bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ocean Sciences Section reorganizes
Authors: Brewer P.
Published: October 2006

On December 8, 1994, the AGU Council voted to approve a reorganization of the Ocean Sciences Section. The section has been subdivided to provide section members with a recognized voice in the affairs of the Union, recruit wisely for members to sit on the various committees, and evaluate Union policy statements for impact on the diverse membership, etc. The four new divisions represent physical oceanography, biological oceanography, marine chemistry, and marine geology and geophysics. Each division is to be represented by an elected secretary who will represent the interests of the subgroup as well as the health and vitality of the ocean sciences in general.
Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995)
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Hannes Alfvén, 1970 Nobel Laureate and 1988 Bowie Medalist, died April 2, 1995, in Stockholm, Sweden. Alfvén was the first scientist to receive a Nobel Prize for research in space science. He was honored for fundamental work in magneto‐hydrodynamics and for his discoveries in plasma physics.
Global change researchers assess projections of climate change
Authors: Barron Eric J.
Published: October 2006

In October 1994 climate researchers met at the Forum on Global Change Modeling to create a consensus document summarizing the debate on issues related to the use of climate models to influence policy. The charge to the Forum was to develop a brief statement on the credibility of projections of climate change provided by General Circulation Models. The Forum focused specifically on the climate aspects of the entire global change issue, not on emission scenarios, the consequences of change to ecosystems and natural resource systems, or the socio‐economic implications and potential for responses.

The Forum report put thoughts on this often divisive issue into perspective for use by the Government Accounting Office in developing and considering national policy options. The forum was organized in response to requests from the White House Office of Science and Technology by the Subcommitteeon Global Change Research, abranch of the new Committee on Earth and Natural Resources set up by the Clinton administration.
Magnetic motion
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Scientists have long been aware that the Earth's magnetic poles move ever so slightly every decade or so. However, the movement is thought to be so gradual that navigation devices are not affected. Now a team of researchers report that short‐lived periods of “astonishingly rapid field change” are possible. In fact, the field can move as much as 6° a day, which would challenge the most sophisticated of navigational tools, the team reports in the April 20 edition of Nature. On the basis of paleomagnetic data from lava flows at Steens Mountain, Oregon, R.S. Coe from the University of California at Santa Cruz and his colleagues at the University of Montpelier in France claim such rotations took place about 16.2 million years ago over an 8‐day period. Scientists have long been aware of the Earth's field reversals— when the magnetic north and south poles trade places. Such reversals occur every few hundred thousand years and take thousands of years to be complete. The Steens Mountain data indicate that the rapid shifts occurred during a magnetic reversal. But such shifts are clearly outside conventional geologic wisdom.
Global positioning finds applications in geosciences research
Authors: Ware Randolph , Businger Steve
Published: October 2006

Continuous global positioning satellite tracking networks are being established by a variety of national and international organizations to provide basic infrastructure for space‐age navigation, surveying, science, engineering, and atmospheric sensing. The emerging networks present opportunities for a variety of geoscience applications. To make the most of these opportunities, the geoscience community should clarify and communicate its research goals to organizations establishing global positioning networks.

Soon after the space age began, it was recognized that the orbits of satellites provided a valuable reference frame for global navigation systems. Today, the 24‐satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) operated by the Department of Defense is the most widely used system, followed by a smaller group of Russian satellites called GLONASS. These systems may be augmented by future commercial low‐Earth orbit communication and positioning satellite services.
Workshop held to expand the horizons of heterogeneity research
Authors: Silliman Stephen E.
Published: October 2006

Intermediate‐Scale Experiments (ISEs)—controlled experiments on porous media that contain physical and/or chemical heterogeneities—are valuable research tools for addressing transport and coupled processes hypotheses. ISEs' unique capabilities stand to benefit research in the scaling of measurements, the study of subsurface microbial populations, and the characterization of coupled processes. But although these experiments have been used for over a decade, applying them presents a number of challenges.

Much work lies ahead in making ISEs more applicable to field problems; increasing their interaction with theoretical, field, numerical, and batch‐scale efforts; scaling the knowledge gained from ISEs to interpret field‐scale mechanisms; and in developing nonintrusive and nondestructive sampling techniques. The biggest challenge is integrating ISEs into programs that incorporate a number of research techniques as well as several scales of measurement.
Jupiter: The Giant Planet
Authors: Johnson Torrence V.
Published: October 2006

In writing Jupiter: The Giant Planet, Reta Beebe accepted a tremendous challenge: to encapsulate our current understanding of the entire Jovian system and make it understandable to a diverse audience of both technical and nontechnical readers. She has succeeded remarkably well, and the book will reward readers of all levels of scientific background.

The book is a compact, high‐quality production, with a handsome cover dominated by Jupiter. The color plates are excellently reproduced and well chosen. The graphics and illustrations are clean and well integrated with the text. Some of the black and white photographs suffer from contrast problems but are mostly adequate for their purpose. A future edition of this work would benefit from using more recent digital versions of the Galilean satellite maps.
AGU moves further into the electronic age
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

One of the most ambitious tasks underway at AGU is the development of a prototype electronic journal that will incorporate animation and sound. (See the Editorial, front page, this issue.) This electronic journal will allow readers to assimilate information interactively and will give authors a forum in which to publish results that cannot be presented effectively in a traditional, printed journal.

The new journal is just one component of AGU's growing electronic communication arsenal. The Information Technology Committee gathered in March to assess the electronic products currently in development and to create a 3‐year action plan to move forward in this exciting arena.
Drifting buoys make discoveries about interactive processes in the Arctic Ocean
Authors: Honjo S. , Krishfield R. , Kemp J. , Takezawa T. , Hatakeyama K.
Published: October 2006

Observation of the Arctic ice and ocean environment, where the heat budget of the Northern Hemisphere is largely determined, is critical for advancing our understanding of global climatic change. Because the polar environment varies greatly over the course of a year, continuous observations are needed over the entire seasonal cycle, especially during the Arctic winter and early spring when the thermal contrast between sea water and atmosphere reaches a maximum.
Ward off?
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Earlier this month, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released its long‐awaited report on Ward Valley in California's eastern Mojave Desert. The report probably did as little to settle the dispute over the scientific and technical safety issues related to the low‐level radioactive waste site as it did to settle the debate over whether NAS panels are biased. The NAS committee found that groundwater contamination at the proposed site “appears to be highly unlikely,” but pointed out the shortcomings of several currently available data sets, explains Scott W. Tyler, a hydrologist at the Desert Research Institute at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a member the NRC's Ward panel. The panel determined that even if plutonium expected at the waste site reached the Colorado River at the same rate that it was disposed of, effects on river water quality would be “insignficant” relative to background radiation levels now in the river.
Mission in the works promises precise global topographic data
Authors: Farr Tom , Evans Diane , Zebker Howard , Harding Dave , Bufton Jack , Dixon Timothy , Vetrella Sergio , Gesch Dean
Published: October 2006

Significant deficiencies in the quality of today's topographic data severely limit scientific applications. Very few available data sets meet the stringent requirements of 10–30 m for global digital topography and 5 m or better vertical accuracy, and existing satellite systems are unlikely to fulfill these requirements. The Joint Topographic Science Working Group, appointed by NASA and the Italian Space Agency, concluded that radar interferometry coupled with a laser altimeter would be the most promising approach for improving data quality. By providing its own illumination at a wavelength Ion g enough to (e.g., λ = 25 cm) to penetrate clouds and rain, the interferometer would provide a global, uniform high‐quality topographic data set. One mission under study, TOPSAT, is well positioned to fill this niche and promises to pave the way toward a more standardized and precise topographic database. TOPSAT would be an international mission, designed to make use of recent technology advances in such programs as NASA's New Millennium. It could be ready to launch by the end of this decade.
Electromagnetic effects associated with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
Authors: Parrot M. , Fraser‐Smith A. C. , Molchanov O. A. , Yoshino T.
Published: October 2006

Seismo‐electromagnetic (SEM) effects are the electric and magnetic perturbations caused by the natural geophysical changes associated with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. These changes appear to take place predominantly in the interval between a few hours and a few days before the originating shock, and they could therefore be used as short‐term precursors when the phenomena involved are better understood. Traditionally, SEMs have stirred controversy among researchers. Understanding the generation mechanisms for these phenomena is difficult because a variety of very different physical processes are involved: plasma waves, wave propagation, rock physics, and seismology. Moreover, not all earthquakes and volcanic eruptions appear to produce such perturbations before their onset.
[Comment on “Looking at gender distribution among AGU Fellows”] An open letter to Ellen Druffel
Authors: Russell C. T.
Published: October 2006

I would like to congratulate you on your excellent study of the gender distribution of AGU Fellows [Eos, Sept. 13, 1994]. However, I must take issue with your interpretation of some of the data. First of all you concentrate on the inequity in the awarding of AGU Fellowships. I, on the other hand, look at Figure 3 with amazement that, considering the obstacles in women's careers, the ratios are as good as they are. If you added only one 80‐year‐old woman, two 70‐year‐old women, two 60‐year‐olds and four 50‐year‐olds, the curves would look almost identical. Surely, it would be possible this year to elect 9 women to Fellowship out of the 30 Fellows to be elected. This change seems possible especially in sections like GP and Hydrology that clearly have a surplus of good female candidates, since none have been elected for some time. I think that the deficit can quickly be eliminated with just a modicum of attention to identifying the previously overlooked candidates and securing nominations for them. The following is some advice on the process, based on my nomination of two female candidate Fellows, one of whom was successful and one of whom thus far has not been successful.
Reply [to “An open letter to Ellen Druffel” and to “A second look at gender distribution among AGU Fellows”]
Authors: Druffel Ellen R. M.
Published: October 2006

The purpose of my brief article [Druffel, 1994] was to inform AGU members of gender inequity within the AGU Fellows. I raised the question 2 years ago, then assembled the statistics and reported the results to the Fellows Committee. At their recommendation, I wrote the article for Eos to report the facts. The reasons for this inequity were intended to be discussed separately. Deming presents several hypotheses that he feels may explain the inequity. I address them below.
Ancient River revealed
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Recent flights of the Spaceborne Imaging Radar‐C/X‐band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR‐C/X‐SAR) mission aboard the space shuttle Endeavour discovered a previously unknown branch of an ancient river. The images, released at AGU's Spring Meeting, show the river channel buried under thousands of years worth of windblown sand in a region of North Africa's Sahara Desert near the Kufra Oasis in southeast Libya, centered at 23.3°N latitude, 22.9°E longitude. The image from the flight last October reveals a system of old, now inactive stream valleys, called “paleodrainage systems,” which carried running water northward across the Sahara during periods of wetter climate.
WMO Conference averts a “data war”
Authors: Wakefield Julie
Published: October 2006

Negotiations at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Conference in Geneva during the past few weeks appear to have averted an all‐out “data war” over the exchange of international weather data—at least for now.

Last week, policymakers were moving toward a compromise position, consistent with the U.S. position going into the conference. The compromise position would continue to support a policy of free and open exchange of data and would render unnecessary the European proposal to set up a two‐tier system for the exchange of weather data. In addition, the compromise position would recognize the right of any country to place restrictions on its data through licensing and copyright agreements.
Nuclear explosions in a geologic repository? Peer review meets politics and the press
Authors: Applegate David
Published: October 2006

When the popular press picks up an article from /Science or Nature, the increased exposure produces a wider understanding about what scientists do and how science is important to society. Although problems may sometimes arise in the translation, in general the results are highly beneficial to both the scients and the public. A murkier case is media coverage of an ongoing scientific debate, where a reporter may be tempted to focus on the controversy rather than educate readers on the underlying science.
[Comment on ’”Debate over free exchange of data roils geohysical world” by Julie Wakefield”] Geophysics data: Neither free nor cheap in today's political, economic climate
Authors: Hoskins Hartley
Published: October 2006

A Feb. 14, 1995, Eos article, “Debate Over Free Exchange of Data Roils Geophysical World,” discussed a controversial proposal to develop a three‐tiered system for meteorological data exchange. In response to the call for related Forum pieces, I offer the following comments.

Environmental data does not come cheap. The real costs of environmental data are frequently “buried” in the budgets of the multipurpose infrastructures that gather the information. Costs include instrumentation and calibration, siting and access, technical support, and data processing. Many producers and consumers probably do not know the actual “cost per information unit.” Smart systems, with communications links, are reducing acquisition costs; but the trend is countered by increasingly sophisticated and costly sensor technology and acquisition schemes.
Sakhalin earthquake renews concerns about seismic safety in the former Soviet Union
Authors: Leith William
Published: October 2006

On May 28,1995, a shallow, Ms = 7.6 earthquake struck the northeastern portion of Sakhalin Island, which lies north of Japan in the western part of the Sea of Okhotsk. Most of the oil town of Neftegorsk (Figure 1) was leveled; of its 3000 inhabitants, as many as 2000 may have died. This earthquake is the worst natural disaster to strike the former Soviet Union since 1988, when an Ms = 6.8 earthquake occurred in a populated region of Armenia, killing more than 25,000.

Building damage was reported as far north as Okha, 125 kilometers north of Neftegorsk. Ground shaking ruptured the main oil pipeline in at least twelve places between the epicentral area and Okha, and caused the spillage of oil from a storage tank.
EOS report card
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Despite that recently released reviews of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MPE) expressed concerns about the cost and direction of the program—as have House Republicans, the program seems to be more popular in the Senate. The Senate Commerce Subcommittee held a supportive hearing on MPE earlier this month. Chaired by Conrad Burns (R‐Mont.), the subcommittee heard testimony lauding the mission. Burns, himself, stated that the MPE has the potential to “pay for itself.” On the critical side, House Science Committee Chair Robert S. Walker (R‐Pa.) released a preliminary General Accounting Office (GAO) report and a report from the Marshall Institute that questioned NASA's intentions to reduce costs of the program.
Two receive Horton Research Grants
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Alan D. Ziegler and Julie K. Sueker were both presented Horton Research Grants during the AGU 1995 Spring Meeting in Baltimore, Md., which was held May 30 to June 2. This annual research grant, which is separate from the Horton Award, supports re search projects in hydrology and water resources by doctoral candidates at the academic institutions. The Horton Research Grant fosters graduate student research leading to the completion of doctoral dissertations.
[Comment on “Ward Off?”] More on Ward Valley
Authors: Powers Dennis W.
Published: October 2006

The May 23rd Eos “In Brief” could have been considerably more informative about Ward Valley and the work of the NAS panel in reviewing issues raised about the proposed site. The article should have included more comprehensive discussion by the scientific participants who reviewed the technical issues involved. In addition, the article raised two very different subjects—safety issues at Ward Valley and alleged bias of NAS panels—but did not separate the subjects well. Readers may not have distinguished between the Ward Valley panel and the NAS Board on Radioactive Waste Management in the question of bias. In addition, the nature of the reported‐on attacks on scientific and personal integrity of the scientists may well discourage qualified but thinner‐skinned geoscientists from public service on panels.
Experiment tests use of acoustics to monitor temperature and ice in Arctic Ocean
Authors: Mikhalevsky Peter N. , Baggeroer Arthur B. , Gavrilov Alexander , Slavinsky Mark
Published: October 2006

A recent experiment conducted to test whether Arctic Ocean temperature change and sea ice thickness and roughness can be monitored using long‐range, low‐frequency acoustics was a resounding success. The Transarctic Acoustic Propagation (TAP) experiment, conducted in April 1994, showed that acoustic thermometry can be used to collect year‐round data in this critical, sensitive part of the global climate system.

The oceanographic structure of the Arctic and the depth distribution of the acoustic modes make the Arctic especially suitable for acoustic thermometry. In fact, acoustic thermometry has many advantages for collecting climate data in the Arctic over satellite, icebreaker, or submarine. Longterm observations of the changes in acoustic phase, travel time, and amplitude of many transarctic paths could provide synoptic measurements of Arctic Ocean temperature and sea ice properties, particularly average ice thickness [Mikhalevsky et al., 1991]. Arctic Ocean temperature change is impossible to obtain with satellites, and synoptic longterm monitoring is difficult and expensive with ice breakers and submarines.
[Comment on “New Moon”] “New” Lunar knowledge not so new
Authors: Wildey Robert L.
Published: October 2006

The December 13, 1995, Eos “In Brief” column refers to the “new” establishment of knowledge of the geometrical dependence of the Moon's diffuse reflectivity for phase angles under 1.5°, normally inaccessible to Earth‐based observation because of lunar eclipse, as derived by Bonnie Buratti using Clementine data. This knowledge was first “new” 26 years ago when my colleagues and I derived it as members of the Apollo Orbital Photographic Reconnaissance Team [Pohn et al., 1969; Wildey and Pohn, 1969]. Although a good deal larger than Clementine and in a lower lunar orbit, the Apollo Command Module was also a negligible source of shadow as seen from the lunar surface against a 1/2° wide Sun and thus permitted the derivation without worry of eclipse by the 2° wide Earth.
Gravity and isostatic anomaly maps of Greece produced
Authors: Lagios E. , Chailas S. , Hipkin R. G.
Published: October 2006

A gravity anomaly map of Greece was first compiled in the early 1970s [Makris and Stavrou, 1984] from all available gravity data collected by different Hellenic institutions. However, to compose this map the data had to be smoothed to the point that many of the smaller‐wavelength gravity anomalies were lost. New work begun in 1987 has resulted in the publication of an updated map [Lagios et al., 1994] and an isostatic anomaly map derived from it.

The gravity data cover the area between east longitudes 19° and 27° and north latitudes 32° and 42°, organized in files of 100‐km squares and grouped in 10‐km squares using UTM zone 34 coordinates. Most of the data on land come from the gravity observations of Makris and Stavrou [1984] with additional data from the Institute of Geology and Mining Exploration, the Public Oil Corporation of Greece, and Athens University. These data were checked using techniques similar to those used in compiling the gravity anomaly map of the United States, but the horizontal gradient was used as a check rather than the gravity difference. Marine data were digitized from the maps of Morelli et al. [1975a, 1975b]. All gravity anomaly values are referred to the IGSN‐71 system, reduced with the standard Bouger density of 2.67 Mg/m3. We estimate the errors of the anomalies in the continental part of Greece to be ±0.9 mGal; this is expected to be smaller over fairly flat regions. For stations whose height has been determined by leveling, the error is only ±0.3 mGal. For the marine areas, the errors are about ±5 mGal [Morelli, 1990].
Getting involved in the Public Policy Process
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

It is no secret that Congress is seeking ways to cut the budget. Many programs are being assessed for possible reductions, if not outright elimination. The sciences are not immune from this reality; they may be especially susceptible because of the distance scientists have kept from the public policy process. For years, funding for science programs was constant and many scientists sat on the sidelines of the give‐and‐take of the authorization and appropriations processes. A sense of complacency or of being above the fray settled in; now, Congressional support could be lost.
1994 Editors' citations: Excellence in refereeing
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The reviewers whose photographs appear below have been cited by editors of AGU journals for excellence in refereeing. The editor's citation recognizes this special service to the Union, and the individuals listed below are to be commended for consistently providing constructive and thoughtful reviews. They were recognized at the Spring Meeting in Baltimore, Md.
Bering Glacier resumes its surge
Authors: Molnia Bruce F.
Published: October 2006

Bering Glacier has started to surge again following a 7‐month period of minor retreat and near‐stagnation. Part of the terminus advanced about 750 m between May 19 and June 1.

Bering—the largest surging temperate glacier on Earth—recently experienced a major, 17‐month‐long surge that ended in September 1994. That surge displaced the terminus by a maximum of about 9 km and caused a substantial increase in iceberg production. It also covered the islands within Vitus Lake completely or partially with ice [Eos, 74, 321–322, 521; Eos, 75, 549] and caused significant changes in the lake's size, bathymetry, hydrology, and water chemistry. The latest surge is overriding two of these islands, which are home to many species of waterfowl, including the endangered dusky snow goose, at the peak of the nesting season.
Proposed changes to AGU Bylaws
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

A number of changes to AGU's Bylaws were approved by Council at its June 1, 1995, meeting. Before changes to the Bylaws can become effective, they must be published for the membership and then be voted upon affirmatively a second time by Council. Comments on the Bylaw changes under consideration may be addressed to the Statutes and Bylaws Committee at AGU headquarters. Committee members are John R. Ritter, Chair; John S. Dickey, Jr.; Timothy E. Eastman; Kenneth Fox; Stephen C. Komor; and Leonard J. Pietrafesa.

The full statement of the Statutes and Bylaws as amended through May 1994 is published in the AGU Handbook, supplement to Eos, January 31, 1995.
Workshop revisits topographic effects in the ocean
Authors: Müller P. , Holloway G.
Published: October 2006

The influence of seafloor topography on ocean circulation is greater than previously thought. Recent advances, driven by intense observational efforts and powerful numerical simulations, show the crucial role that topography plays in abyssal circulations, mixing, ocean‐shelf exchanges, and the rectification of time‐dependent flows.
Hurley receives Bucher Medal
Authors: Bowring Samuel A. , Hurley Patrick M.
Published: October 2006

Patrick M. Hurley was awarded the Walter H. Bucher Medal at the AGU Spring Meeting Honors Ceremony on May 31 in Baltimore. The Bucher Medal recognizes original contributions to the basic knowledge of the Earth's crust. The award citation and Hurley's response are given here.
Three brine lakes discovered in the seafloor of the eastern Mediterranean
Authors:   MEDRIFF Consortium
Published: October 2006

Three lakes of concentrated brine were discovered in the seabed of the Mediterranean Ridge, southwest of Crete in late 1993 and early 1994. These lakes have a distinctive appearance on side‐scan sonar images with no backscattering from the lake surface and enhanced backscattering at their edges (Figure 1). Measurements with conductivity‐temperature‐depth (CTD) and heat flow probe show in one case a near‐isothermal temperature for the lake water and in another thermal layering. The chemistry of the brines varies in each lake and shows that the brines are derived from selective solution of different parts of the Messinian evaporites that lie beneath the seafloor. Flow of seawater through the sediments containing the Messinian evaporites appears to be required to form the lakes.
Instructional computing in space physics moves ahead
Authors: Russell C. T. , Omidi N.
Published: October 2006

As the number of spacecraft stationed in the Earth's magnetosphere exponentiates and society becomes more technologically sophisticated and dependent on these spacebased resources, both the importance of space physics and the need to train people in this field will increase.

Space physics is a very difficult subject for students to master. Both mechanical and electromagnetic forces are important. The treatment of problems can be very mathematical, and the scale sizes of phenomena are usually such that laboratory studies become impossible, and experimentation, when possible at all, must be carried out in deep space. Fortunately, computers have evolved to the point that they are able to greatly facilitate instruction in space physics.
Anders receives Hess Medal
Authors: Cameron A. G. W. , Anders Edward
Published: October 2006

Edward Anders was awarded the Harry H. Hess Medal at the AGU Spring Meeting Honors Ceremony on May 31 in Baltimore. The Hess Medal recognizes outstanding achievements in research in the constitution and evolution of Earth and its sister planets. The award citation and Anders' response are given here.
1995 Procedure for nominating Fellows
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

In 1994, there was a new procedure for nominating members of AGU for Fellowship for 1995. The new procedure was intended to increase the number of nominees. It required an initial nomination consisting only of a one‐page letter and one‐page cv. The Sections could make their selections prior to developing complete nomination packages for those candidates to be forwarded to the Union Committee. The timing of the process was changed so that Section committees would have more time to develop complete packages prior to forwarding their recommendations to the Union Committee.
New instrument platform tested at Mid‐Atlantic Ridge
Authors: Rudnicki M. D. , German C. R. , Kirk R. E. , Sinha M. , Elderfield H. , Riches S.
Published: October 2006

BRIDGET, a deep‐towed instrument platform for water column studies in the deep ocean, was deployed for the first time at a recently discovered hydrothermally active vent site in the axial valley of the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge. Its ability to tow and to closely control sampling devices and sensors should lead to more detailed plume mapping and better sampling of the water column above active hydrothermal sites.

In September 1994 BRIDGET was deployed at the Rainbow vent site, which is located [German et al., 1994] south of the Azores at 36°;15′N. The hydrothermal activity is located at Rainbow Ridge, a topographic high that rises to 2000 m depth from the valley floor at >3000 m depth (Figure 1). Preliminary interpretation of side‐scan sonar data [Parson et al., 1994] suggests that Rainbow does not appear to be part of a currently active axial volcanic ridge.
Very deep freeze
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Ice‐core drillers at Russia's Vostok Station, atop the great ice sheet of East Antarctica, recently passed 3000 m—a depth at which the ice is about 300,000 years old. The depths of the Vostok ice core, when extracted, will reveal much older ages than the deep cores of the Greenland ice sheet, which were collected several years ago. Analysis of the Vostok cores over the past decade by Russian, U.S., and French scientists has yielded unique information about environmental and climatic changes over the last interglacial period.
Outstanding student paper
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

One presentation in the Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Section was named Outstanding Student Paper at AGU's Spring Meeting in Baltimore, Md.

Weixin Xu was honored for his presentation of “Alteration of fine‐grained tianomagnetite in the interstitial glass of pillow basalts from the Atlantic Ocean: A component of the decrease in NRM intensity with aging.” Xu attended the Zhejiang University in China, where he obtained a B.A. in geology. He received an M.S. in petroleum geologyo in July 1985 from the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Beijing, China. In September 1991, he started a Ph.D. program in rock magnetism at the University of Michigan. His research involves the use of electron microscopy, XRD, and rock magnetic measurements, and the study of magnetic minerals in mid‐Atlantic ocean floor basalts, Stillwater gabbros, and Rocky Mountain carbonates.
Land surface process models discussed in interdisciplinary forum
Authors: Henderson‐Sellers A.
Published: October 2006

The treatment of processes in numerical models of the land‐surface is largely determined by the spatial and temporal resolution of the model employed in the “host” environment. Atmospheric models have short time steps (less than 0.5 hours), but large spatial resolution of tens to hundreds of kilometers due to numerical and dynamical constraints. Hydrological and ecosystem models operate under other constraints and have time steps on the order of days to months. Because their numerics are relatively simple compared to those of atmospheric models, there is more flexibility in specifying their spatial resolution, which is often constrained by the availability of spatially explicit data sets. Ecological models focus on still longer time scales but treat complex processes such as photosynthesis.
The Air Force's Geophysics Directorate: A 50th anniversary retrospective
Authors: Liehowitz Ruth P.
Published: October 2006

The Air Force organization for geophysical research and development celebrated its 50th anniversary in mid‐September. Best known to the scientific community under its earlier names, the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories (AFCRL) and the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory (AFGL), the organization is now the Geophysics Directorate of the Air Force's Phillips Laboratory.
Citation for Vladimir Cermak: 1995 AGU Flinn Award
Authors: Pollack Henry N. , Cermák Vladìmír
Published: October 2006

“Vladimìr Cermák, Director of the Geophysical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, has for many years played a most remarkable role in bringing Earth scientists from the Eastern and Western Bloc countries together for scientific interactions. However anachronistic the concept of East and West political divisions may seem today, there are many who remember the nearly insuperable obstacles that prevented scientific exchange between those groups for decades prior to 1989. Vladimìr Cermák, through his organizing of small conferences and workshops in Czechoslovakia, accomplished the impossible. Through some extraordinarily deft diplomacy, Cermák obtained funding, secured visas, and mastered arcane currency regulations to enable small groups to meet in splendid castles and elegant country homes in rural Bohemia, facilities without urban distractions which had been placed under the custodianship of the Czech Academy of Science to serve as scientific retreats. Three meetings in the course of a decade stand out: at Liblice in 1982, and at Bechyne in 1987 and 1991, all dealing in general with heat flow and thermal aspects of lithospheric structure. These meetings were not just for prominent senior scientists, though of course many were in attendance. Of special significance were the opportunities for younger researchers to surmount the barriers that had been erected by forces well beyond the sphere of science. As one West German remarked as a graduate student in 1982, ‘I remember well how impressed I was…to learn the details of the daily personal and scientific life of an east German colleague of my own age.’ Cermák knew intuitively that the future belonged to the young, and he wanted to nurture their enthusiasm and stimulate their creativity.
Chinese CFCs
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

China has announced that it will accelerate its plans to phase out ozone‐depleting substances by 5 years, moving the deadline from 2010 to 2005. Government officials indicated that a recent influx of financial aid pledges from international donors would enable the nation's home appliance industry to make the equipment upgrades and conversions necessary to implement a quicker phase‐out.

The announcement came from Jiang Feng, home appliance production chief of the Chinese General Association of Light Industry, who declared that the nation would no longer use CFCs in refrigerators after 2005. According to the China News Service, China is currently the largest producer of ozone‐depleting substances of the developing nations of the world.
Appropriations for science move ahead in Congress
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Both the House and the Senate have acted on HR 1977, the FY 1996 Interior Department Appropriations Bill, which includes funding for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Because each chamber produced its own version of the bill, a conference committee of members must reconcile differences between the versions. When the conference committee has completed its work, the bill will be sent back to each chamber for a final vote.

In the House version, USGS received a total of $686.9 million. However the National Biological Survey funds comprised $112.9 million, leaving $574 million for the original USGS functions. The Senate approved the $577.5 million for USGS, without the Biological Survey.
Uses and abuses of house journals
Authors: Hide Raymond
Published: October 2006

Through regular issues of “house journals” such as Eos, most major scientific societies provide their members with wide‐ranging information about events, people, and developments in relevant areas of research. Particularly useful are supplements giving abstracts of presentations made at scientific meetings, but the practical impossibility of subjecting such abstracts to strict refereeing procedures gives rise to some concern. Meeting abstracts reputedly enjoy a much wider readership and are generally more influential with funding agencies and other bodies than are detailed accounts of scientific work published in fully refereed journals.
House Science Committee Acts on NIST Laboratories
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Committees in both chambers of Congress are considering bills to dismantle the Department of Commerce, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The main bill in the House, HR 1756, sponsored by Rep. Dick Chrysler (R‐Mich.), has been referred to 11 different committees, each of which has jurisdiction over some part of it. In September, the House Science Committee, chaired by Robert Walker (R‐Pa.), held a hearing on the proposal and marked up the portions of Chrysler's bill relating to science and technology.

In addition to abolishing the Commerce Department, Chrysler's bill would mandate selling NIST's laboratories and those of NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research “to a private sector entity intending to perform substantially the same functions as were performed by the laboratories.” It also would terminate NIST's Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).
Interdisciplinary atmospheric research featured at IUGG Meeting
Authors: Roper Robert
Published: October 2006

In spite of the general climate of uncertainty that exists almost world‐wide about future funding for atmospheric research, the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) continues to serve as a focal point and clearinghouse for both fundamental and applied research, principally through its sponsorship of meetings and symposia.

At the recent International Union of Geophysics and Geodesy Assembly in Boulder, Colo., IAMAS jointly sponsored a number of symposia and sessions spanning the breadth and depth of the IAMAS involvement in science. Ranging from ocean and atmosphere‐global change through clouds, convection and large scale flows, radiation budget studies and land surface process modeling, to remote sensing algorithms in hydrology, the effects of Pinatubo, equatorial atmosphere and ionosphere interactions, middle atmosphere dynamics and chemistry, and climate variability and forcing, the interdisciplinary nature of IAMAS involvement is obvious. Even the “IAMAS only” sponsored sessions, on such topics as tropospheric ozone, atmospheric electrodynamics, the boundary layer and its mesoscale impact, stratospheric processes and their role in climate, and atmosphere‐ocean behavior have interdisciplinary complexities and are of major importance to humanity and the sustainability of the environment.
Volunteers build AGU
Authors: Spilhaus Fred
Published: October 2006

This is the first in a series of occasional articles about AGU as an organization—what we do, how we are funded, what our long‐term goals are. Watch for articles on similar topics in future issues of Eos.
The dark side of the Solar Flare Myth
Authors: Reames D. V.
Published: October 2006

Gosling [1993, 1994] reviewed the growing observational evidence that traveling interplanetary shocks, large solar energetic particle (SEP) events, and large nonrecurrent geomagnetic storms are produced by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), not by solar flares. The growing evidence for CMEs as the cause of these phenomena constituted a declaration of independence from the flare community, and certainly squelched the attitude of benign neglect that had beset interplanetary phenomena and observations. In one case it produced hostile dismay that [Jack Gosling and a few other revisionists] would [wage an assault on the last 30 years of solar‐flare research] based on the [low‐grade optical data that the CME people use] [Zirin, 1994]. Calmer objections were raised by Hudson, Haisch, and Strong [1995], who accept the interplanetary consequences of CMEs but suggest that [it is shortsighted to distinguish CMEs and flares.]
Pioneers in ozone research receive Nobel Prize in chemistry
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded its 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry to three AGU members for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone. Only one other Nobel prize has ever been awarded in the realm of atmospheric research. The honorees are professors Paul Crutzen of the Max‐Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany; Mario Molina of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and F. Sherwood Rowland of the University of California, Irvine. The Academy credits the three with contributing to “our salvation from a global environmental problem that could have catastrophic consequences.”
House considers science authorization
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The House of Representatives will soon consider a massive science authorization bill. It is uncertain what will become of this legislation, but the bill is notable for its attempt to broadly set science policy and funding priorities.

H.R. 2405, the Omnibus Civilian Science Authorization Act of 1995, was introduced by House Science Committee Chairman Robert Walker (R‐Pa.) on September 27. Joining Walker in cosponsoring the bill are his four subcommittee chairs: Constance Morella (R‐Md.), Steven Schiff (R‐N.Mex.), Dana Rohrabacher (R‐Calif.), and James Sensenbrenner (R‐Wis.). The bill is a combination of seven authorization bills which the committee has previously considered, setting forth the funding limits and program direction for some or all of the programs of the National Science Foundation, NASA, Department of Energy, National Institue of Standards and Technology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Fire Administration.
The Variability of Large Alluvial Rivers
Authors: Costa John E.
Published: October 2006

Do you know of a major river with tremendous suspended sediment loads that drains the center of a nation and serves as the drainage divide between two smaller rivers? Where do seasonal trade winds blow flood‐deposited sands upstream onto a river's floodplains and in‐channel bars, later to be retransferred downstream? Can you name a major nonbedrock river whose 23 significant meanders have been cut off? This same river has been buried in debris from a major volcanic eruption, has annual sediment yields of 3,100 tons per square kilometer, and is absolutely stable in planform. Give up? If you are bewildered, don't miss The Variability of Large Alluvial Rivers. This wonderful book answers these and other integral questions about nineteen major rivers on five continents.
Remedies proposed for China's groundwater problems
Authors: Loaiciga Hugo A.
Published: October 2006

Groundwater experts and hydrologists from China and 10 other nations recently gathered in Beijing to exchange state‐of‐the‐art scientific and technological knowledge on groundwater hydrology, modeling, remediation, and management. The participants also reviewed groundwater environmental conditions in China, identified key problems, and made recommendations to help guide the nation's groundwater policy.

The Regional Workshop on Ground Water Contamination, held from July 31 to August 4, 1995, was the fifth of a series of regional workshops sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment of the United Nations Environmental Program. Earlier workshops were held in Thailand (1991), Costa Rica (1993), the Czech Republic (1994), and Australia (1994).
Input sought to improve meteorological algorithms
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Now that the installation of the national Weather Surveillance Radar‐1988 Doppler (WSR‐88D) network is nearing completion, the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) program is developing plans to improve the initial suite of meteorological algorithms. To keep abreast of developments in the research community and to assess unfulfilled or new operational requirements, a survey is being taken of all organizations involved in algorithm‐related work. Responses are requested by December 1, 1995.
Recent warming event in the Pacific may be an El Niño
Authors: Timothy Liu W. , Tang Wenqing , Fu Lee‐Lueng
Published: October 2006

A recent anomalous warming event in the tropical Pacific consists of a series of intraseasonal episodes, observations from four spaceborne sensors and simulation by an ocean general circulation model show. Four distinct groups of equatorial westerly wind anomalies near the date line were observed by scatterometer from July through December 1994. The wind anomalies initiated eastward propagating, downwelling Kelvin waves. These waves, in turn, caused a rise in sea level that was registered by an altimeter. Surface‐warming episodes related to the Kelvin waves were observed by a visible‐infrared radiometer.

Unlike the El Niño events of the 1980s, equatorial warming events in the 1990s are more frequent, last for shorter periods, and are less intense. Whether the 1994 warming can be classified as an El Niño is being debated.
Small watersheds used to study water transport, pollution, more
Authors: Church M. Robbins
Published: October 2006

As John Muir, the eminent American naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club wrote, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” Attempting to understand and predict the response of an ecosystem to large‐scale stresses such as acid deposition, nonpoint source pollution, or climate change exemplifies this truth. This effort requires the integration of knowledge from a range of physical and biological sciences spanning hydrology and geochemistry to microbial and community ecology.

One approach to studying ecosystems is to divide the landscape into small watersheds, which enables input and output budgets for solutes to be constructed. Such budgets can constrain the the problem of comprehending and quantifying mechanisms operating in the ecosystem. The hydrochemistry and biogeochemistry of small watersheds are the subject of “Comparative Analyses of Small Watersheds,” session H‐16 of the Fall Meeting.
Tuned in, turned off?
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Just two months before entry into orbit around Jupiter, NASA's Galileo spacecraft has grown temperamental again. Already troubled by a high‐gain antenna that would not open and a primary computer that periodically reset itself, the Galileo flight team now must solve a potential problem with the spacecraft's data tape recorder.

Engineering data returned on October 11 suggest that the recorder did not stop after being commanded to rewind. The spacecraft had shot three photographs of Jupiter and its major moons from 35 million km and stored the images. While preparing the tape's contents for radio transmission back to Earth, the recorder began rewinding and would not stop, making playback impossible.