bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Walt chairs annual meetings
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

Two major changes characterize the evolution of the AGU annual meetings, in the eyes of Martin Walt, meetings chairman. Walt, the director of physical sciences at the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory, was recently appointed meetings chairman for AGU annual meetings through 1982 by AGU President J. Tuzo Wilson. Walt's term will end with the 1982 Fall Meeting in San Francisco; that meeting will be chaired jointly by Walt and his successor.

The first change Walt sees is a more businesslike approach to the meetings than when he first attended more than a decade ago. ‘I think people are preparing their talks better now, the session chairmen are more rigorous in keeping to schedule, and the meeting facilities have been improved,’ Walt noted.
Re: “Hydrology”
Authors: Kennedy Joseph M.
Published: October 2011

R. L. Nace in ‘Hydrology Comes of Age’ (Eos, 61 (53), 1980), did not mention one rather important contribution to IHD made by the U.S. Work Group on Education and Training.

In 1965 the U.S. National Committee for the IHD established a Work Group on Education and Training, which was emphasized by the U.S. delegation at the 1967 IUGG conference. A detailed outline of a ‘Hydrology and Water Resources Syllabus’ was developed by L. L. Kelly of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service and presented to the U.S. committee in draft form.
Lunar rocks available for study
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

Lunar rocks and soil samples have been made available for scientific examination and for educational study to reseachers other than the selected few that NASA supports as part of its primary mission analysis. Universities may now obtain on loan exquisite sets of the Apollo samples simply by asking. The sets consist of thin‐section mounts from the lunar sample collection and, as such, constitute valuable pieces of a national treasure. The loan of these sections carries an unusual responsibility, which is also an unusual opportunity.
Member subscriptions
Authors: Walker James C. G. , Graedel Thomas E. , Landwehr Jurate M. , Molnar Peter H. , Taft Bruce A. , Turcotte Donald L. , Walt Martin
Published: October 2011

The Publications Committee solicits comments and advice from the membership about the decline in member subscriptions to AGU journals. The phenomenon is illustrated below. During the period of this decline AGU membership has increased by several thousand, and there have also been marked increases in participation in annual meetings and in the numbers of papers submitted for publication. We therefore conclude that declining circulation is not due to a declining population of geophysicists or to decreasing research activity. What are the causes, and how can the trend be reversed?
Geophysical event
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Alaid Volcano, northern Kurile Islands, USSR (50.80°N, 155.50°E). All times are local (GMT+11 hours). A strong eruption from Alaid, located on an uninhabited island in the Kurile group, apparently began during the morning of April 28. Clouds obscured the area until about 0915, when weather satellite imagery revealed a distinct eruption plume that grew steadily for the next 2½ days. Microbarographs at Kushiro Weather Observatory (about 1250 km SW of Alaid) recorded three distinct pressure waves on April 28: at 1143 (0.5 mbar), 1153 (0.2 mbar), and 1340 (0.8 mbar).
Drought conditions continue
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Drought conditions continue in many areas of the United States, with well‐below‐normal streamflows reported during April in parts of 42 states, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

USGS hydrologists said that half of the 166 key index stations reporting in April showed streamflow within the lowest 25% of record. New record low levels for the month were set in parts of Maine, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Deficient flows have been reported throughout portions of the Midwest and East since early last summer.
NSF losing Earth sciences research funds
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

The Earth Sciences Division (EAR) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) faces a diminishing financial base from which to award grants for research, while the proposal pressure increases. Robin Brett, director of the division stated, ‘Now that the Ocean Drilling Division has become a separate entity [within the Foundation] the Division of Earth Sciences has no major facility, and with the exception of COCORP, at $2.8 million per year, we are a small science division, consisting of four programs—geology, geophysics, geochemistry, and petrology.’

Brett noted, however, that the field of earth sciences research, which the NSF attempts to support, has grown rapidly in the past decade. Growth (in terms of people employed in the field) is predicted to increase markedly, as the following quotation from Science and Engineering Education for the 1980s and Beyond (NSF publication, 1980) attests:
McGetchin Award funds students
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The McGetchin Volcano Fund will support volcanology field work for three students this summer. Established last year, the fund honors the late Thomas McGetchin, former director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston

This summer, Mark S. Wigmosta, a senior at the University of Washington, will research the dynamics of the Toutle River mudflows triggered by the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. Tanya Furman, a junior at Princeton University, will examine a Sierra Nevada zoned granodioritic pluton that displays a tonalitic rim. Douglas Coelho, a Cornell University senior, will study field stratigraphy and nature of postglacial ash deposits of Adak Island in Alaska.
Finalists chosen in Shuttle Student Project
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

Ten finalists from 191 semifinal entries have been selected in the first national Space Shuttle Student Involvement Project, a joint venture of NASA and the National Science Teachers Association. The objective of the project is to stimulate the study of science and technology in grades 9 through 12 by engaging students in a competition to develop experiments suitable for flight aboard the Space Shuttle.

Interdisciplinary teams of teachers, scientists, and engineers reviewed more than 1500 proposals; grouped them into 10 geographic regions; and selected the semifinalists. Regional conferences for the semifinalists were held this spring at various NASA field centers.
2nd U.S.‐Japan Seminar on “High‐Pressure Research: Applications in Geophysics”
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

The second U.S.‐Japan seminar on ‘High‐Pressure Research: Applications in Geophysics’ was held in Hakone, Japan, January 12–15, 1981, under the auspices of the U.S.‐Japan Cooperative Science Program between the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The coconvenors were Syun‐iti Akimoto (Japan) and Murli H. Manghnani (USA). The first such seminar was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1976. Like the Hawaii seminar, the Hakone seminar was a tremendous success.
Geophysical events
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

This is a summary of the SEAN Bulletin, 6(4), April 30, 1981, a publication of the Smithsonian Institution. The complete bulletin is available in the microfiche edition of Eos, as a microfiche supplement, or a paper reprint. For the microfiche, order document number E81–001 at $1.00 from AGU, 2000 Florida Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009. For reprints order Sean Bulletin (give dates and volume number) through AGU Separates: $3.50 for the first copy for those who do not have a deposit account; $2 for those who do; additional copies are $1.00. Orders must be prepaid.

Alaid (Kurile Is.): Strong explosive eruption; ashfalls to more than 1000 km.
Puzzling over Saturn's internal heat
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

One of the most interesting things to come out of the Voyager experiments, according to Voyager scientist Andrew Ingersoll of Caltech, is the measurement of Saturn's internal heat. Before the Voyager 1 experiments, Saturn didn't fit with science's view of the solar system, he noted.

‘Early ground‐based observations and Pioneer spacecraft observations indicated that Saturn had too much internal heat,’ said Ingersoll. ‘One outrageous possibility is that Saturn is only 2 billion years old and therefore has not lost the expected amount of heat. Such a possibility, if true,’ he continued, ‘would shatter our understanding of solar system formation.’
Song of the geophysicists
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Little drops of water, little grains of sand Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.

Underneath the sands and the ocean deep, We have the mantel, core and crust; we hearken to their beep.
Nuclear waste disposal: Subseabed option
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Research on options for nuclear waste disposal in the oceans, as opposed to disposal on land, is being done because of mounting difficulties of site management: some political, others geological. ‘The Ocean, as a commonly owned (or unowned) resource, is not protected by market place and political forces,’ according to K. S. Kamlet (Oceanus, 24, Spring 1981). Societal restrictions and a relatively unstable geological environment are problems that would be minimized in the use of ocean sediments as a disposal site for high‐level nuclear wastes.

There are strong proponents for using the oceans and ocean floors as a repository for waste. For example, in a recent article (Oceanus, sup.), E. D. Goldberg of Scripps Institution on Oceanography states.
U.S. vulnerable to major hurricane
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

The nation is ‘in the most vulnerable position in history’ should a major hurricane strike this year, according to James P. Walsh, acting NOAA Administrator.

He warned that mushrooming coastal populations, public inexperience and apathy, and limited evacuation routes could combine to create a major catastrophe.
Mount St. Helens visitors need permit
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Scientists doing research on Mount St. Helens are required to obtain a permit, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The permits are designed to reduce risks to individuals by requiring radio communications and safety precautions. The Forest Service also hopes to reduce overall risk by limiting the number of people in the area at any given time.
NSF budget: A separate piece
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

In the final moments before packing up for the July 4 recess, the House of Representatives passed President Reagan's substitute budget proposal. However, a handwritten note, scribbled across one of the proposal's pages, removed the National Science Foundation's entire budget plus the research budgets for three federal agencies—including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—from the enacted legislation. The June 26 move appears to be a deliberate attempt by Republicans to shake loose the NSF budget from the omnibus budget bill so that NSF will require separate authorization.

The handwritten note called for striking a portion of the Reagan budget proposal and inserting different material, the Washington Post reported. Deletions included NSF's budget and the research budgets for NOAA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A revised budget for DOE was reinserted.
Improved NOAA satellite
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A new environmental monitoring satellite is scheduled for launch this summer. It will provide improved sea surface temperature information, which is of growing significance to the fishing and marine transportation industries, weather forecasters, and others. The satellite, now designated NOAA‐C but to become NOAA‐7 once in orbit, will carry the most versatile scanning radiometer ever sent aloft in an environmental spacecraft. It will gather visual and infrared imagery and measurements in five spectral channels. The hardware and launch costs for NOAA‐C are $15 million and $7.5 million, respectively.
SEAN special report
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Mt. St. Heiens Volcano, Cascade Range, southern Washington, USA (46.20° N, 122.18° W). All times are local (GMT −7 hours). Small steam explosions, some ejecting a little ash, occurred intermittently through May. Until about May 20, only very slow changes were noted in the position of the north crater rampart and in thrust faults surrounding the dome. Measurements May 27 showed an acceleration in the rate of deformation, and reoccupation of rampart stations June 5 showed outward movement of about 1 cm/day. The rate of rampart movement had increased to about 2 cm/day between June 11 and 15, and the south thrust fault (SE of the dome) moved 8.3 cm/day during the same period. Data telemetered May 29–June 9 by a newly installed bubble tiltmeter just NE of the dome showed substantial uplifts consistent with other deformation data. Between May 1 and 16, the 3‐day moving average of SO2 output decreased from 450 to 150 tons per day. This trend reversed in late May, with emission rates rising from 190 tons per day on May 22 to about 500 per day by June 11.
Winds can foretell showers
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Small‐scale surface wind patterns may hold the key to predicting the kind of local showers that can surprise weather forecasters by forming without the usual early warning signs. A new prediction method being examined by NOAA is based on the fact that when moist, low‐level winds converge over a specified area, the air has no place to go but up. Clouds and showers result.

The relationship between wind convergence and rainshowers has been recognized in a general way for years. But researchers recently had an opportunity to test this knowledge in an area surrounded by wind reporting stations. The research was conducted in southern Florida, in a 625‐square‐mile region with wind stations spaced about 4 miles apart around the perimeter. Researchers found that showers in the area were closely related to the surface winds measured along the area's perimeter.
NOAA's hydrolab conducts reef studies
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

This summer, scuba‐diving scientists operating from Hydrolab, NOAA's undersea laboratory, are carrying out four experiments aimed at producing better management of coral reefs and their fishery resources. Hydrolab is located at a depth of 50 feet, near the mouth of the Salt River, off St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The lab houses four scientists for up to 2 weeks at a time, permitting them to swim out into the water to conduct research. The projects make use of both the natural coral reef near Hydrolab and the nearby artificial reef constructed for comparison studies.
Handin replies to Russell
Authors: Handin John
Published: October 2011

Your editorial in Eos. March 10th, on the functions of the Committee on Education and Human Resources poses several provocative questions but overlooks what I regard as the most critical issue of all. While the Union's efforts to attract more women and minorities into geophysics are commendable, fast becoming more generally serious is the question: how do we recruit any students into our graduate schools and then retain them through the doctorate.

The insatiable demand by industry for students at the bachelor's and master's levels in geophysics (and geology and petroleum engineering) has forced starting salaries so high that fewer and fewer students are willing to stay on for graduate work at affordable stipends for fellowships and assistantships. My experience at Texas A&M University may not be typical and may therefore prompt undue exaggeration, but it is certainly not reassuring for the future of higher education.
Earth's core iron
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Geophysicist J. Michael Brown of Texas A & M University noted recently at the Spring AGU Meeting in Baltimore that the structure and phase of metallic iron at pressures of the earth's inner core (approximately 3.3 Mbar) could have great significance in defining geometrical aspects of the core itself. Brown worked at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory with R.B. McQueen to redetermine the phase relations of metallic iron in a series of new shock‐wave experiments. They found the melting point of iron at conditions equal to those at the boundary of the earth's outer (liquid) and inner (solid) cores to be 6000°±500°C (Geophysical Research Letters, 7, 533–536, 1980).
Travel grants for IAGA and IAMAP assemblies awarded
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

AGU recently received from the National Science Foundation block travel grants for U.S. scientists to attend the Third Scientific Assembly of the International Association of Meterorology and Atmospheric Physics (IAMAP) to be held in Hamburg, Germany, August 17–28, 1981, and the Fourth Scientific Assembly of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) to be held august 3–15, 1981 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The IAMAP proposal was cosponsored by American Meterorological Society.
Fund honors Jule G. Charney
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Department of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has established a fund in honor of the late Jule G. Charney. Charney died in Boston last month (Eos, July 7). Income from the fund will be awarded to meritorious students for graduate study in the department. The awards will be known as the Jule G. Charney Awards.
Geophysical events
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

This is a summary of SEAN Bulletin, 6(6), June 30, 1981, a publication of the Smithsonian Institution. The complete bulletin is available in the microfiche edition of Eos, as a microfiche supplement, or a paper reprint. For the microfiche, order document number E81‐004 at $1.00 from AGU, 2000 Florida Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009. For reprints order Sean Bulletin (give dates and volume number) through AGU Separates: $3.50 for the first copy for those who do not have a deposit account; $2 for those who do; additional copies are $1.00. Orders must be prepaid.
The thermal and dynamic state of the Earth
Authors: Jones Glyn M.
Published: October 2011

The thermal state of the earth's interior is a topic of fundamental importance in many branches of geophysics. Investigations ranging from the dynamo theory of the origin of the earth's magnetic field to the driving mechanism for plate motions are all ultimately concerned with the question of how heat is transferred in various regions of the earth and what are the resulting flow patterns and temperature at depth.

Present ideas on this problem are in a state of flux. New insights are being brought to bear on old problems, and additional questions are being raised. For example, analysis of postglacial rebound data from the Canadian shield has led to the interpretation that the effective viscosity of the lower mantle may not be significantly larger than that of the upper mantle, as had been previously thought. As a consequence, there has been a revival of interest in mantle‐wide convection as the dominant mode of heat transfer within the mantle. A major uncertainty which remains, however, is whether mantle‐wide convection would consist of a single flow system extending from the base of the lithosphere to the core‐mantle boundary or whether there are, for example, separate flow systems in the upper and lower mantle, separated by a thermal boundary layer at about the depth of the 670‐km phase transition.
Gold assures methane
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

There is enough untapped hydrocarbon fuel to last Earth thousands of years says quasar astronomer Thomas Gold of Cornell University. He theorizes that these deposits of abiogenic methane are the results of the breakdown of hydrocarbons (trapped in the earth as it formed from solar nebula) under the high temperature and pressure that exists in the earth's interior. The carbon is thereby released in the form of methane gas (CH4), which leaks to the surface continuously, through cracks and fissures in the crust. Gold's methane is not to be confused with the biogenic variety that has been discovered so far (i.e., ‘natural gas’).
Improved national water outlook
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The nation's water situation continued to improve during July in most of the country, although below‐normal streamflow conditions persist in the Southeast and scattered parts of the central and western states, according to a month‐end check by the U.S. Geological Survey.

USGS hydrologists said just slightly more than one fourth of the 161 key index stations reporting in July indicated well‐below normal streamflow—within the lowest 25% of record. This is in contrast to previous months when one half to three fourths of the key index stations reported belownormal streamflow. Below‐normal flows were reported in all or parts of 23 states, mostly in the Southeast, down from 27 states that reported low streamflow in June.
Methane
Authors: Craig H.
Published: October 2011

I was surprised to read (Eos, 62(32), 618, 1981) that a Caltech‐Gulf Research and Development Company gas emission monitoring study along the San Andreas rift zone has so far recorded no methane. The same story credits me with finding methane along the East Pacific Rise, in Tibet, and in other exotic locations. However, right here in our own backyard my laboratory has been monitoring methane emissions at more than a dozen sites for more than 5 years, on the San Andreas, San Jacinto, and Elsinore faults [Craig et al., 1980a]. These data have been reported to USGS at 6‐month intervals, to Cal Tech on a number of occasions, and presented at AGU meetings [Craig et al., 1980a]. Your story clearly does not inspire great confidence in industry's exploration for new natural gas deposits.
Hottest Oregon geothermal find
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A geothermal test hole drilled 810 m into the summit crater of Newberry Volcano in Oregon measured 190°C, the hottest temperature measured so far in an Oregon geothermal energy prospect. What's more, a high temperature gradient discovered in the lower sixth of the test hole may point to greater potential than was previously thought for geothermal energy in the Cascade Range.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey found that in the hole's lower 140 m the temperature rose at a rate equivalent to about 600°C per kilometer. The worldwide continental average is about 30°C per kilometer. Edward Sammel, a USGS hydrologist, is the leader of the geothermal drilling project at Newberry. David Blackwell of the Southern Methodist University made the temperature measurements in the hole.
Shedding light on the aurora
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

For want of cameras, electronic monitoring, and computer analysis, scientists turn to literature for descriptions of the aurora borealis of the Viking era. Some of those who turned to Norse literature say that the writings between 700 and 1200 A.D. refer directly to the aurora, but two geophysicists from Norway disagree. A. Brekke at the University of Tromsø and A. Egeland at the University of Oslo say that surprisingly little direct evidence of the aurora is woven into the literature. Some of what has been interpreted as reference to the aurora is a misinterpretation. A correct interpretation, they say, ‘can shed new light on our knowledge about solar activity, the geomagnetic field, and the auroral oval.’
New geophysics institute at U Texas
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A new Institute for Geophysics has been established at the University of Texas at Austin. It will administer ongoing research programs in the university's geophysics laboratory in Galveston, Texas. Home base for UT's two research ships, the Galveston lab had been a unit of the university's Marine Science Institute and some related research programs in the geological sciences department.
Update: Mt. St. Helens
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Mt. St. Helens Volcano, Cascade Range, southern Washington, USA (46.20°N, 122.18°W). All times are local (GMT—7). Increases in the rate of deformation within the crater, SO2 emission, and seismicity preceded the extrusion of a new lobe onto the northeast portion of the composite lava dome in early September. For the first time, weather conditions allowed observation of the crater immediately before, during, and after an extrusion episode.
Solar mesosphere explorer
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Solar Mesosphere Explorer is an atmospheric research satellite designed to study reactions between sunlight, ozone, and other chemicals in the atmosphere and how concentrations of ozone are transported in the atmosphere in the region from 30‐km to 90‐km altitude. At press time, the satellite was scheduled to be launched no earlier than October 3 at 7:27 A.M. EDT. At least one year of orbital operation is planned.
Neptune's rotation period calculated
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Three scientists at Kitt Peak National Observatory have calculated that Neptune's rotation period is 18.2 hours plus or minus 24 minutes. This, the most accurate estimate to date, takes planetologists one step closer to understanding the distant planet's structure and chemical composition. In addition, knowing the planet's rotation rate helps to understand better the forces that affect its atmosphere.

Michael J.S. Belton, Lloyd Wallace, and Sethanne Howard base their calculations on 300 observations made in 1980 in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Space telescope leads a new generation
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

The Space Telescope, approved for a space shuttle launch in 1985, will resolve visible and ultraviolet light orders of magnitude better than earth‐based telescopes. Even though its aperture of 2.4 m will be less than half of the aperture of the reflector at Mt. Palomar, it is considered relatively large and immensely superior to existing orbiting telescopes. It is expected that the Space Telescope, with its freedom from thermal jitter and the hindrance of atmospheric absorption, will increase the user load on larger aperture earth‐based telescopes, and construction of a new series of large telescopes is now in the planning stages. The National Academy of Sciences is expected to release shortly a report by its Astronomy Survey Committee, headed by George Field of the Harvard‐Smithsonian Observatory, that will recommend building a 15‐m optical‐infrared ‘National Telescope’ [Phys. Today, August 1981, p. 17]. In addition, a 7.6‐m single reflector is planned at the University of Texas, a 10‐m segmented reflector is planned at the University of California, and the University of Arizona is experimenting with designs of a Multiple‐Mirror Telescope (MMT) larger than their new 4.5 m (equivalent) MMT. All of these are larger than the Russian 6‐m telescope, whose Pyrex reflector has not performed well, apparently because of gravitational sag and thermal inertial stresses.
Synfuels: Oil shale gets a boost
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

The Reagan Administration has approved federal loan guarantees and support prices for two major oil shale projects in Colorado. There are more than 30 companies involved in developing oil shale deposits in the Colorado‐Wyoming area, most of which have applied for support from the United States Synthetic Fuel Corporation (Synfuels Corp.).

Under the Defense Production Act the Union Oil Shale project of the Union Oil Company and the Colony Shale Oil project run jointly by the Tosco and Exxon companies will receive federal loan guarantees and price supports. Both operations are located in the Peceance Creek Basin in western Colorado.
NRC favors original solar mission
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Following a review of alternatives to the International Solar Polar Mission (ISPM), a National Research Council panel concluded that the original mission with two space probes would provide net benefits ‘much greater’ than any of the scaled‐down options. Now slated for launch no earlier than 1986, ISPM was to be the first exploration far out of the ecliptic plane in which the planets orbit the sun.

The original ISPM plans called for the European Space Agency (ESA) to build one space probe and for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to build the other probe, which would include X ray, extreme ultraviolet, and visible light instruments to take images of the sun. Both probes were to be launched by NASA. Budget cuts earlier this year (Eos, March 24, 1981, p, 123) halted the development of a U.S. spacecraft for ISPM. In June, following protests from ESA and others, Congress partially restored ISPM funding and requested a review of alternatives.
U.S.‐Soviet team explores Polynya
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Satellite pictures in 1973 of the frozen Weddell Sea near Antarctica revealed an unfrozen ‘lake’ surrounded by ice. In subsequent winters, the curiously unfrozen patch appeared, disappeared, reappeared, grew to nearly 300,000 km2, and drifted westward before vanishing. The source and the effects of this unfrozen lake on its surroundings may remain a mystery for not much longer: A joint American‐Soviet team recently began a 2‐month, on‐site investigation of the polynya (that's Russian for ‘unfrozen water surrounded by ice’).

Two explanations for the polynya's existence predominate. ‘One is that a strong wind blows ice away before a significant amount can accumulate,’ according to Arnold L. Gordon, Eos associate editor and professor of geological sciences at the Lamont‐Doherty Geological Observatory. He is coordinating the expedition with the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in Leningrad. ‘The other is that for some reason, enhanced convection is going on in this region. Basically, we think that the polynya is caused by upwelling of ocean heat rather than ice being removed by high winds.’
OTA: Shore up federal ocean programs
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

Although the federal ocean effort consists of about 90 programs, at a cost of $2.52 billion in fiscal 1980, there is no comprehensive plan or coordination for the development of new technologies to advance the programs, according to a report by an Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) panel. Federally supported technologies include ships, satellites for oceanography research, buoys, submersibles, and independent instrument systems. To shore up the development of ocean technology, Congressional initiatives may be necessary, concludes the Technology and Oceanography Assessment Advisory Panel.

There is no consistency, the panel charged, among agencies in their plans for future program or capital expenditures. Furthermore, some agencies plan for possible future technology needs, while others do not plan for new expenditures until new items become vital. And, some program plans include substantial contingencies and related activities, while others do not.
ASP and ACSM agree to affiliate
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The American Society of Photogrammetry (ASP) and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) have agreed to affiliate in order to represent more effectively the interrelated professions of surv eying, cartography, photogrammetry, and remote sensing.

So that they can use common management facilities and services, ASP and ACSM will share office space at one location. ASP and ACSM also will share governmental affairs and education programs. The two societies, currently headquartered two blocks apart in Falls Church, Va., have held their annual conventions jointly since 1955.
Conference reviews R&D budget
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

About 85 university officials, laboratory directors, industrial research executives, scientists, and engineers gathered in Washington, D.C., at the invitation of National Academy of Sciences President Frank Press, to discuss the outlook for and the implications of the federal research and development budget for fiscal 1982 and beyond. The consensus of the group is that President Reagan's proposed 12% across‐the‐board cut, if effected, would severely damage science; that the White House should review research funding to make more productive use of research dollars; that science and technology are vital to the Reagan administration's goals; and that basic research should take priority over development.

George A. Keyworth, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and Fred Khedouri, associate director for natural resources, energy, and science in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), also attended the meeting on October 26 and 27. They advised the group to be realistic and not assume the worst case. In addition they told the conference that during this period of fiscal restraint growth will be restricted; nevertheless, science will be treated with sensitivity.
Geophysicists
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The fact that this latest book by Lieut.
[Comment on] Pondering projections
Authors: McBryde F. Webster
Published: October 2011

The accompanying figure is an original ‘World Map of Oceans and Seas,’ plotted on one of a series of new equal‐area projections (McBryde S3B2). Shown on the map are the areas of the 200‐nautical‐mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), in true size relationships to one another. An equal‐area map for such use is preferable to the Mercator conformal projection employed by the U.S. Department of State for its original map, which has been frequently reused, as in the September 1, 1981, ‘The Oceanography Report’ (David A. Ross, ‘Marine Science and the Law of the Sea,’ Eos, 62, p.650). This is a common misuse of the invaluable Mercator Navigation Chart. Merely citing its high‐latitude exaggerations cannot begin to rectify the enormous scale and size expansions and is no substitute for graphic comparability.
COSOD opts for Explorer
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

With the withdrawal of industry support in the Ocean Margin Drilling Program (OMDP) (Eos, October 20, p. 705), a giant wave of uncertainty on the future of scientific ocean drilling swept over the oceanographic community. To steer the next decade's programs toward scientific objectives, the Conference on Scientific Ocean Drilling (COSOD) was held November 16–18 in Austin, Tex. The conference (scheduled before the industry decision) was sponsored by the Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES), one of the principal operating arms of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. (JOI).

‘A broad range of global scientific objectives were identified that require a worldwide drilling program for at least the next decade,’ Roger L. Larson, chairman of the COSOD Steering Committee, told Eos at the meeting's conclusion. ‘Many of these objectives can be accomplished with the presently available drill ship Glomar Challenger, but the extended capabilities of the Glomar Explorer are required to accomplish a large number of other objectives. Thus, it was the unanimous consensus of the conference attendees that Glomar Explorer was clearly the preferable vessel for future scientific ocean drilling.’
NSF reviewed—An analysis
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

The awarding of scientific research grants jointly to investigators and their academic institutions by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (see news item above) is based on a concept of high ideals; review of proposed research ploys is done by peers selected from the academic community. The peer review process and the way awards of funds are made to an investigator's institution are often mildly criticized, but among members of the community there has long been an underlying respect of the concepts, a recognition that the process tends to lead to high standards in research. As peers are chosen, a certain degree of unevenness in the review process is to be expected. Just how much unevenness has been revealed in a recent study sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Public Policy (COSPUP). The results indicate that the peer review process is random and unbiased. The results show some tendency toward unevenness between groups of peers, but the NSF process evidently is a finely tuned one, especially when compared with other more or less subjective methods of evaluation.
New planet missions may be halted
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

A December 2 report in the Washington Post states that George Keyworth, science advisor to President Reagan, has ‘recommended halting all new planetary space missions for at least the next decade—an idea he said the White House seems to be buying.’

A spokesman in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) told Eos that in keeping with this, astrophysics and astronomy, not planetary missions, would be emphasized in the fiscal 1983 budget. The OSTP spokesman was unsure what Keyworth meant by ‘an idea the White House seems to be buying.’ There has been other talk that budget cuts would jeopardize space exploration (Eos, October 20, p. 705).
EAR reorganizes
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

The Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently reorganized, Division Director Robin Brett told NSF's National Science Board at its November meeting. EAR had been segregated into four programs: geology, geophysics, geochemistry, and petrology; the reorganization divides EAR into eight programs (see table).
Nominees for section presidents
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

(Statements from all candidates for office of section president will have been published by next month. Geodesy, Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism, Hydrology, and Solar Planetary Relationships appeared in the December 15 issue. The statements for Meteorology and Tectonophysics appear below. The remainder will follow over the next few weeks.)
NECOR: New research consortium
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

Three major marine research institutes in the northeastern United States have entered into a formal agreement to coordinate the operation and scheduling of five seagoing oceanographic vessels. NECOR (Northeast Consortium Research Fleet) consists of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Rhode Island, and Columbia University's Lamont‐Doherty Geological Observatory.

NECOR was established, in part, to save money during a time of drastic funding reductions for ship support, explained Jules Hirshman, marine science coordinator at Lamont. Budget axings for 1982 chipped off 10–12% (constant dollars) from 1981 s ship funding, estimates Robert Dinsmore, chairman of facilities and marine operations at Woods Hole and chairman of NECOR's executive committee. Steadily rising fuel costs (Eos, June 23, 1981, p. 549) aggravate the funding problem.
Volcanic effects on surface temperatures
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

It is usually difficult to demonstrate the effects on surface temperatures of the injection of gases and dust particles from a volcanic eruption. In a study of major 19th‐ and 20th‐century volcanic eruptions, and climate record for the same period, S. Self, M. Rampino, and J. Barbera report convincing evidence of at least minor effects. They compared the record of explosive volcanic eruptions that injected large amounts of dust and gases with the zonal and hemispherical temperature changes and concluded the following. There is an association of large explosive eruptions with small, negative, temperature deviations in the zonal (up to −1.5°C ) and hemispherical (−0.2 to −0.3°C ) mean temperatures for 2–3 years and not more than 5 years after an eruption. The effects of a series of closely timed large eruptions do not seem to be cumulative. The effects of volcanic injection events ranging in size from moderate to very large (1013–1015 g of fine particles and gases) seem to be similar, suggesting a saturation limit of temperature response. Composition, whether sulfur‐ or silica‐rich, seems to have an effect.
Accurate clock for remote areas
Authors: Bananomi J.
Published: October 2011

In many regions, conventional time signals like WWV are not available continuously; on the other hand the signals of the Omega navigational system can be received everywhere 24 hours a day. They are not, strictly speaking, time signals, but they can be used to synchronize clocks to an accuracy of about 0.01 s. The Observatory of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, has developed such a clock; it is battery operated (5 years autonomy), small (14×13×4 cm), light (400 g, including antenna and battery), and fixed‐tuned to one particular Omega transmitter.

There are eight Omega stations evenly distributed around the earth, and no land area is further away than 5000 km from the nearest transmitter. For a distance of this order the clock described above has been measured to have an accuracy of better than 0.01 s in the temperature range 0°C to +40°C. The clock is actually driven by a quartz crystal, and the synchronization with the Omega signals is achieved in small steps of about 0.5 ms every 10 s. During times of poor reception, caused by local thunderstorms, the clock continues to run with the accuracy of its quartz crystal. The clock should prove useful for many geophysical applications and can be purchased in sample quantities. For detailed information write to Otfeervatoire Cantonal, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Nation's year‐end water picture brighter
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Despite the severe dry conditions marking the first half of the year and still lingering in most parts of the Southeast, the nation's overall water picture improved in the closing months of 1981, lessening concern over water resources, according to a year‐end check by the U.S. Geological Survey.

USGS hydrologists said that combined flow of the nation's Big Five rivers (Mississippi, St. Lawrence, Ohio, Columbia, and Missouri) averaged 693 billion gallons a day (bgd), 10% below normal for 1981. Although the combined flow of the Big Five in December averaged 10% below normal, there was still strong improvement over the January 1981 average, which was 41% below normal.
IAU Colloquium 63—High‐Precision Earth Rotation and Earth‐Moon Dynamics, Lunar Distances, and Related Observations
Authors: Tapley Byron D.
Published: October 2011

IAU Colloquium 63 was held in Grasse, France, May 22–27, 1981. The colloquium was sponsored by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and cosponsored by the Council of Scientific Unions, Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), and the International Association of Geodesy. The 51 participants at the conference were drawn from a wide geographical region and consisted of observers, responsible for collecting the data; analysts, who apply the data to determine polar motion and earth rotation; and theoreticians, who interpret the results and provide predictions to guide future observation efforts.

The colloquium occurred at a particularly opportune time, since the short MERIT (Monitor Earth Rotation and Intercompare the Techniques of Observation and Analysis) campaign, conducted during August, September, and October 1980, provided a focus for both observation and analysis of efforts to obtain polar motion solutions. Independent solutions were provided by using data from the general categories: laser ranging (Lageos, Starlette and lunar), VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry), satellite Doppler, astrometric (classical methods), and connected element interferometer.
Hawaii Deep Seawater pipeline
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELH) is the world's first research facility to have hot and cold running seawater.

NELH recently completed the installation of a 30‐cm diameter pipeline capable of providing 95 l/s of cold seawater to the laboratory facilities, making NELH the only research facility capable of continuously delivering to various research projects both warm tropical surface seawater and deep cold seawater.
Earthquake magnitude research
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

When C.F. Richter introduced ‘an instrumental earthquake magnitude scale’ in 1935, his purpose was to attempt to put into an order local earthquakes in southern California. Now the ‘Richter Scale,’ a fairly sophisticated and distant offshoot of Richter's original arbitrary amplitude measurements, is a nearly universally accepted reference for earthquake magnitude. What factors earthquake magnitude encompasses, and to what degree of accuracy, are the subjects of intense research efforts today. The earthquake magnitude factor is the ‘most studied one in seismology,’ according to Markus Båth (Earthquake Magnitude—Recent Research and Current Trends, Earth Sci. Rev., 17, 315–398, 1981). Båth points out that magnitude is a far more fundamental concept than ‘size’ or strength, or how devastating to humans an earthquake might be. The magnitude scale is a measure of the total energy released by an earthquake, and thus is the basis of seismology. Applications of magnitude measurements include all aspects of earthquakes, such as epicentral distance, focal depth, wave type and period, and source analysis. Båth's recent study is indeed useful ‘for geologists, tectonophysicists and engineers—[and]—for seismologists…’
Teaching geophysics in developing countries
Authors: Bolt Bruce A.
Published: October 2011

It would be difficult to overestimate the need for a physical understanding of natural phenomena in developing countries. Education, in modern times, goes hand in hand with empirical and mechanical interpretations of the physical world, in contrast with more primitive, animistic ideas. Quite apart from basic cultural drives, people in their daily lives see the need to explain and reduce the hazards caused by floods, droughts, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and land deformations, which continue to devastate wide areas of various parts of the world. In addition, there are the obvious applications of geophysics to exploration for mineral resources, to oil prospecting, and to the development of geothermal energy.
Pronouncing the names of the moons of Saturn, or pulling teeth from Tethys
Authors: Consolmagno G. , Reiche H.
Published: October 2011

The moons of Saturn, so Woody Allen recently observed [Allen, 1979], do not come up in conversation very often. This may be one reason why most people, planetary scientists included, have trouble pronouncing their names.

Our troubles, however, stem not merely from the fact that these names are unfamiliar, or even that they are of non‐English origin. After all, the same is true of many terms in technology and medicine [cf. Nybakken, 1959; Reiche, 1959]. They stem from the fact that they are drawn from Greco‐Roman mythology and so possess the three chief difficulties troubling those who strive for ‘correct’ pronunciation anywhere in this area.
A budget primer
Authors: Richman Barbara T.
Published: October 2011

Fundamental to understanding President Reagan's fiscal 1983 budget proposal, made public yesterday, and what the proposal means for the health of federally funded programs, is to comprehend the budget process itself. A table that outlines the budget process appears below; a short glossary (see box) defines some of the basic budget terms. Next week, Eos will summarize the President's budget proposal. In 2 weeks, Eos will analyze the budget proposal as it affects geophysicists.

Congress, having just received the President's budget proposal, can begin to review it formally under the procedures mandated by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (see table). Note, however, that Congress often does not meet its budget deadlines.