnetosphere movies
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Early next century, watching the “weather” in Earth's magnetosphere could be as commonplace as watching satellite imagery of cloud fronts marching across the landscape on the evening news.

Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, are leading a national team that is developing a pair of instruments to provide three‐dimensional imagery of changing conditions in the magnetosphere.
Greenhouse gases could affect ocean circulation
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The buildup of greenhouse gases could precipitate an abrupt collapse of the oceans' prevailing circulation system and send temperatures in Europe plummeting about 10° Celsius or more in a span of 10 years, says Wallace Broecker, professor of Earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University's Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory, and author of new research that appears in the November 28 issue of Science magazine.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

James B. Anderson died recently at age 70. He had been a member (Seismology) since 1986.

Joseph W. Berg, Jr. , died on November 14, 1997, at the age of 77. He had been a member (Seismology) since 1951.
Hot Web site for a warm topic
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has created another impressive Web site about the climate. The agency's new Internet site, “A Paleo Perspective on Global Warming,” is a solid starting‐off point for information on this topic, and places current warming trends in the perspective of past climatic changes.

The Web site includes reference material in the four broad categories of research, data, education, and other features. Within those categories is information about tree rings, corals, ice cores, and other research areas, archived news articles, and a good selection of links for further information.
World Bank discusses sustainable development
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Making changes at the World Bank has been compared to turning a supertanker in a narrow canal; it may take a while. But the global body that often has focused on massive—and sometimes environmentally destructive—infrastructure projects is giving a nod to the sustainable development of natural as well as human resources.

A March 10 Bank forum about the institution's policies on lending for the environment brought together several top Bank officials as well as some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that have both worked with the Bank and criticized some of its policies.
Draft report on Internet development available for comment
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Computer networking infrastructure investments commonly have been determined primarily by network developers rather than by the ultimate scientific users or public beneficiaries. This time around, however, as the National Science Foundation reevaluates its role in the development of high‐speed computing networks, the agency hopes to engage a broad segment of the research community in a national conversation on NSF's future involvement in advanced Internet development.
Storming ahead
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Fourteen tropical storms, nine hurricanes, and four intense hurricanes with winds above 111 mph. That's the forecast for hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin for the upcoming hurricane season which extends from June 1 through November 30, 1999, according to a Colorado State Hurricane Forecast team led by William Gray, professor of atmospheric science. The forecast supports an earlier report by the team.

Hurricane activity, said Gray will be similar to 1998—which yielded 14 tropical storms, 10 hurricanes, and 3 intense storms. These numbers are significantly higher than the long‐term statistical averages of 9.3, 5.8, and 2.2, annually.
Wild, scenic, and transcendental rivers
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

“A more lovely stream than this has never flowed on Earth,” 19th century American author Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about the confluence of the Assabet and Concord Rivers, streams that meander about 40 km west of Boston, Massachusetts.

Segments of these streams as well as the Assabet River became the newest additions to the U.S. National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, when President Bill Clinton signed into law the “Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Wild and Scenic River Act” on April 9.
Future forests
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

A new report by the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development says that forests can be managed in a sustainable manner that also provides for timber needs. The report, “Our Forests… Our Future,” calls for the establishment of a Forest Capital Index that would appraise the value of forests as more than just timber resources.
Coral choreography
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Viewers clicking onto the Waikiki Aquarium's “Coral Research Cam” any time during daylight hours in Hawaii can catch the latest action of three species of living corals (Acropora sp., Acropora elseyi,and Montipora digitata) and the yellow tang and blue tang fish swimming amongst them in an outdoor aquarium.

Waikiki Aquarium Director Bruce Carlson says the camera is part of a new exhibit, “Corals Are Alive!,” which encourages people to view living corals close‐up at the aquarium or via the Internet, in order to gain a better appreciation of the corals. “Hopefully through education and awareness, people will be more interested and willing to help with conservation efforts to preserve coral reefs,” says Carlson.
Life on Other Worlds: The 20th Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Life on Other Worlds: The 20th Century Extra‐terrestrial Life Debate is a condensed version, aimed at a more general audience, of the author's 1996 book, The Biological Universe: The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science. The focus indicated by the subtitle has been for the most part retained, although some of the more detailed philosophical analysis of ideas about extraterrestrial life has been omitted. References and footnotes have also been dropped. Added are a few brief comments on the ALH84001/life‐on‐Mars debate, which began shortly after the original book was published.
Honors
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A council that includes the heads of 12 United States federal agencies involved in funding ocean research or developing ocean research policy has called for the establishment of a national integrated and sustained ocean observing system.

Officials said the system should integrate new tools to monitor changes in the oceans' physical, biological, and chemical systems with the many already‐existing satellite and in situ observing elements. The system, they said, could improve long‐term climate forecasts, increase understanding of long and short‐term ocean phenomena, and help to answer some key questions concerning global warming.
Developing hazardous waste programs
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Developing a fully operational hazardous waste regulatory system requires at least 10 to 15 years—even in countries with strong legal and bureaucratic institutions, according to a report on “The Evolution of Hazardous Waste Programs,” which was funded by Resources for the Future (RFF) and the World Bank's South Asia Environment Group, and issued on June 4.

The report, which compares the experiences of how four developed and four developing countries have created hazardous waste programs, indicates that hazardous waste issues usually do not become a pressing environmental issue until after countries have dealt with more direct threats to public health, such as contaminated drinking water and air pollution. The countries examined include Indonesia, Thailand, Germany, and the United States.
Recent Ph.D.s
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A new partnership between the U.S. federal government and the State of Delaware will provide $10 million to improve the water quality of the watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and other water bodies.

The agreement, which establishes the Delaware Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), marks the eighth such partnership established since 1997 and brings the total U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investment in CREP programs to $1.45 billion for improving water quality and restoring wildlife habitat. USDA is expected to pay up to $8 million to enroll up to 6,000 acres in the Delaware CREP program.
Heyerdahl Award established
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Some awards are a dime a dozen. But a new international maritime environmental award established on June 6 through a collaboration between Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and the Norwegian Shipowners'Association (NSA) is worth considerably more money.

The Thor Heyerdahl Award, which will be presented for the first time in the year 2000 and then every other year, provides $100,000 to an organization or individual that has made a significant contribution to improving or conserving the maritime environment.
Oceanography colloquia series scheduled
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

An upcoming series of colloquia in the United States, called “Oceanography: The Making of a Science,” will look forward and backward as it celebrates and chronicles the history and future of oceanography

The series is scheduled to begin in October with a colloquium at the University of Washington, and with subsequent meetings at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego in November, the University of Miami in January 2000, and Texas A & M University in February 2000. A national meeting is set for Washington, D.C. next spring.
WHO says health and environment go together
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The health sector should take its rightful place at the core of the sustainable development agenda, Gro Harlem Brundtland, director‐general of the World Health Organization (WHO), told attendees at the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in London, England, on June 16.

Brundtland listed a series of major challenges to health and the environment on a global and regional basis. These challenges include the lack of adequate water supplies for one billion people worldwide and lack of proper sanitation facilities for three billion people, and at least one‐half million deaths worldwide each year due to outdoor air pollution.
Urban sustainability
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

A new study indicates that while the world's cities take up 2% of the Earth's surface, they account for about 78% of the carbon emissions from human activities, 76% of industrial wood use, and 60% of the water tapped for use by people.

“These figures suggest that the struggle to achieve an environmentally sustainable economy will be won or lost in the world's urban areas,” said Molly O'Meara, author of “Reinventing Cities for People and the Planet,” a report issued by the nonprofit Worldwatch Institute on June 19.
A sporting chance to fight haze
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Sometimes sports can open up the way for politicians to take action. Several decades ago, ping‐pong diplomacy helped to ease tensions between China and the United States. Now, it appears that the upcoming Southeast Asia Games (SEA Games) also may be wielding some influence in policy making.

Environment ministers from countries in the region and officials from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), hoping to keep the skies clear during the sporting competition in Brunei in August, on July 6 announced a plan to try to prevent forest fires and avert the dangerous levels of smog and haze that enveloped the region 2 years ago.
Etna avalanche deposit prompts call for hazard reassessment
Authors: Calvari S. , Tanner L. H.
Published: October 2011

A 10‐ka avalanche deposit has been discovered on the densely populated slopes of the Etna volcano in Sicily and, while regional seismicity and ground motion monitoring indicate short‐term risks are small, reassessment of the danger from flank collapse is needed. Such a study would more fully document the long‐term behavior of Etna and consequent long‐term hazards. The discovery also seems to have finally explained the origin of Etna's Valle del Bove (VDB),the configuration of which may mitigate any danger.

New geological data place the avalanche deposit at the exit of the VDB,on the seaward, or eastern, flank of the volcano (see Figure 1). Avalanches entering the sea have the potential to generate destructive tsunamis, which cause most of the fatalities resulting from volcanic flank collapse. However, since its formation, caused by a flank collapse which left a valley with near‐vertical walls, the VDB seems to have acted as a containment basin for mass flows originating in the valley.
Ranking asteroid threats
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

“Kiss your asteroid goodbye,” read the March 13, 1998, New York Post headline, which was far more sensational than Asteroid 1997 XF11's feared encounter with the Earth turned out to be. Fortunately, many other asteroids also have proven to be duds. But our pock‐marked planet provides proof that occasional chunks of rock do shake up things on the Earth. They also suggest that it might be prudent to have some sort of method for sizing up potential danger—a type of Richter scale for understanding the risks posed by asteroids and comets.

A new scale devised for rating the potential for near‐Earth object (NEO) collisions with the planet may help to better communicate risks to scientists and the general public, according to the scale's creator, Richard Binzel, professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Drinking up the data
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

In one advertisement, the headline above a clear glass of water reads, “Now it comes with a list of ingredients.” Another headline, positioned above a tipped water pitcher, reads, “Drinking water. Pour over the facts.”

These catchy ads are part of an educational campaign begun by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 19 to notify the public about the first annual Consumer Confidence Reports about tap water.
Outstanding student paper awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Seismology Section presented two outstanding student paper awards at the 1999 AGU Spring Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, last June.