bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ODP‐KTB Petrophysical Workshop: A blueprint for interprogram collaboration
Authors: Worthington Paul F.
Published: October 2006

The international Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and the Continental Deep Drilling Program of the Federal Republic of Germany (KTB) are large exploration projects in which core‐calibrated borehole measurements play an important scientific role. In the organizations that run both projects, separate working groups are responsible for planning the borehole logging program, supervising the downhole operations, stimulating the research and development of interpretation methods, and initiating new tool designs and developments.

These groups came together September 13–15, 1989, for a meeting at the KTB drill site laboratory in Windischeschenbach, Oberpfalz, FRG. Conveners were Ralph Hänel (NLfB, Hannover, FRG) and Paul F. Worthington (BP Research Centre, Sunbury‐on‐Thames, U.K.) About 50 scientists attended. They agreed that integrated working groups be established, through which the two programs could collaborate even more closely in borehole logging.
Media makes fiction of science?
Authors: McPeak William J.
Published: October 2006

President Dalrymple's editorial (Eos, Jan. 29) refers to the sometimes daunting challenge of the relationship among the scientific community, the media, and the public. True to its perplexing subjective objectivity, the media chose deference to the so‐called earthquake expert of the unrealized New Madrid event, who was described matter‐of‐factly as a “trained biologist, now climatologist,”! and along with the latter, an equally untrained seismologist. His exposition of earthquake causes more of ancient than modern science, the pseudo‐expert was described by the local media as “on vacation” at the time his forecast went “bust.” The media, uncharacteristically, provided no “follow‐up” analysis. Let off the hook once again, the newsworthy realm of pseudo‐science is primed for another outing.
How to prepare author‐produced copy for JGr papers
Authors: Royden Leigh H. , McNutt Marcia K.
Published: October 2006

We would like to share with other AGU members instructions that we have “successfully” used in preparing about 10 manuscripts for the Journal of Geophysical Research with a Macintosh computer and Microsoft Word 4. We take no responsibility for the accuracy of these instructions and would appreciate any improvements that other users might suggest.

An easy way to make author‐produced copy for JGR is to use 12 point Times Roman type and reduce the final version on the LaserWriter when you print it. This saves your eyes on the Mac and also means that you do not have to change any of the Greek letters, etc., to another size, which can be a real pain. (Subscript sizing can also be difficult.) You can also proofread at an unreduced scale, which is easier than proofing small type. If you are clever about how you initially set your equations, they will not need to be changed at all for final copy.
The Earth's Climate and Variability of the Sun Over Recent Millennia
Authors: Rust David M.
Published: October 2006

At the outer limits of the range of topics covered in these proceedings from a joint meeting of the British Royal Society and the French Academie des Sciences lie speculation and inaccessible places and times. The causes of the Sun's variability are hidden beneath its surface, and we can only speculate about whether solar magnetism, which provides the energy for the variations, is generated just below the surface or is a remnant of an ancient magnetism trapped in the core. An equally distant and inaccessible sphere is the gassy envelope around the prehistoric Earth where changes in climate presumably drove early man to alter his habits and homes. But as P. I. Kuniholm writes in this volume, climate change has often been appealed to in accounting for phenomena that cannot otherwise be accounted for. Archaeologists never imagined that physicists would try to reconstruct the Sun's past from such speculations. Between the two extremes of ignorance, however, a solid foundation is being built for a scientific account of the Sun's role in climate change.
Upper atmosphere
Authors: Siscoe George L. , Killeen Timothy L.
Published: October 2006

Theoretical understanding of the upper atmosphere and the complex physical processes responsible for its composition, dynamics, and thermal behavior has improved to the point where reasonable three‐dimensional, time‐dependent models of the atmosphere above about 100 km exist. These models have been extensively refined through comparisons with experimental data from coordinated, multistation ground‐based investigations. Theoretical calculations using a state‐of‐the‐art model of the upper atmosphere indicate that over the next century, the anthropogenic production of CO2 , which is anticipated to warm the lower atmosphere, will also cool the upper atmosphere. The model predicts that doubling atmosphere CO2 cools the mesosphere (80–100 km) by about 10°C and the thermosphere (above 100 km) by about 50°C.
Loma Prieta earthquake
Authors: Segall Paul
Published: October 2006

The October 17, 1989, Loma Prieta earthquake of magnitude 7.1 provided a harsh reminder of the hazards associated with life on a major plate boundary. The scientific lessons of the earthquake are still being assessed as seismic, geologic, and geodetic data are analyzed and new data collected.

Probably the most striking, and deadly, aspect of the earthquake was the intense damage at sites, such as San Francisco's Marina district and the 1‐880 overpass in Oakland, 100 km from the earthquake's epicenter. Similar damage occurred in Mexico City in 1985, 350 km from the epicenter of the M 8.1 Michoacan earthquake. Seismic recordings during the Loma Prieta earthquake and its aftershocks showed that pockets of poorly consolidated sediments and Bay muds with low seismic velocities greatly amplified the ground shaking. Sites on Bay mud experienced peak ground motions many times greater than sites only a few blocks away on bedrock. Site amplification during the mainshock was less severe (at frequencies of a few Hz) than during subsequent aftershocks, demonstrating significant non‐linearity in the site effects. The damage resulted from a combination of local site amplification and pervasive failure of artificial land fills. Both effects were predicted prior to the earthquake; published earthquake hazard maps had previously designated as high seismic risk zones the sites of intense damage.
GPS Satellite Surveying
Authors: Davis James L.
Published: October 2006

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the most recent entry into the field that has become known as “space geodesy.” GPS holds great promise for obtaining inexpensive, high‐accuracy terrestrial surveys with applications in a number of diverse geophysical disciplines. This wide applicability makes GPS surveying of interest to researchers throughout the geophysical and geodetic spectrum.

Because GPS is perceived as a “hands‐on” technique, the actual surveying and subsequent data analysis are often left to the geoscientists interested in interpreting the results. This has led to some unexpected difficulties, for the analysis of GPS data is really two quite separate tasks. On the one hand, there is the problem of modeling time‐series of three‐dimensional intersite vectors in terms of geophysically interesting quantities. Before this, however, one must solve for the intersite vectors themselves using the “raw” GPS phase observables, a nontrivial operation.
Special awards lighten up SPR banquet
Authors: Zwickl Ron , Baker Dan , Reiff Pat
Published: October 2006

On December 8, 1982, Marcia Neugebauer, then president of the Solar and Planetary Relationships section, held the “First Occasional Awards Ceremony” in conjunction with the annual dinner banquet at the Fall AGU meeting. These awards were an attempt to add a little humor to our usually somber gatherings. This year we reincarnated Neugebauer's successful concept and presented a number of new and novel awards to our fellow scientists at the Fall AGU SPR dinner. Summarized for your enjoyment are the categories and the official winners, as announced at the December 6 banquet.
Ocean Sciences Award
Authors: Webster Ferris
Published: October 2006

The Ocean Science Award is given for “outstanding service to the marine science community. Service may include leadership, management, sharing of data, analysis techniques, or models, as well as facility or instrumentation development. In every case, the service must go well beyond the normal requirements of an individual's job. The individual must be nationally recognized for such service”.
A call for rotators
Authors: Mountain Gregory
Published: October 2006

“Needed: highly motivated geoscientists willing to slow the pace of their research for 1–2 years while managing federal government support of their discipline. Assured: change of perspective; no change in pay. Contact your National Science Foundation Program Director for details.—

No, this isn't an NSF job announcement; this is an open letter to members of the Earth science community from a recently “retired” NSF rotator concerned by the small number of researchers interested in a Washington tour. I learned firsthand the extent to which an individual in this position is entrusted with decision‐making powers, and as a result, I believe that each of us in the research community should feel responsible for ensuring that highly qualified people serve as rotators.
Scientists need political literacy
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

Scientists need to sharpen their political literacy to promote public and congressional awareness of science policy issues. This was the message of a panel of politically savvy scientists at a recent workshop at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Researchers can maximize their lobbying efforts by targeting critical points of the legislative and federal funding cycles, the panel said, and by understanding the differences between the science and policy processes.

Drastic modifications to the federal budget process this year will influence how much funding flows to research and development. A new feature for FY 1991–1993 is caps on federal expenditure in three areas: defense, foreign aid, and domestic “discretionary” spending. (Most of the agencies that fund geophysics fall into the domestic category.) Money cannot now be transferred from one of these areas to another, said Michael L. Telson, analyst for the House Budget Committee, and loopholes will be “very tough to find.” What is more, non‐defense discretionary spending has dropped over a decade from 24% of the budget to the present 15%. Another new requirement is the “pay‐as‐you‐go” system. Under this, a bill that calls for an increase in “entitlement” or other mandatory spending must offset this by higher taxes or by a cut in other spending.
“Brava,” Bravo
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Another round of applause for Cynthia Bravo, director of Member Programs, who retired from AGU on April 2. She was awarded a plaque from the Executive Committee “in appreciation of your devotion and friendship, your imagination and humor, and your championship of AGU members for more than 30 years; we salute you and thank you.” AGU President Brent Dalrymple presented the award to Cynthia at a staff luncheon on March 13.

Cynthia began her AGU career in 1960. In the letter of notification of her appointment to this position, A. Nelson Sayre, General Secretary, said “The position is a permanent position, but we point out that even beyond the period of probation, permanency in the position depends on continued high performance of your duties, and includes punctuality and regularity in your attendance in the office.”
Addressing the “Major Unrest” in science
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

“The politics of science and technology has returned with a vengeance—or perhaps it never left,” Mary Good, head of the National Science Board, told a gathering of Washington scientists and policy‐makers on March 30. Good addressed a spectrum of U.S. science issues, providing a chance to take the pulse of an important science policy‐ maker. The 24‐member board that she chairs sets policy for the National Science Foundation.

Good strongly criticized current attempts in Congress and elsewhere to create one over‐arching policy for science, technology, and competitiveness. “We need to get these three areas separated out,” Good said. “They are truly three different subjects.” The issue is part of an on‐going debate in Congress over the character of U.S. industrial policy. Congressional committees often ask how a science program under scrutiny will contribute to the nation's ability to compete in the world marketplace. “My cohorts in industry say that the one thing we must have from the universities is quality manpower; that's the first priority,” Good said. Second on the list is to forge links between academia and industry to keep industry's “in‐house talent” at the cutting edge.
AGU testifies on Space Station's cost
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

On May 1, before a standing‐room‐only House hearing, Representative Barbara Boxer (D‐Calif.) hammered hard questions at Richard Truly, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, over the cost of the redesigned Space Station Freedom. AGU President G. Brent Dalrymple was also invited to testify about the station's cost and scientific merit as part of an expert panel before the House Government Operations subcommittee on government activities and transportation. Other witnesses included another AGU member, Louis J. Lanzerotti, chairman of the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council.

The hearing, which ran three‐and‐a‐half intense hours, dealt with new estimates of Freedom's cost that are well in excess of NASA's $30 billion figure for the revised design. Charles A. Bowsher, U.S. comptroller general, testified about a new study by the General Accounting Office that estimates a $118 billion cost for the station, more than triple NASA's figure. AGU's testimony and the subcommittee's staff both projected an even higher figure—$180 billion—although they used different assumptions to reach it.
The first Earth‐Moon spacecraft encounter
Authors: Neubauer F. M. , Glassmeier K.‐H.
Published: October 2006

It was with great interest that we read the article by Fraser Fanale in Eos (November 20, 1990) on “Galileo's Earth‐Moon Encounter Set for December 8.” We noted the number of important observations that were planned and carried out to study the Earth‐Moon system. We are also looking forward to the large number of interesting results that will undoubtedly become available after the encounter with the asteroid Gaspra, the second Earth encounter, and, most importantly, during the Jupiter mission.

However, we would like to correct an important historical statement made by the author in the introductory section of his article. The Galileo encounter with the Earth‐Moon system was not the first encounter by a spacecraft from deep space with the Earth‐Moon system. On July 2, 1990, the Giotto spacecraft encountered the Earth with closest approach at a radial distance of 3.56 Earth radii at 10:01:18 UTC. During the encounter, observations were made of the magnetic field and the energetic particle environment of the terrestrial magnetosphere.
Develop or preserve Arctic refuge?
Authors: Bush SusanSusan
Published: October 2006

In poetic testimony before the Senate subcommittee on Environmental Protection of the Environment and Public Works Committee on April 19, William Roth (R‐Del.) urged protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a permanent wilderness area for this country. Calling it the “American Serengeti,” “one of America's great treasures,” and “the last of the last frontiers,” he has introduced legislation (S.39) that would prevent oil exploration and development in the coastal plain of the refuge, located in northeastern Alaska. The bill already has about 20 cosponsors, including John Chafee (R‐R.I.) and Joseph Lieberman (D‐Conn.), showing the increasing support it is receiving in Congress. Heightened concern over the national energy supply and evaluation of domestic sources were sparked by the onset of the Persian Gulf War. In his National Energy Strategy, released in February, President Bush wants to see the United States become energy independent. The NES would allow oil and gas drilling in ANWR and on portions of the outer continental shelf.
[Comment on] Space Physics review articles
Authors: Newell Patrick T.
Published: October 2006

I read with approval the announcement (Eos, January 23, 1990, p. 219) that the Journal of Geophysical Research‐Space Physics will publish specialized review articles in space physics, filling the unfortunate void left by the changed format of Reviews of Geophysics. Review articles provide newcomers to a subject with an up‐to‐date introduction, while providing old hands in the field with a useful reference source. However it is unfortunate that JGR‐Space Physics will, like Reviews of Geophysics itself, be publishing reviews by invitation only. This regressive policy is doubly wrong.

First, there are currently not too many but rather too few widely available review articles in our field; and thus artificial limitations are inappropriate (and unnecessary). Reviews of Geophysics has never managed to publish more than a handful of space physics reviews in a year, and that many only in the quadrennial reports to IUGG. In a field where accurate predictions are rare, one that is almost certain to succeed is that the editor(s) of JGR‐Space Physics will have no difficulty whatsoever in limiting the number of review articles to 12 per year.
Coastal oceanography
Authors: Brink Ken
Published: October 2006

Coastal Ocean Processes (CoOP) is a new organization, formed with the encouragement of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Its goal is to organize the community of coastal oceanographers in planning for interdisciplinary coastal oceanography for the next 1–2 decades. We expect to help NSF with their planning for an enhanced effort in this field. NSF would like to begin funding CoOP work during Fiscal Year 1992. They have made it clear that, to obtain new funds, such work must be interdisciplinary in character.
House Panel “terminates” freedom
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

The House appropriations subcommittee with responsibility for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration terminated funding for Space Station Freedom on May 15. The surprise action by the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies subcommittee, chaired by Bob Traxler (D‐Mich.), threatens a favorite space project of the Bush administration, and calls into question the generally strong support for the space station believed to exist in Congress.

Traxler cited budget constraints to justify the act. The funding cut‐off, he said, “reflects the fact that our federal government's budgeting has hit a dead end. We simply can no longer afford huge new projects, with huge pricetags, while trying to maintain services that the American public expect to be provided.”
[comment t[Comment on] “What is AGU's proper role in society?”] AGU's role in society: Duty to the public
Authors: Wilshire Howard
Published: October 2006

Bravo to William Kaula and Don Anderson for their forthright opinion, “What Is AGU's Proper Role in Society?” (Eos, April 9, 1991). In hearing preliminaries about Mission to Planet Earth at the Geological Society of America's meeting in Phoenix in 1987, I was turned off by what seemed to me to be endless self‐serving proposals to probe the Earth “with our steely knives,” but with hardly a mention of how we could use the information to assist the nation in making rational decisions about the future human occupancy of Earth. I concur with Kaula and Anderson that it is not only the duty of individual scientists to speak out on controversial issues of public concern, but also the duty of professional societies to influence the public policy decision‐making process in areas where our special expertise is relevant.

It does not matter that opinions within the professional societies differ. Opinions within the nation differ, too. But to take no position at all because of these differences of opinion is dereliction of our duty to the public that supports us. AGU already has a mechanism for presenting a Union‐endorsed position on public issues (which could serve as a model for other professional societies whose best effort is to hide under the bed). This mechanism needs to be used more aggressively so that our expert knowledge (both of facts and hypotheses) is brought to bear on matters of critical human concern.
[Comment to “What is AGU's proper role in society?”] Advocacy puts AGU's credibility at risk
Authors: Singer S. Fred
Published: October 2006

I am more than happy to reply to the Forum article, “What is AGU's Proper Role in Society?”, as requested by the authors. Let it be clearly stated that I am in complete agreement with the AGU Council, which in December 1989 turned down the two environmental policy statements endorsed by William Kaula and Don Anderson in their article as being “too political” and going “beyond the 1982 [Council] guidelines.”

The Council's concern is that by venturing far beyond the recognized competence of the geophysics profession, AGU may lose credibility even in its area of expertise. This concern can be illustrated by analyzing the two policy statements; in my view, their adoption would expose AGU to justified criticism.
Budget impasses damaging to science
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Although the budget talks that the Bush Administration and Congress will be entering into might seem to have little to do with science funding, failure to reach an agreement to reduce the federal deficit to Gramm‐Rudman targets could result in a 20% reduction in the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Department of Energy's budgets next year. As was true last year, these reductions would be passed on to grantees.
IAHS/WMO Working Group for GEWEX Progress Report
Authors: Schultz Gert , Colenbrander H.
Published: October 2006

The International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) undertook the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX). In early 1989 in Pasadena, Calif., the Scientific Steering Group (SSG) for GEWEX of the Joint Scientific Committee (JSC) for the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) held its first meeting. GEWEX objectives were formulated and documented in the “Report of the First Session of the JSC‐Scientific Steering Group for GEWEX,” published as WCRP‐25, WMO/TD‐No. 321.

Vit Klemes, Victoria, B.C., Canada, who represented the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) at the SSG meeting, stated the IAHS intention to play an active role in GEWEX. IAHS described GEWEX as “the development, validation and use of large‐scale hydrological models, coupled with general circulation models, which make use of data from space observing systems.” IAHS then established the IAHS/WMO Working Group for GEWEX, which held its first meeting during the IAHS Third Scientific Assembly in Baltimore, May 19, 1989. Klemes was the first working group chairman, and passed the title to Gert A. Schultz, Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany, in the fall of 1989.
Magellan Venus data “continues to amaze”
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Images of Venusian “pancakes,” “ticks,” and “coronae” were presented by Magellan scientists with their assessments of the underlying processes at work on the planet at the AGU Spring Meeting. According to project scientist Steve Saunders of Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “we are just getting started” on analyzing the Magellan data. “The results are overwhelming, spectacular. They continue to amaze everyone.”

The Magellan data have so far revealed a landscape that exhibits little evidence of crater degradation, few examples of highly eroded terrain, plains regions that are highly fractured, and evidence of widespread, localized volcanism, Saunders said.
House cuts science to restore Space Station
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The House voted 240 to 173 to fully fund Space Station Freedom at $1.9 billion next year, overriding the House appropriations subcommittee, which eliminated the funding for the station last month. The unexpected action on June 6, taken after a day of heated debate, froze all other programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at this year's levels, confirming the recent suspicion that the rest of the agency would suffer if the space station were funded. The House also took an additional $217 million from public housing subsidies and added it to the station. The National Science Foundation's budget request, funded by the same bill as NASA is, was not affected.

NASA administrator Richard H. Truly called the vote “a big victory for all America.” He added, however, that “much work remains to be done to provide a final FY 1992 budget for NASA that is well balanced between science, manned space flight and exploration, aeronautical research, Earth observation, and technology development.”
TOGA‐COARE Program Announcement
Authors: Fein Jay
Published: October 2006

The President's 1991 National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Budgets to Congress request funds to augment the Tropical Ocean/Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Research Program. This includes about $5 million in Fiscal Year 1991, with similar amounts planned in 1992 and 1993. Should Congress appropriate these funds, the augmentation will focus on the Western Pacific, a region identified as critically important to understanding interannual climate variability, particularly El Niño‐Southern Oscillation.
JOIDES Resolution returns to U.S.
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

JOIDES Resolution, a drill ship for the internationally funded Ocean Drilling Program, will be in San Diego July 5–9. The ship left for its first mission in April 1985 and returned on May 1, completing the ODP's 37th cruise.

JOIDES Resolution has drilled in the Arctic and Antarctic circles, penetrated as deep as 1,621 meters into the seafloor, drilled in water as deep as 5,980 meters, and recovered 60 km of core. The ship has drilled in all the world's oceans, as well as the Sulu, Celebes, Norwegian‐Greenland, Labrador, Weddell, Mediterranean, and Japan Seas.
Space physicists want small missions
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

An overwhelming 91% of space physicists surveyed recently believe that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration should plan more frequent smaller missions, even at the expense of large missions. This was the most clearcut result of a NASA survey conducted by the Science Applications International Corporation.

“This result shows that people want access to space,” said SAIC's Mark E. Pesses who, along with Rikhi Sharma, conducted the survey and presented the preliminary results at the AGU Spring Meeting. Respondents prefered smaller missions that are easier to participate in, over larger missions that take 10–15 years to fly.
Coast earthquakes similar at high intensities
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Seismologists know that earthquakes in the eastern United States have larger felt areas than earthquakes with similar magnitudes in the western United States. The corollary that earthquakes in the East should have larger damage areas has been proven untrue, according to Arch Johnston, Center for Earthquake Research and Information, Memphis, Tenn., and T. C. Hanks, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif. They presented their findings at the AGU Spring Meeting.

Their studies show that ratios of damage and felt areas for eastern and western North America range from a factor of 100 to a factor of 10, with little distinction between low and high intensity earthquakes. Johnston and Hanks show that the ratio is much lower than previously thought, and that it decreases from a high of 7 for felt areas to a factor of 2–3 for intensity 6, and approaches unity at intensity 7. Earthquake intensity is measured on a scale of 1–12, which gives felt and damage information. Intensity 1 represents an earthquake that is barely felt, and 12 an earthquake that causes substantial destruction. Damage is evident following earthquakes with intensities of 6 and 7.
A coordinated study of the ionosphere
Authors: Wagner C. U.
Published: October 2006

A coordinated study of the complex processes in the ionosphere has been started by research groups from the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic, and Czechoslovakia. These groups have decided to concentrate on selected time intervals to perform a coordinated data analysis; to try to reach quantitative agreement between all measurements and theoretical model results; to identify in that way the dominant physical processes; to retrieve realistic information concerning fluxes of mass, momentum and energy; and to investigate certain energetic aspects of the morphological results in more detail. As a first step, variations in the midlatitudinal ionosphere and thermosphere will be studied as one part of the coupled system consisting of ionosphere, plasmasphere and conjugate ionosphere. The groups most active in this effort are listed in Table 1. Other groups have participated for a short time or for some special aspects.
[Comment on “Planetary research loses” by Clark Chapman] R&A in space physics
Authors: Luhmann Janet C.
Published: October 2006

The recent letter from Clark Chapman in the April 3, 1990, issue of Eos (p. 376), concerning planetary research supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration struck a resonance that warrants airing in view of the analogous situation that prevails in Space Physics research. The situation for Research and Analysis (R&A) and Data Analysis programs in Space Physics has a more complicated history in view of the fact that only recently has the Space Physics discipline been given its own division within NASA (with thanks to the particular efforts of Lennard Fisk and Stanley Shawhan). For many years, Space Physics research was spread among several divisions at NASA headquarters. Now, magnetospheric, cosmic ray and heliospheric, upper atmospheric and ionospheric, and solar physics have been gathered together under the umbrella of the Space Physics division. It was hoped that this highly desired and much heralded merger would give these related scientific subdisciplines greater coherence and greater visibility, and hence make them better able to compete for needed resources. However, even in the years before the Challenger disaster, it became clear that the issue is no longer simply one of competition between the research divisions within NASA. Across all disciplines, the struggle for survival by research groups outside of NASA centers has become crippling.
[Comment on “Doctorate time rising sharply: How long should it take” by William Glen] Defining TTD
Authors: Jedlovec Gary J.
Published: October 2006

In response to the Forum article “Doctorate Time Rising Sharply: How long should it take?” by William Glen (March 27, 1990), I contend that Glen (and the authors of a book he cites) may be overlooking a possible explanation for the rise in time to doctorate (TTD). Is the time one spends working in his/her field between degrees considered and tabulated? It might be that after obtaining a bachelors or masters degree, the student seeks employment for a number of years before returning to school.

Using myself as an example, after graduating with a masters degree in 1981 (bachelors in 1979), I worked as a research associate for NASA before returning to school in 1984. I completed my doctorate degree in 1987, making my actual time in school between the bachelors and doctorate degrees only 5 years. The TTD as defined in Forum would yield 8 years. I know of many others who have proceeded in getting a doctorate degree in a similar fashion. My TTD of 8 years in no way reflects institutional factors as suggested in the article.
Estimating the frequency of extreme flood events
Authors: Franz D. D. , Kraeger B. A. , Linsely Ray K.
Published: October 2006

Ever since large dams and reservoirs were first constructed, extreme flood estimates have been produced for use in designing spillway capacities. For this purpose, the National Weather Service, the Corps of Engineers, and the Bureau of Reclamation have codified a methodology to estimate an extreme flood, which is commonly referred to as the Probable Maximum Rainfall and resulting Probable Maximum Flood event. The combined method uses historic data to extrapolate meteorologic and hydrologic conditions to extreme levels to produce the maximum flood estimates. As more data are collected, the estimates of the higher limits of extreme floods have increased.
Prospecting for active volcanism: A promising role for long‐range aircraft along the Mid‐Oceanic Ridge
Authors: Vogt Peter R. , Nishimura Clyde , Jarvis James
Published: October 2006

The National Science Foundation has recently started a multiyear study of the Mid‐Oceanic Ridge (MOR), with emphasis on the dynamics of axial magmatic, tectonic, and hydrothermal processes [National Academy of Sciences, 1988]. The map on the cover shows the globe‐circling MOR and the names of the ridge sections.

Locating sites of active volcanism along the MOR is important to this research. Plate motions (for example, DeMets et al. [1990]) require an average lava volume of 4 km3 yr−1 to be extruded along the approximately 60,000‐km MOR system (assuming the average oceanic crust includes 1.3 km of extrusives). To date, however, no MOR volcanism has been observed except where the accreting plate boundary emerges above sea level, in Iceland and the Afar Triangle. By contrast, locating and monitoring terrestrial volcanism by aircraft and satellite is making rapid progress [Mouginis‐Mark et al., 1989]
Bowie Medal to Eugene N. Parker
Authors: Jokipii J. R.
Published: October 2006

On May 30, 1990, at the Spring Meeting in Baltimore, Md., AGU honored Eugene N. Parker of the University of Chicago with its most prestigious award, the William Bowie Medal. The annual award is given for outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research. The award citation and Parker's response are presented below.
New trends at NSF's Earth sciences division
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

The success rate for proposals to the Earth Sciences Division of the National Science Foundation dropped from almost 55% in 1980 to approximately 37% last year. The division has gradually funded more proposals over the past decade, but the rapid rate at which they arrive means that a given proposal is less likely to succeed, given the fixed pot of funds, explained acting director Ian MacGregor in a recent interview. MacGregor explained how proposals are evaluated and spoke about changes in the division, including new awards targeted at postdoctoral fellows and a new hydrology program in the planning stages.

Although NSF reaps an attractive 17.5% increase in the budget proposal now wending its way through Congress, Earth Sciences has not shared in the expected largesse. The Geosciences directorate, which provides the overwhelming share of NSF support to AGU members, is slated for a respectable 14.1% increase. But only a 9.3% increase, just 2–3% above inflation, is proposed for Earth Sciences, one of the directorate's four divisions. Other areas of geophysics have fared better this year.
AGU Space Station stance is anti‐science
Authors: Kuck George A.
Published: October 2006

I am a 25 year member of AGU. This is the first letter that I have found it necessary omitted. We are told, for example, that Bjerknes “expanded the circulation theorem to its now classic formulation, including terms for forces arising from the earth's rotation and, in approximate form, from friction.” (p.39). But we are not given more. It is a pity to omit this, and I suspect the treatment reflects constraints on length and mathematical notation imposed upon the author. This is at least hinted at in a footnote.
DOE funding up in FY 1992
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $21.98 billion energy and water spending bill (HR2427) on June 12, an increase of about $1 billion over FY 1991's appropriation. Half would go to nuclear defense programs and cleanup. The bill is expected to go the Senate floor for a vote soon, after which a conference committee will resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.
EOS scrutinized again
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

NASA's plan for the Earth Observing System “simultaneously inspire[s] confidence and generate[s] concern,” according to a report released by the National Research Council's Space Studies Board on July 12. The report generally supports the EOS program's objectives and structure but questions its management. “EOS, as currently planned, will be the largest single component of the most ambitious scientific enterprise ever undertaken,” the board observed, and would require innovative and rigorous management. The board advocated developing EOS‐A “without delay” and supported the instruments proposed for EOS‐B, with the caveat that NASA evaluate the “optimum platform and orbit configuration7rdquo; for the second satellite.
Supporting world hydrology: Activities of International Hydrological Programs
Authors: Rodda John C.
Published: October 2006

When George Bernard Shaw, through the exertions of professor Higgins, caused Eliza Doolittle to recite “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain,” he was most probably completely unaware of the hydrological consequences of the event. Not so the several agencies that together make up the Spanish hydrological service and are listed in the INFOHYDRO Manual [World Meteorological Organization, 1987]. They and their counterparts in the 159 other member countries of the World Meteorological Organization are intimately involved in routinely observing, recording, analyzing and forecasting the procession of hydrological phenomena that occur within their territories (Figure 1). These phenomena include floods and droughts, soil erosion, pollution incidents, landslides, avalanches, river ice formation and its break up in the spring. These agencies are also involved in water‐resource assessment—just how much of the precipitation is available for man to use, primarily from the water draining out of a basin as river flows, and also from the water stored within it. When these responsibilities that link water issues with a variety of environmental matters are added to assessments of water usage in the different sectors, then the wide ranging and important responsibilities of hydrological services become very apparent. Perhaps Shaw was prudent in restricting Eliza's utterances, rather than lacking in perspective—“prolonged precipitation in Peru provokes problems for operational hydrology” would not have exercised her vowels to the same extent.
Temperatures reduced by El Niño's effects
Authors: Wainger Lisa A.
Published: October 2006

The increase in global air temperature recorded between the 1960s and 1980s is reduced by about a third when the warming effects of El Niños are removed from the data, according to a recent study published in the July issue of Geophysical Research Letters. The research shows that El Niños, or climatic events characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific, have a strong effect on the temperature of the lower atmosphere worldwide.
What are megaprojects doing to science?
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

A House panel recently explored the effect of big projects such as Space Station Freedom and the Superconducting Super Collider on “small science,” as it grappled with the definition of small vs. big science. Much of the discussion zeroed in on the particulars of this year's most controversial megaproject, the space station. Among the witnesses at the July 11 hearing of the House Budget Committee Task Force on Defense, Foreign Policy, and Space was Thomas Donahue, chair of AGU's Committee on Public Affairs.

George E. Brown, Jr. (D‐Calif.), temporarily stepping down from his presiding chair over the House Science Committee to testify at the task force's witness table, justified his support for Freedom while acknowledging that “many features [of the space station] that would be good for science have been deferred.” But, he added, “The reasons for the manned space program and for the station have to do with international leadership and technological competitiveness.”
Venus and Mars
Authors: Luhmann Janet G.
Published: October 2006

The AGU Chapman Conference, Venus and Mars: Atmospheres, Ionospheres and Solar Wind Interactions, was held June 4–8 in Balatonfüred, Hungary. The meeting was coorganized by J. G. Luhmann and M. Tatrallyay and sponsored by AGU and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. About 85 participants attended some 72 oral and poster presentations. Topics included atmosphere evolution, present atmospheres, exospheres and ionospheres, solar wind interactions, and past and future missions. The international and multidisciplinary makeup of the audience provided the basis for a wide range of discussions and brought out a number of remaining controversies and questions to be answered by future research.
USGS funding up in House bill
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

HR 2686, the Department of Interior and Related Agencies FY 1992 appropriations bill, was approved by the House on June 25. Included in the bill was $589.5 million for the U.S. Geological Survey, a $18.8 million increase over FY 1991 and $26.4 million over the president's request.

The National Mapping, Geography, and Survey Program was budgeted at $137 million, $4.7 million over FY 1991 funding and $1.3 million over the president's request.
Current and future ocean‐observing systems
Authors: Lewis James K. , Passi Ranjit M.
Published: October 2006

Ocean‐observing systems are needed to provide the continuous stream of data necessary to make useful model predictions of important ocean parameters. The observing systems should significantly improve numerical ocean forecasts of the marine planetary boundary layer, phenomena at the air/sea interface, ocean circulation, and ice‐covered regions.

Most of the work on defining the required characteristics of the observing systems has used Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs). We have synthesized the basic philosophy of OSSEs based on a review of the atmospheric and oceanographic literature, as well as visits to important research centers [Lewis and Passi, 1991]. The primary conclusions of our investigation follow.
Advocacy is scientists' responsibility
Authors: Greenstadt Gene
Published: October 2006

In reading S. Fred Singer's comments in Forum (Eos, May 21, 1991) on the earlier letter by Kaula and Anderson on AGU's proper role in society (Eos, April 9, 1991), I find myself entirely in agreement with his admonition that AGU positions, in this case specifically on global warming, must add “a certain amount of political sophistication.” But while I cannot disagree with the view that geophysicists should confine their advice to matters in which they have expertise, I also wonder if any of us deserves criticism when, noting the difficulty political leaders have in connecting causes with effects, we yield occasionally to the temptation to stray beyond mere facts and spell out potentially unfavorable connections. Early linking of complex but subtly related phenomena is one of the areas in which we have some credibility, is it not?

Even as scientists we are, after all, compelled to share destinies with the other passengers crammed into the stairwells of the national vehicle, a bus tailgating an oil tanker careening right and left at high speed down the global highway, driven by a crew of politicians drunk on paleozoic distillate and trained in the Alfred E. Newman College of Navigation, where the principal graduation requirement is an intense desire to sit in front and steer.
Earthquake data out their EARSS
Authors: Reyners Martin
Published: October 2006

In the space of 30 minutes on February 10, 1990, the northern part of South Island, New Zealand, near 42.25°S, 172.75°E was shaken by a series of three strong earthquakes (ML = 6.0, 5.7, 5.7). Numerous rock falls occurred in the epicentral region, which is mountainous and relatively remote, with few permanent inhabitants. Particularly vivid eyewitness accounts of the events were provided by climbers on the mountains overlooking Lake Tennyson. Sections of mountain ridge were reported to have disappeared, with boulders falling from their tops and plumes of dust being expelled from cracks. Also, a seiche of about 0.6‐m amplitude was observed on the lake.
Can temperature records accurately predict future trends?
Authors: Blue Charles
Published: October 2006

Northern Hemisphere surface air temperature records, which are important for understanding global climate, do not accurately predict future temperature trends, according to a paper published in the July issue of Geophysical Research Letters. James Eisner of Florida State University and Anastasios Tsonis of the University of Wisconsin‐Milwaukee applied a new statistical analysis called the “bootstrap method” to data from three Northern Hemisphere long‐term temperature records. This was done to determine how accurately the temperature records portray future temperature trends.

Their results show that although these records demonstrate a long‐term temperature increase, their corresponding trends over the past 100 years are statistically different. Eisner and Tsonis made their analyses from three records of the Northern Hemisphere's temperature over the past 100 years.
FY92 Appropriations Bills reach conference committees
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

Further legislative action will be put on hold until after Labor Day, while Congress is in its annual August recess. The FY 92 budget cycle begun in February is in its closing stages. Differing appropriations bills funding the science agencies were passed by both chambers of Congress and must now be passed by a joint committee conference, specially appointed to iron out the differences in the bills before going to President Bush for his approval or veto.

The Energy and Water Development appropriations bill (HR2427), which funds the Department of Energy, has gone through the joint conference committee and has been sent to the president. In less than 2 hours of negotiation the House and Senate agreed to the final version of the bill on July 30. The House voted in favor of the measure the next day, and the Senate approved it on August 2 by voice vote.
SPR Awards Committee
Authors: Tsurutani Bruce T.
Published: October 2006

The SPR Awards Committee has been formed for the next 2‐year period (July 1, 1990–June 30, 1992). It consists of Marty Lee (chair), University of New Hampshire, tel. 603‐862‐3509; Nancy Crooker (ex‐officio), University of California at Los Angeles; Bill Kurth, University of Iowa; Tom Moore, Marshall Space Flight Center; Ed Roelof, Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory; Bob Schunk, Utah State University; and Dan Winske, Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The SPR Awards Committee has several responsibilities, including solicitation and development of proposals for potential AGU Fellows from the SPR section; the AGU Fellows Committee makes the final selections. The awards committee also reviews SPR student papers at the Fall and Spring AGU Meetings and nominates outstanding papers for AGU recognition.