bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Should IGRF data be commercialized?
Authors: Stuart W. F.
Published: October 2006

At the 1989 International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy meeting in Exeter, U.K., a proposal was presented to support geomagnetic observatories in the Third World by charging commercial users of the International Geomagnetic Reference Field a price for its use. The proposal guarantees research scientists free access to IGRF. Seven British companies have contracted to pay $1 million as an expression of the concern of the commercial world to maintain a high standard of accuracy in IGRF.

The IAGA executive committee rejected the proposal and at the final plenary session, that decision was upheld 29 to 14 in a scientific vote of all delegates present, a poll representing about 5% of the IAGA population. The main objection to the proposal was that the sale by contract would create an infringement of scientific liberty.
Macelwane Medal Awarded to Young
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The 1989 James B. Macelwane Medal was presented to William R. Young on May 31, 1990, at AGU's Spring Meeting in Baltimore for significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by a young scientist of outstanding ability. The award citation, by Carl Wunsch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Young's response are presented below.
New volcano newsletter planned
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

In the beginning, there was Volcano News, an interdisciplinary forum where volcanophiles of all stripes—4professional and amateur, “hard” and “soft” scientists alike— could exchange information. Unfortunately, Volcano News became extinct when editor‐publisher Chuck Wood became involved in editing Volcanoes of North America.

Janet Cullen Tanaka, a former contributing associate editor of Volcano News is planning the publication of a new interdisciplinary volcano newsletter to cover all facets of volcano studies, from geophysics to emergency management.
1992 STEP Symposium
Authors: Lui Tony
Published: October 2006

The year 1992 marks the quincentenary jubilee of the famous voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World, a trip which initiated sustained contact between Europe and the American continent. Courageous explorations often lead to advancement of mankind, be they in uncharted territory or science. As much as Columbus was unaware of what lay in store for his voyage, we were just as poorly informed about what lay beyond our home planet when we began space exploration about three decades ago. There is much similarity among the pioneering spirits characteristic of both endeavors. It is thus fitting to celebrate this quincentenary occasion by declaring 1992 International Space Year (ISY).

In conjunction with the COSPAR Meeting and the International Convention of the World Space Congress to be held in Washington, D.C., from August to September 1992, a 4‐day symposium on the initial results from the Solar‐Terrestrial Energy Program (STEP) Facilities and Theory Campaigns will be held at Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., August 24–27. 1992.
TOPEX/POSEIDON: The ocean topography experiment
Authors: Fu Lee‐Lueng , Christensen Edward J. , Lefebvre Michel
Published: October 2006

TOPEX/POSEIDON is a satellite mission that will use a radar altimeter system to measure sea level, which will reveal ocean topography and enable study of the circulation of the world's oceans. The measurement will also be useful for the study of ocean tides and marine geodesy and geophysics. Figure 1 is an artist's rendition of the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite flying above the Earth. The mission is jointly conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the French space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Current plans call for launch of the satellite by an Ariane launch vehicle in the summer of 1992. The primary mission will last for 3 years, with the possibility of extending the mission 2 more years. The mission has been coordinated with a number of international oceanographic and meteorological programs, including the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Programme (TOGA), both of which are sponsored by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). The observations of TOPEX/POSEIDON are timed to provide a global perspective for interpreting the in situ measurements collected by these programs, which will in turn be combined with satellite observations to achieve a global, four‐dimensional description of the circulation of the world's oceans. Born et al. [1984] gives the background for the early phase of the mission's development. This article gives an updated overview of the mission as it is currently configured for launch in the next year.
New trends in global seismology
Authors: Ni James , Wiens Douglas , Given Holly , Richards PaulPaul
Published: October 2006

In the last few years, IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) has been transformed from a special initiative to a national program for seismological study of the interior of the Earth. Current efforts include the deployment of a global seismographic network (GSN), which will consist of 100 broadband, high dynamic range stations; a program for array studies (PASSCAL) consisting of 1000 digital recording systems and seismometers; and a data management system to support the research community's access to data. In addition, IRIS is pursuing new initiatives such as the US/USSR Joint Seismic Program and the Trans‐Pacific Cable. The third annual IRIS Workshop was held on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, March 11–13, 1991. The workshop was organized by Paul Silver of Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., and Douglas Wiens of Washington University, St. Louis. More than 100 scientists participated in the meeting.
1990 Magnetic models for the United States
Authors: Peddie Norman W.
Published: October 2006

New mathematical models of the magnetic field in the United States have been developed by the U.S. Geological Survey. The models describe the direction and intensity of the field at the beginning of 1990, and the rate of change expected during the next few years. They were derived by updating similar models for 1985, which have been described by Peddie [1987], and whose development has been described by Peddie and Zunde [1990]. The update was accomplished with newly derived models of secular variation for 1980–1990, which are based mainly on data from magnetic observatories and repeat stations. Simplified charts of declination, based on the new models, are shown in Figure 1.
West awarded CGU's Wilson Medal
Authors: Merriam J. B.
Published: October 2006

Gordon F. West received the highest award of the Canadian Geophysical Union, the Wilson Medal, given at CGU's annual meeting held May 22–25, 1990 in Ottawa. The medal acknowledges efforts of an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to Canadian geophysics through research, instrument design, industry, teaching or policy.
Indian Ocean ODP Campaign discussed
Authors: Rea David K.
Published: October 2006

Cardiff, U.K., in July to draw together individual results of the nine‐leg Ocean Drilling Project (ODP) campaign in the Indian Ocean (1987–1988) into ocean‐wide syntheses. The convener of the meeting was Robert Duncan of Oregon State University.

Keynote addresses were designed to reacquaint conferees with the goals and achievements of the nine‐leg Indian Ocean program. Roland Schlish reported on results of the ODP Indian Ocean drilling program; Jean‐Yves Royer on paleogeographic reconstructions of the Indian Ocean; Warren Prell on development of the Arabian monsoons; Robert Duncan on life cycle of Indian Ocean hotspots; Sherwood Wise on Antarctic to sub‐Antarctic paleoceanography; Ulrich Von Rad and Felix Gradstein on ocean evolution from Tethys to the Indian Ocean; Jeffrey Weissel on intraplate deformation in the central Indian Ocean; Henry Dick on oceanic lithosphere layer 3, Indian Ocean Site 735; and Robert Kidd on progress of the PALIOS project: DSDP to ODP synthesis. A poster session illuminating the results of about 20 research efforts by some conferees on Indian Ocean ODP topics was also held.
Thermospheric temperature during a high solar activity period
Authors: Kim J. S. , Murty G. S. N. , Kim J. W. , Kim Y.
Published: October 2006

Previous measurements and associated theoretical studies have indicated that the polar region has a critical role in the overall thermospheric dynamics due to the convergent geometry of the ion convection near the dayside auroral zone and the dominant importance of ion drag forcing the thermospheric momentum balance. The King Sejong Station (geographic: 62.22°S, 301.25°E; geomagnetic: 50.65°S, 7.51°E), which is the Korean Antarctic Research Station, was established on King George Island, Antarctica, in 1988 and is strategically located for an optical investigation of the Southern Hemisphere thermosphere. It is a high‐latitude station geographically, but a middle‐latitude station geomagnetically; it is therefore subject to unusual varieties of driving forces and a different combination of geographically and geomagnetically related dynamic and thermodynamic elements [Smith et al., 1988]. For this reason, it is a critical station in evaluating the validity of model predictions of the temperatures and winds in the thermosphere of the Southern Hemisphere.
Universities want fair shake from NASA
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

A number of university scientists want existing NASA procedures changed to foster more equal competition with NASA researchers for the agency's funding. This was a major emphasis among comments that AGU recently made to the agency's task force on NASA‐university relations, which expects to issue its recommendations early next year. AGU's response summarized suggestions from the Union's elected officers, rather than expressing a formal position of the organization.

AGU argued that NASA should award all funding through open competition, which would be “a major revolution,” according to AGU group director Les Meredith. Presently, for example, proposals must include the costs of salaries and overhead, yet a NASA center may pay such expenses out of a separate account and thus be able to come in with a lower‐cost proposal.
Global magnetospheric models
Authors: Stern D. P.
Published: October 2006

Recent progress in modeling the observed magnetic field of the Earth and on related applications of mathematical tools to the physics of the global magnetosphere was the focus of “The Modeling and the Physics of the Global Magnetosphere,” a workshop held May 15–18 at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The meeting was planned in conjunction with a 1‐month visit to GSFC by Nikolai (“Kolya”) Tsyganenko of the University of Leningrad, who has made many contributions to magnetospheric modeling.

David Stern, GSFC, and convener of the workshop, reported that a goal of the workshop was to integrate young people into this field, and the dozen scientists who met jury‐style were split 50:50 between veterans and postdoctoral or graduate students.
Climate impact of solar variability
Authors: Schatten Kenneth H.
Published: October 2006

“The Climate Impact of Solar Variability,” an international conference held at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., April 24–27, covered the disciplines of solar physics, meteorology, climatology, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite experimentation. About 90 scientists from the U.S.S.R., France, Canada, Hungary, and Australia attended. The meeting was chaired by Albert Arking, Kenneth Schatten, and Robert Schiffer.
Deep Structure and Past Kinematics of Accreted Terranes
Authors: Hillhouse John W.
Published: October 2006

An “accreted terrane” is simply a block of light crust that has been added to a continental margin during the collision of lithospheric plates. At subduction zones, terranes might be seamounts, continental slivers, ophiolites, deep‐sea fans, or old volcanic arcs that have been swept from the under riding plate, like packages falling into a basket at the end of a conveyor belt. Accretion also occurs by oblique slip along transform‐fault boundaries. Some terranes are exotic, whereas others might be native crust that has been dislodged by rifting or lateral faulting, then transported to a new location. Geologists have been writing about accreted terranes for many years, but only during the last decade has the concept been tested in detail by geophysical methods. For example, paleomagnetic studies in the Cordillera of western North America have revealed discordant paleolatitudes, implying that some terranes have moved thousands of kilometers relative to the craton. In some cases, paleomagnetic discordance is in tune with marked contrasts in fossil assemblages or stratigraphic mismatches that suggest large‐scale offsets across fault zones. In others, paleolatitude shifts derived from paleomagnetism have exceeded displacements inferred from geologic mapping, prompting close scrutiny of the geologic and paleomagnetic evidence.
Material transfer in an arc‐ridge collision zone
Authors:   Leg 134 Shipboard Scientific Party
Published: October 2006

The influence of colliding and subducting ridges on the structural evolution of volcanic island arcs was investigated during Leg 134 of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) in the Central New Hebrides Island Arc, Southwest Pacific. Documenting tectonic accretion of colliding ridges onto the forearc of the central New Hebrides Island Arc (Vanuatu) and fragmentation of the island‐arc crust were the primary drilling objectives. Other objectives included studies of compressional dewatering, diagenetic alteration of pore fluids with rocks of an accretionary mass, and the tectonic evolution of a colliding guyot. Ridge‐arc collisions significantly alter the morphology and structure of volcanic island arcs and continental margins; however, the processes of tectonic deformation are poorly understood. Leg 134 documented for the first time material transfer from a ridge to an arc and defined the style of deformation occurring in the forearc area of a ridge‐arc collision zone.
Mantle structure and geotectonics
Authors: Pavoni Nazario
Published: October 2006

Recent results of geophysical, geological and petrological research regarding the structure and composition of the Earth's mantle and possible interrelations with geotectonic processes was the focus of an interdisciplinary symposium, Mantle Structure and Geotectonics, held October 12, 1989, in Fribourg, Switzerland, as part of the Annual Meeting of the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences. The symposium was organized by the Swiss Geophysical Society, the Swiss Geological Society and the Swiss Mineralogical and Petrographical Society.
No misuse of NSF grants found
Authors: Jones Richard
Published: October 2006

National Science Foundation officials must have been breathing easier after General Accounting Office (GAO) investigators testified recently that few instances of misuse of federal funds by NSF grantees were found in a preliminary GAO investigation.

The occasion was a September 24 hearing of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, chaired by Senator John Glenn (D‐Ohio). Glenn opened the hearing by stating “we all want to make sure that our tax dollars budgeted for scientific research are used for that goal and not to renovate residences of university officials.”
Obituaries
Authors: Gordon R. G. , Sloss L. L.
Published: October 2006

Seymour O. Schlanger, the William Deering Professor of Geology at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., died June 30, 1990. Sy's work profoundly affected many areas of Earth science, including globally distributed Cretaceous black shales and their implications for paleoceanography, the subsidence history of oceanic volcanos as revealed by the diagenesis of carbonates drilled and dredged on Pacific atolls and guyots, reef facies as semiquantitative indicators of paleolatitude, the timing of (Cretaceous) Pacific oceanic volcanism, and tests of and alternatives to the fixed‐hotspot hypothesis. Sy was also well known to fellow AGU members for his organizational and intellectual contributions to the Deep Sea Drilling project and its successors. Sy participated in or led four legs and was founding chairman of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions/U.S. Science Advisory Committee (USSAC).
Tibet: Where Continents Collide, Part 1, South Tibet and the Yarlung Tsangpo Suture
Authors: Burke Kevin C.
Published: October 2006

The traverse from Lhasa to Zham at the Chinese border with Nepal, along the Tsangpo valley and through the Himalaya, is one of the most marvelous of geological field trips. The journey takes a minimum of 3 days by car on adequate, mostly dirt, roads. Roadside outcrops reveal much of what happened between the opening of a part of the Neotethyan ocean about 250 m.y. ago, and the collision of India with Asia 200 m.y. later. The building of the world's highest mountain chain as a result of the collision has exposed rocks from the seafloor and beneath in thousands of superb outcrops, and in the clear, thin air of the high altitudes, impressive geological structures are laid out on remote mountainsides.
GEOSAT Gulf Stream region synthetic geoid available
Authors: Kilgus C. C.
Published: October 2006

Total dynamic sea surface topography can be recovered from radar altimeter data given an accurate estimate of the local level surface or geoid. A new technique, the “synthetic geoid,” has emerged from research using data from the GEOSAT 17‐day exact repeat orbit (Eos, July 11, 1989, p. 698). The geoid estimate, useful for mesoscale topography, is constructed by subtracting an independent estimate of the mean mesoscale oceanography from the main sea surface as measured by the altimeter.

The GEOSAT Data Validation effort—a Navy‐sponsored collaboration between the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Harvard University, and Rutgers University—has completed the construction and validation of a synthetic geoid that allows the total dynamic topography of the Gulf Stream front and eddy system to be determined from GEOSAT, the future GEOSAT Follow‐On, or any future system in the SEASAT/GEOSAT ground track. The synthetic geoid covers the region between Cape Hatteras and the Grand Banks. The independent estimate of the mean oceanographic dynamic topography was obtained from the Harvard University Gulfcast data base which includes 1 year of daily realizations of the region's velocity field. The synthetic geoid was validated by comparing absolute dynamic topography derived from individual GEOSAT passes with concurrent topography from Gulfcast and AXBT underflights.
Pacific intraplate seismicity reexamined
Authors: Wysession Michael E.
Published: October 2006

Extensive and comprehensive examination of all recorded earthquakes occurring during 1913–1988 in the intraplate regions of the Pacific Ocean crust shows that Pacific Basin intraplate earthquakes are much less frequent than previous catalogs and maps have suggested “Wysession et ai, 1991”. Of the 894 earthquakes considered for study that were not part of localized swarms (which account for another 838 teleseismic earthquakes, not including Hawaii), less than half—403—were found to be genuinely intraplate. The examination involved relocating over 500 earthquakes initially identified by other sources—ISC, NEIC, BCIS, etc.—and found that 304 of the supposed intraplate events were actually mislocated plate boundary earthquakes. The remaining listings were typographical bulletin errors, presumed or confirmed nuclear tests, or they contained insufficient data for location). These results, before and after relocation, are shown in Figure 1.
Congress probes climate change uncertainties
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

Policymakers are demanding information about climate change faster than it can be turned out by scientists. This conflict between politics and science was debated at a recent congressional hearing on priorities in global change research. On October 8 and 10, panels of scientists that included AGU president‐elect Ralph J. Cicerone of the University of California attempted to identify scientific uncertainties in global warming research before the House Science Committee's Subcommittee on Science.

“Decisionmakers provided with incomplete information are left with the problem of choosing among options where the consequences of a wrong choice could be disastrous,” said subcommittee chair Rick Boucher (D‐Va.).
Brown assails Congressional earmarking
Authors: Jones Richard
Published: October 2006

Since President Bush first submitted his budget to Congress it was clear that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to fully support all of the NASA activities contained in the budget. Now the appropriations bill containing NASA funding for fiscal year 1992 is sitting on the president's desk. Many space science programs were cut, ranging from the Earth Observing System (−$65 million) to the CRAF/Cassini program (−$117 million).

Nevertheless, powerful members of Congress sitting on the appropriations committees managed to find money for many projects in their home districts and states via special earmarking of funds. During House consideration of the final version of H.R. 2519 on October 2, George E. Brown, Jr. (D‐Calif.), chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, spoke out against earmarking.
Meteorology in America, 1800–1870
Authors: Chenoweth Michael
Published: October 2006

Meteorology in America, 1800–1870 is the story of American meteorology's emergence as both a field of serious scientific study and the establishment of a government weather service. James Fleming has drawn on extensive archival and manuscript sources and has brought to light the most complete, accurate, and satisfying history of the formative years of the science of meteorology in the United States published to date.

The basic theme of the book is that in the 19th century the science of meteorology, not only in the United States but worldwide, underwent “a rapid and dramatic expansion of its scientific horizons.” To develop this theme, Fleming uses observational systems and theoretical networks as interrelated units of analysis. The “observational system” refers to the organized networks of volunteer weather observers throughout North America. They were the “instrument” with which meteorologists collected their data. The theoretical networks refer to the informal communication links between individuals involved in the “storm controversy” of the mid‐19th century, their supporters and detractors in domestic and foreign scientific societies, and other theoreticians.
IGRF commercialization defeated, planetary studies probed by IAGA
Authors: Harrison Christopher , Williams D. J. , Shea Peggy
Published: October 2006

Sessions of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) at the XX International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics meeting in Vienna, Austria (August 11–24), lasted for nearly the full 2 weeks of the conference. Once again, the program offered a vast array of scientific topics ranging from the outer limits of the heliosphere to middle atmospheric studies to motions within the core of the Earth. This report tries to capture the flavor of the meeting by describing in detail a few of the sessions in a number of different disciplines.

One of the most controversial occurrences during the meeting was the attempt to get IAGA to agree to commercialize the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF). Although the idea behind this commercial ization, which would generate funds to install and operate geomagnetic observatories in third world nations, was a worthy and excellent aim, scientists at the meeting raised many concerns about the details of commercialization. Eventually, the motion to commercialize was defeated. The next version of the IGRF, consisting of a Definitive Geomagnetic Reference Field (DGRF) for 1985, an IGRF for 1990, and a secular variation model for 1990–1995 was agreed to at the meeting. The coefficients for these models will be available soon.
Scripps satellite archive browsing for localized environments
Authors: Simpson J. J.
Published: October 2006

Scripps Satellite Archive Browsing for Localized Environments (SSable) is a new interactive tool for browsing the Scripps Satellite Oceanography Center's (SSOC) archive of satellite data in your laboratory or office. The archive contains data from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration/Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVHRR) series of satellites dating from 1979 to present. SSOC maintains a capture station, and data are continually being added to the SSable system within 10 minutes of capture completion.

SSable provides an easy‐to‐use, pointand‐click, mouse driven user interface developed around the OSF/Motif widget set and the X Window protocol. All options are selected by either directly clicking the mouse on the desired push button, or pulling down a sub‐menu from a push‐button. A “fill‐inthe‐blanks” window appears to guide the user in defining the operation. All SSable option menus have a cancel button to abort the operation. Users can search for data by time, day, geographic coordinate or, if the user knows the structure of the Scripps archive, by explicit archive number.
Convection in the magnetotail
Authors: Stern David
Published: October 2006

It is well known that the Earth's magnetosphere is permeated by a large‐scale electric field, E, which in its turn produces a global flow pattern known as magnetospheric convection, with velocity u = (E × B)/B2 . Convection is the key to understanding the global features of the magnetosphere, for instance the large‐scale flow of electric currents along magnetic field lines (“Birkeland currents”) into and out of the polar ionosphere.

A successful theory of convection in the inner magnetosphere was formulated about 20 years ago. That, however, explains only part of the puzzle, because the inner magnetosphere receives its E from more distant regions, mainly the magnetotail and its boundary layers, where convection is still poorly understood. One problem has been the Erickson‐Wolf effect [Erickson and Wolf, 1980; Hau et al., 1989] by which convection rapidly deforms the tail until a reconnection crisis is likely. Another problem was the observational uncertainty about the polytropic (or “adiabatic”) exponent γ of the gas law expected to hold in the plasma sheet [Zhu, 1990; Baumjohann and Paschmann, 1989; Huang et al., 1989]. MHD simulations appear to be of limited use, because convection theory in the inner magnetosphere goes beyond MHD and depends on actualparticle motion. In the weak fields of the magnetotail, these may involve not only guiding center drifts but also nonadiabatic motions [e.g., Büchner and Zelenyi, 1989] and finite‐gyroradius effects [Macmahon, 1965; Stasiewicz, 1987].
The magnetosphere: A union of interdependent parts
Authors: Siscoe George
Published: October 2006

On October 24, 1863, Abraham Lincoln spoke before an audience here in Baltimore and confessed, in effect, that he considered himself ill chosen for the duty that had been thrust upon him. Regarding my infinitely smaller duty pertaining to this lecture, I must make, respectfully, without wishing to offend the selection committee, the same confession. Lincoln spoke here less than a month before he delivered his address at Gettysburg. With that weak justification, I take liberty to begin this lecture as follows
Collaborative Research Opportunities: Capabilities for Measuring Physical and Chemical Properties of Earth Materials at Lawrence Livermore
Authors: Durham W. B. , Duba A. G.
Published: October 2006

The Experimental Geophysics Group of the Earth Sciences Department at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, Calif., has experimental equipment that measures a variety of physical properties and phase equilibria and kinetics on rocks and minerals at extremes of pressure (to 500 GPa) and temperature (from 10 to 2800 K). These experimental capabilities are tabulated in this report, and some of the experimental equipment is described in detail.

Experimental geophysics began at the LLNL in the early 1960s as an outgrowth of the Plowshare program, whose purpose was to develop peaceful applications for nuclear explosives. Research activity in rock mechanics expanded rapidly shortly thereafter when underground nuclear testing began. We needed to know the mechanical properties of specific Nevada Test Site rocks at high pressure in order to contain our own texts, and of rocks in general in order to interpret the seismic information emanating from nuclear tests by other countries. Several large testing frames, pressure vessels, and pumping capabilities were acquired at this time. The equipment base left behind by the nuclear test containment and seismic‐monitoring programs allowed us to broaden our research horizons, in turn allowing us to further expand our research capabilities. We now pursue a very diverse program of study of the physical and chemical behavior of rocks and minerals under extremes of pressure and temperature for a wide variety of Earth‐science applications.
NASA funding outlook bleak, says Traxler
Authors: Cole Stephen
Published: October 2006

“Given our future budget outlook, if we are going to fund the space station NASA proposes to build as directed by [Congress], we are not going to fund a great deal else in some other programs,” said Bob Traxler (D‐Mich.), House appropriations subcommittee chairman, as he addressed the House recently on some of the difficult funding questions Congress will be facing next year.

Traxler warned that the funding delays—and near‐cancellations—of several NASA science projects in the 1992 budget are likely to occur again next year if “some reality is not brought to this problem soon.” Earlier this year Traxler's subcommittee recommended eliminating all funds for the space station as a way of coping with the tight budget available for NASA and the National Science Foundation. That recommendation was later rejected by the House.
Chapman Conference on GPS Measurements for Geodynamics
Authors: Herring T. A. , King R. W.
Published: October 2006

Within the past 5 years, relative‐position measurements performed using space geodetic techniques, particularly satellite laser ranging (SLR) and very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), have provided a new tool for the study of geodynamics. With accuracies of 1 part in 108 and better, these measurements have been used to determine, among other things, present‐day plate motions and deformation in western North America. However, the size and cost of SLR and VLBI systems have prohibited the establishment of extensive networks required to study many of the important problems in crustal dynamics. A technique much more suited for this purpose is radio‐interferometric tracking of the satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Though slowed initially by the high cost of instruments and limited satellite visibility in some parts of the world, the use of GPS measurements for geodynamics has rapidly expanded. In the 1990s we will likely see repeated measurements in most active regions of the world and the establishment of permanent, continuously monitored networks in several areas. There will also be increasing interest in the use of GPS as a component of satellite altimeter missions and as a monitor of global change in sea level.
Active eruption seen on East Pacific Rise
Authors: Haymon Rachel M. , Carbotte Suzanne , Wright Dawn , Beedle Nell , Johnson Freedom , Fomari Daniel J. , Von Damm Karen , Grebmeier Jackie , Lilley Marvin , McLaughlin Elizabeth , Olson Eric , Edmond John , Perfit Michael R. , Smith Matthew , Shanks W. C. , Lutz Richard , Seewald Jeffrey , Reudelhuber Dan
Published: October 2006

Investigators involved in the ADVENTURE program, an Alvin dive program on the East Pacific Rise crest at 9°–10°N, have reported evidence suggesting very recent and possibly ongoing eruptive activity along this portion of the mid‐ocean ridge. Preliminary age dating of basalt samples from the new flows (Figure 1) suggest that the eruption did, in fact, occur during the March–April 1991 dive program.

The East Pacific Rise (EPR) between 9° and 10°N has been the site of much marine geological and geophysical research over the past decade. Research in this region has included a host of interdisciplinary field programs such as numerous high‐resolution multibeam and side‐looking sonar surveys, multichannel seismic and high‐resolution tomographic surveys, a near‐bottom refraction survey, ARGO optical/acoustical nearbottom mapping, and closely spaced rock sampling along the crest and upper flanks of the EPR in this area.
Atmosphere, oceans, and land
Authors: Prinn Ronald G.
Published: October 2006

The study of the atmosphere, oceans, and the land (surface, soil, ice, snow, lakes, and groundwater) has undergone a revolution in the past few decades. This revolution is fueled not only by an intrinsic desire to understand the basic scientific principles that determine the evolution and state of our environment, but also by a more practical need to predict, and to some extent control, those aspects of the environment that affect our immediate health, sustenance, and well‐being, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, avalanches, droughts, air pollution, sunburn, and acid rain.

The rapid growth of knowledge in this area has entailed not only important discoveries about the physics underlying weather, but also the application of computers to the prediction of weather, climate, and ocean currents; the use of artificial satellites; and the recognition of the sensitivity of the atmospheric ozone (O3) layer to depletion by remarkably small amounts of man‐made chemicals. Particularly since 1980, it has become apparent that our environment is, in a genuinely nontrivial sense, a global‐scale entity with complex dynamical, physical, and chemical connections that link ocean with atmosphere; atmosphere with the land, vegetation, and ice; tropical latitudes with temperate; Southern Hemisphere with Northern; lower atmosphere with upper; and even ocean with the Earth's interior.
Imaging spectroscopy of Mars during 1990
Authors: Bell James F. , Crisp David
Published: October 2006

We conducted an extensive program of Mars observations during the recent 1990 opposition utilizing three telescopes at the Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. Images and spectra were obtained between 0.4 and 4.0 μm using a CCD camera (0.4–1.0 μm, two grating array spectrometers (0.5–0.95 μm and 2.1–2.5 μm), and a near‐infrared array camera (1.3–4.05 μm). Our goals were to take advantage of the good ground‐based spatial resolution possible from this opposition, the best until 2001, and to try to map spatial variations in subtle spectral absorption features caused by martian atmospheric volatiles and trace gases and by surface minerals such as ferric oxides, clays, and pyroxenes.

Some preliminary results of our imaging observations are presented in Figure 1. These images were obtained in November 1990 using the University of Hawaii 61‐cm telescope and an uncooled CCD camera/narrowband filter wheel combination (0.40‐μm image), and the NASA 3.0‐m Infrared Telescope Facility's ProtoCAM array camera (2.00‐μm and 3.02‐μm images). ProtoCAM uses a 58×62 element Indium‐Antimonide (InSb) array and three cooled circular variable filters sensitive from 1.3–5.8 μm. We obtained images of the entire martian disk in 58 colors from 1.3–2.5 μm (0.9% spectral resolution) and in 25 colors from 2.9–4.05 μm (1.4% spectral resolution). These observations were made 2 weeks before opposition (phase angle 12°) when Mars was in late northern winter (Ls = 333°) and had an angular size of 18 arc sec. The 0.4 μm image was obtained 2 weeks later, closer to opposition (phase angle 2°, Ls = 341°).
AGU Planet Earth Committee Report: Part II: Interior and Crust
Authors: Wyllie Peter J. , Kaula William M.
Published: October 2006

The Earth's mantle, core, and crust comprise 99.98% of its mass. The mantle, making up the bulk of the mass at 70% and composed of higher density rocks (rich in magnesium silicates, plus some iron silicates), extends an average of 15–2900 km deep. The core is the center of the Earth, 2900–6370 km deep, composed mainly of molten iron. The crust is the outermost layer of the solid Earth, composed of lower density rocks (rich in silica and aluminum and calcium silicates) 6–40 km thick.
Comprehensive Mapping of Australia's Geomagnetic Variations
Authors: Chamalaun Francois , Barton Charles
Published: October 2006

Australian scientists have undertaken a magnetometer array study that will map in detail, for the first time, the natural fluctuations of the geomagnetic field over an entire continent. On November 18, 1989, 57 stations comprising the Australia‐Wide Array of Geomagnetic Stations (AWAGS) began recording the geomagnetic variation field across Australia at 1‐minute intervals (Figure 1). The full array operated for 8 months, and instruments along a north‐south line from Darwin through Alice Springs to Adelaide were kept operating for 12 months. Most of the magnetometers were sited near magnetic repeat stations, where absolute measurements were made of the field to correct for any magnetometer drift.
Galileo captures asteroid image
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

On October 29 the Galileo spacecraft took the first close‐up image ever of an asteroid, from about 16,200 kilometers away. Galileo's encounter with Gaspra, an intermediate‐sized asteroid, on the spacecraft's way to Jupiter, gave the mission's scientists a glimpse of Gaspra's “violent” geological history.

According to Galileo project scientist Torrence Johnson, the encounter aimed to get a first look at the asteroid, assess its composition, and survey its environment. Michael Belton, imaging team leader, said that the navigators used “entirely unprecedented” precision to point the camera at Gaspra.
Planet Earth: Part III: Biosphere interactions
Authors: Sellers Piers , McCarthy James J.
Published: October 2006

The qualitative aspects of the interactions between the Earth's biosphere and the physical and chemical components of the global climate system have been understood for some time, but only recently has coordinated study focused on the quantitative nature of these relationships. This study is motivated mainly by concern about our current inability to predict the possible consequences of global change.

The main interactions between the biosphere and climate range from biophysically controlled exchanges of radiation, heat, matter (both CO2 and H2O), and momentum, down to longer time‐scale exchanges of chemical constituents that ultimately determine the composition and chemical stability of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. Ranked in order of increasing time scale (and increasing difficulty of interpretation), these interactions are energy and water cycles, the carbon cycle, nutrients and atmospheric chemistry, and the joint physical and chemical evolution of the atmosphere and the biosphere.
U.S. and U.S.S.R agree on ocean research
Authors: Ostenso Ned A.
Published: October 2006

On June 1, 1990, George Bush and Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a renegotiated bilateral agreement for cooperation in oceanographic research. The original agreement for “Studies of the World Ocean,” signed in 1972, did not provide for the protection of intellectual property. The new agreement is administered by executive secretaries from both countries working under the U.S.‐U.S.S.R. Joint Committee on Cooperation in Ocean Studies. The committee held its first meeting in Moscow September 14–17, 1990, at the headquarters of the U.S.S.R. State Committee for Science and Technology (GKNT).

The U.S. delegation was led by John A. Knauss, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and included Ned A. Ostenso, executive secretary of the agreement; Thomas E. Murray, NOAA; M. Grant Gross, National Science Foundation; Robert S. Winokur, U.S. Navy; Bonnie McGregor Stubblefield, U.S. Geological Survey; William S. Busch, Office of Science and Technology Policy; and William A. Erb, Eric Green, and Sidney Smith, Department of State.
Legislative action for Earth science
Authors: Donahue Tom
Published: October 2006

The Gulf Coast province provides an array of scientific dilemmas ranging from the origin of the gulf itself to the causes and effects of long‐lasting circulation of hot, deep waters throughout the thick sedimentary section. The nature of the underlying crust and superjacent sediments and their contained waters; the precise timing of rifting; depositional history and diagenesis of the sedimentary sequence; fluid dynamics; geochemistry; hydrocarbon generation and migration; thermal history, including unusually high thermal gradient; and the fluid pressure regime in the deep sedimentary section are too poorly understood to permit quantitative analysis of processes that are of enormous scientific and practical importance. The area centered on DeWitt and Victoria counties, Texas, on the southeastern extension of the San Marcos arch, is probably the best location for a deep borehole to investigate these important phenomena and problems. The arch extends southeastward from exposed Grenville‐age basement rocks of the Llano uplift and separates the deep South Texas and Houston embayment salt basins. Seaward of the Llano uplift, highly deformed and slightly metamorphosed rocks of the Ouachita‐Marathon orogen have been intersected beneath Cretaceous sediments. The inferred edge of continental crust underlies an extensive Lower Cretaceous reef trend southeast of known Ouachita orogen rocks. Rapid thickening of Tertiary and possibly of Cretaceous sediments southeast of the shelf edge, together with geophysical indications of a relatively shallow Moho, suggests that “transitional continental crust” underlies sediments basinward of the inferred edge of continental crust. This transitional crust, the ultimate objective for a proposed deep well, could be rifted Grenville basement, buried rocks of the Ouachita trend, an island arc related to the Ouachita trend, or exotic continental basement related to a proto‐South American continent. To achieve optimum results to guarantee adequate basement penetration, a borehole should be designed to penetrate a relatively thin succession of lower Mesozoic synrift, graben‐fill sediments seaward of the shelf edge. Because of expected high temperatures and pressures, new technologies will need to be developed to successfully drill and test the well.
Mineral Physics Committee Chairman's Report
Authors: Kirby Steve
Published: October 2006

I take on the chairmanship of a committee that has had a solid record of accomplishment during the last 2 years under the vigorous leadership of Bill Bassett of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. A major reassessment of the progress and research opportunities for mineral physics was made by the committee in the 1989 report, Frontiers in Mineral Physics. The report resulted from a 1988 workshop convened by Tom Ahrens of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Copies may be obtained by writing to the Customer Service Department of AGU, 2000 Florida Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20009 or by calling 800‐966‐AGU1.
Eulogy for the Iowa shooting victims
Authors: Van Allen James A.
Published: October 2006

On November 1, three distinguished faculty members of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa were among the victims of a murderous assault.

Each of these individuals was at the height of his professional career. Each was devoted to teaching and advising students at all academic levels ranging from undergraduate freshmen to doctoral candidates and postdoctoral associates. Each was of national and international stature. All were specializing in the study of complex properties of ionized gases or plasma, the so‐called fourth state of matter. This field is known technically as theoretical plasma physics. It is estimated that over 99% of matter in the universe is in the form of plasma—hence its central importance in the upper atmospheres and magnetospheres of planets, the Sun, the interplanetary medium, and in almost all large astrophysical systems.
NOAA's VENTS program targets oceanic hydrothermal effects
Authors: Hammond S. , Fox C. , Embley R. , Baker E. , Bernard E. , Massoth G. , Feely R. , Cannon G. , Rona P.
Published: October 2006

The VENTS Program was established in 1984 to focus interdisciplinary research of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration on the oceanic effects of hydrothermal activity along seafloor spreading centers. Since then, the accelerating rate of discoveries in this area of research has resulted in increased recognition of the importance of seafloor hydrothermal venting as a fundamental process for transfer of mass and heat from the Earth's interior to its surface—a process that is active intermittently, but not uncommonly, along the entire 60,000 km‐long global spreading‐center system. As the nation's civilian ocean agency, NOAA undertakes research to understand processes that affect the ocean environment. The VENTS program's highest priority is studies that address large‐scale hydrothermal chemical and thermal effects on the ocean, or the potential for such effects, that manifest themselves over relatively short time periods—from years to centuries.
Magnetism of quaternary sediments
Authors: Heller Friedrich
Published: October 2006

Magnetism of Quaternary sediments was the topic of a well‐attended symposium held during the 13th INQUA (International Union of Quaternary Research) congress in Beijing, China, August 2–9. More than 40 papers were delivered by scientists from Belgium, England, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United States, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and other countries. The host country contributed to a productive session that was part of the first large scientific meeting to take place in Beijing after the June 4, 1989, upheaval.

Nearly half of the studies focused on paleomagnetic and rock magnetic properties of loess in Alaska, Central Asia, China, and New Zealand. Magnetostratigraphic polarity dating was done at some sections in the western (Shaw et al.) and central Chinese loess plateau (Bai and Hus; Wang and Evans; Yue). The interpretation of the polarity pattern found in the western loess plateau still is not unambiguous. In the central part, certain polarity boundaries, such as the Brunhes/Matuyama (B/M) boundary, are found in slightly different stratigraphic positions (Hus et al.; Yue). In deep‐sea sediments the lock‐in depth of natural remanent magnetization (NRM) at the B/M boundary seems to be a linear function of sedimentation rate (de Menocal et al.). Although the magnetization process in the Chinese loess is not well understood, detailed records of polarity transitions have been reported for the B/M and the Jaramillo R→N transition (Ma et al.; Rolph).
Global surveys of bio‐optical ocean properties
Authors: Marra John , Dickey Tommy D. , Mueller James L.
Published: October 2006

The Joint Global Ocean Flux Study is organized into five components: process studies, time series observations, modeling, data management, and global surveys [JGOFS, 1990]. The last of these will consist of large‐scale surveys of ocean processes and properties important to the global carbon cycle. The planners of the study decided that, for the immediate future, it would be best to carry out the surveys in cooperation with another global study, the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) in the WOCE Hydrographic Program (WHP). This article aims to promote interest in the global survey, and to provide guidelines for those proposing research along these lines. The WHP is truly comprehensive and will require many investigators over the next several years to complete the survey. Here, we describe the need for a global survey of optical and biooptical properties in the ocean, and identify how these measurements are to be implemented in JGOFS.