bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
25 years of the impact‐volcanic controversy: Is there anything new under the Sun or inside the Earth?
Authors: French Bevan M.
Published: October 2006

An interesting historical perspective on the current controversy about the cause of the Cretaceous‐Tertiary (K‐T) extinction has been provided by more than 2 decades of debate on an earlier but equivalent question: Are the circular, highly deformed cryptoexplosion structures, and the shock‐metamorphic features they contain, astroblemes formed by meteorite impact, or are they formed by internal volcanic processes (cryptovolcanism)? During the last 25 years of this debate, numerous studies have reinforced the view that shock‐metamorphic features uniquely indicate shock pressures of from about 5 GPa to > 50 GPa; no generally accepted shock‐metamorphic features have been found in unquestioned volcanic structures; and no internal process has been demonstrated to produce the required shock pressures. This history therefore supports an impact origin for both cryptoexplosion structures and the K‐T event. Future discoveries required to make the cryptovolcanic theory a respectable alternative include undisputed shock features, for example, shatter cones, shock lamellae, stishovite, lechatelierite, in a volcanic structure; high Ir contents (>1 ppb) in volcanic ejecta layers; and a rigorous and testable theory for producing high shock pressures by internal processes.
Gore scrutinizes NASA
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Senator Al Gore (D.‐Tenn.) spotlighted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's budget with three hearings of the Senate subcommittee on science, technology, and space, held between April 17 and 24. Gore, who chairs the Senate panel, particularly grilled NASA administrator Richard Truly and other witnesses over where space science stacks up as a budget priority. The agenda and costs for Mission to Planet Earth also provoked detailed discussion.

Using the report by the Advisory Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program as a blueprint, Gore closely questioned Truly and the committee's chair, Norman Augustine, as to whether particular NASA program matched the committee's recommendations. In one such exchange about the new launch system, Gore charged that the Augustine panel had envisioned a $2–$4 billion cost, while NASA was now proposing an $11 billion system.
Science spending budget set
Authors: Jones Richard
Published: October 2006

The Senate Budget Committee took an important first step in setting federal science spending levels for the fiscal year starting on October 1 by sending to the full Senate a concurrent budget resolution. This measure increases the science budget over spending levels for the current fiscal year, although reduces it from the Bush Administration's Fiscal Year 1991 request.
Massey upbeat on science's outlook
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

Walter L. Massey, the new director of the National Science Foundation, sketched a decidedly upbeat outlook for U.S. science in an April 12 speech. “The U.S. research enterprise has the potential to surpass even its past contributions to the well‐being and prosperity of the nation,” Massey told a gathering of science policy‐makers in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The NSF director highlighted three current trends to support his optimism. First, he said, President Bush strongly supports research and development, as shown by the 17.5% increase proposed for NSF in this year's budget request, even at a time of scarce funds. Secondly, the revitalized Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) and presidential science advisor D. Allan Bromley have helped the federal government to develop coordinated research programs. “The three current government‐wide initiatives—global change, education and human resources, and high performance computing and communications—and NSF's new materials program demonstrate the benefits of this approach,” Massey said. A third encouraging trend is energetic congressional leadership on research and technology issues, he added.
Nine students awarded for SPR papers
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Nine students from the Solar‐Planetary Relations section were cited for their outstanding papers delivered at the 1990 Fall AGU Meeting, held December 3–7 in San Francisco. These students are currently enrolled in Ph.D. programs and expect to receive degrees within the next 2 years. Meeting abstracts were printed in the October 23, 1990, Eos (pp. 1163–1754).

William A. Bristow, who presented “Numerical Simulation of the Formation of Thin Ionization Layers at High Latitudes,” is a third‐year Ph.D. student studying space physics at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska. His research interests are in ionospheric modeling and incoherent scatter radar studies of the lower ionosphere. In 1988, Bristow received his B.S. in electrical engineering and applied physics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
ASTER: The Atmosphere‐Surface Turbulent Exchange Research Facility at NCAR
Authors: Businger, J. A. , Dabberdt W. F. , Delany A. C. , Horst T. W. , Martin C. L. , Oncley S. P. , Semmer S. R.
Published: October 2006

The new Atmosphere‐Surface Turbulent Exchange Research (ASTER) Facility at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., will support observational research on the structure of the atmospheric surface layer and will provide state‐of‐the‐art measurements of surface fluxes of trace chemical species, water vapor, sensible heat, and momentum.

At a time when human influences are perturbing both the atmosphere and the biosphere, it is increasingly important to improve our understanding of the interactions between the atmosphere and its underlying surface. There is a demonstrated need for a facility that can provide measurements of: the structure of the atmospheric surface layer, in support of studies of dry deposition, resuspension, natural emissions and chemical reactions within this layer.
Revived interest in the lunar atmosphere
Authors: Morgan Thomas H. , Stern S. Alan
Published: October 2006

Despite its nearness, we know very little about the lunar atmosphere. Recent ground‐based observations, however, have increased our understanding of the atmosphere and our fascination with it. In the lunar atmosphere we can study important physical phenomena that also exist elsewhere in the solar system where they are not so easily examined. These phenomena also cannot be duplicated in terrestrial laboratories.
More Arctic research needed
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

The desire to achieve a balance between Arctic and Antarctic study was the message of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which heard testimony on the need for more Arctic research on April 24. Ted Stevens (R‐Alaska) noted that since 1986, study in the area has not increased as the National Science Foundation has claimed, but rather, owing to inflation, has merely kept pace.

Robert Correll, assistant director of geosciences at NSF and chair of the Interagency Arctic Oceans Working Group, gave several reasons why the Arctic is an important area for study by the scientific community. Its unique environment, he said, makes it a natural laboratory. And due to its environmental sensitivity, it may provide one of the earliest indicators of global climate change. Also, its geographic location makes it a “window on space,” some of the world's largest mineral and petroleum resources are in the Arctic, and the region has great strategic and military importance.
Critical time for NSF, NASA funding bills
Authors: Jones Richard
Published: October 2006

Although the new fiscal year does not start until October, the next few weeks will be critical in determining the amount of money which the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration receive. Scientists who want to communicate their views to key representatives and senators about these agencies should do so now.

Every year Congress must pass new funding, or appropriations, legislation. Both NSF and NASA funding come under the jurisdiction of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees for the Veterans Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies. These two subcommittees have already heard from NSF officials, and will wrap‐up official NASA testimony this week. Several days of hearings from public witnesses are also scheduled.
Geoengineering to reduce global warning?
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

As a possible course of action to offset global warming and its side effects, the National Academy of Sciences recommends more research and development projects to better understand the potential of geoengineering options. The recommendations are part of “Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming,” by the NAS released on April 10. The report is one of the products of the NAS study on global change mandated by the HUD‐Independent Agencies Appropriations Act of 1988. The study was conducted by four panels; this is the report of the Synthesis Panel, responsible for developing overall findings and recommendations.
Joining forces
Authors: Gerson N. C.
Published: October 2006

I would like to suggest that the aspirations of geophysicists could be strengthened by joining forces with environmentalists. Thus in Advances in Geophysics (Vol. 5, edited by H. E. Landsberg and J. Van Mieghem, Academic Press, New York, 1958), where the future of the International Geophysical Year was discussed, the following statement appears.

“…Perhaps the greatest value of future International Years lies in the epochal type of observation; to determine from undisturbed base stations the average trend or climatology of the planet as a whole in such fields as heat content, weather, geomagnetic field, water content, sea level, ice cover, fauna, flora, marine life, seismicity, advances or retreats of arid lands, polar environments, planetary … chemistry, etc.”
Geochemical studies in watersheds expanded
Authors: Church M. Robbins
Published: October 2006

In the past, geochemical research in forested watersheds has focused on understanding the basic processes that occur in soils and rocks. Watershed geochemical processes, however, are greatly influenced by, and in turn, greatly influence, both organisms and biological process in soils, and hydrologic responses of catchments. To date, geochemical research has dealt principally with basic chemical processes in soils and rocks, and much less with questions concerning hydrologic routing through catchments and the effects such routing has on temporal variation in chemical composition of surface waters.

Research on flow generation in catchments has focused on intensive field studies on plots, hillslope sections, and small catchments, with extension to larger scales necessarily involving the application of conceptual models that might (or might not) be valid. The acquisition of direct experimental evidence (for example, verifying flow generation mechanisms) on larger‐scale watersheds has always been problematic. Although geochemists understand that the explanation of some geochemical observations requires that flow pathways be explicitly identified, and hydrologists understand that flow generation can be better elucidated if the geochemical history of waters is known, critical integrated communication between the disciplines is often lacking. In turn, biologists require physical and geochemical information to interpret biological effects in watersheds, and hydrologists and geochemists need to be aware of the effects of biological processes on hydrochemical response of catchments.
SeaRISE Workshop
Authors: Bindschadler Robert
Published: October 2006

On January 23–25, 1990, a workshop was held in College Park, Maryland, to discuss the role of the polar ice sheets in global climate change. This workshop was convened in response to a recommendation that emerged from a May 1989 briefing of the National Science Foundation's Division of Polar Programs on the findings of recent field investigations that the Siple Coast region of the West Antarctic ice sheet is experiencing major and rapid changes.
Ulysses: A journey above the Sun's poles
Authors: Smith Edward J. , Page D. Edgar , Wenzel K. ‐Peter
Published: October 2006

The Ulysses spacecraft was launched on October 6, 1990. The mission, like the legendary Greek hero for whom it is named, will venture into previously unexplored and uncharted regions—the areas that lie above the sun's polar caps. Also like its namesake, the spacecraft is expected to return reports of new lands and strange creatures—or at least information about physical conditions and processes that we have not been able to study directly. We expect reports about the Sun, the heliosphere, the local interstellar medium, and about signals invading the solar system from the distant galaxy. This adventure is the result of a partnership between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
AGU testifies to Senate Panel
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

AGU testified again before Congress on May 17, during this critical time in the federal budget process. Terry Tullis of Brown University, a member of AGU's FY 1992 budget panel, summarized the highlights of the Union's position on the budgets of the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Tullis appeared before the Senate subcommittee on VA, HUD, and independent agencies, chaired by Barbara Mikulski (D‐Md.), as part of a hearing that sought testimony on the subcommittee's area from witnesses outside the government.

Tullis cited AGU's call for a major study of how the federal government funds re'search, a process that has not been reviewed for over 40 years. On the NSF budget, he said that while AGU generally supports NSF's allotment to the geosciences, it advocates increased funding for small hydrology grants and yearly reporting of the agency's hydrology budget.
Hydrology Sessions at 1990 Fall AGU Meeting
Authors: Bales Roger C.
Published: October 2006

A total of 380 papers were presented in 32 half‐day hydrology sessions at the 1990 Fall AGU Meeting, December 3–7 in San Francisco, including those organized by AGU's Snow, Ice and Permafrost committee.

About half of the sessions focused on sub‐surface hydrology, with surface‐water hydrology, snow and ice, and water quality making up the balance. Session chairs contributed the following highlights.

Ice‐stream mechanics was a dominant theme of two of the three well‐attended sessions on glaciers and ice sheets. Ice streams are narrow zones of fast‐flowing ice within the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets that dominate the outflux of ice from the central regions of ice sheets to surrounding oceans. Recent interest in ice streams stems from the discovery that West Antarctic ice‐stream B is underlain by a meters‐thick layer of water‐saturated deforming sediment. The original discovery, inferred from seismic data, has now been completely confirmed by drilling to the base of the ice stream and sampling subglacial material. An early highlight was a report by Englehardt on the physical characteristics of these samples. Kamb then challenged the prevailing views by contending that shear deformation of subglacial sediment is subject to a vigorous instability that would result in much faster flow rates than are presently observed. In Kamb's view, the absence of extreme flow rates argues against an important role for subglacial deformation. Geophysical studies of West‐Antarctic ice streams are being extended by Bentley's group, colleagues from Ohio State, and elsewhere.
Ground‐penetrating rada
Authors: Thuma W. R.
Published: October 2006

The theory and applications of digital Ground‐Penetrating Radar were discussed at a 5‐day seminar held at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, People's Republic of China, in April. Cohosted by the Department of Applied Geophysics and Canada‐China Geoscience, more than 60 senior geophysicists, engineers, technical specialists, university professors and researchers attended.

Focus of the meeting was the expanded uses of the new deep‐penetrating fully digital PulseEKKO, which is gaining wide acceptance around the world. Attendees showed intense interest in this new and unique technology. Applications covered were groundwater and mineral exploration; engineering, construction and toxic waste site surveying; tunnel and underground mine probing for potential geological hazards, blind ore zones, karst cavities and solution pathways; and locating buried objects such as petroleum storage tanks, unexploded bombs and archeological remains.
Anderson receives 1991 Bowie Medal
Authors: Raleigh C. Barry , Anderson Don L.
Published: October 2006

Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, was awarded the 1991 William Bowie Medal for outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and unselfish cooperation in research. The Bowie Medal, AGU's most distinguished honor, was presented to AGU Past‐president Anderson on May 29 at the annual Spring Meeting Honors Night in Baltimore, Md.

The award citation, delivered by C. Barry Raleigh, and Anderson's response are presented below.
Lessons from mass extinction
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

A session on the Mass Extinction Debates will be held July 12 at the Biannual Meeting of the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology at Northwestern University. This meeting will be the first that brings together the debating scientists with historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science who view the extinction upheaval as an exceptional opportunity to observe the workings of science that may be hidden from view in the study of less controversial topics.

The growing debates over the cause of mass extinctions were triggered by the Alvarez/Berkeley‐group meteorite impact hypothesis in 1979. The conflict has engaged a seemingly broader range of scientific disciplines than any other debate in the history of Earth sciences and has prompted rejuvenation of long quiescent areas of research, collaborations between formerly isolated specialists, redirection of careers, and remarkable new field studies, experiments, and reexamination of evidence.
AVHRR imagery reveals Antarctic ice dynamics
Authors: Bindschadler Robert A. , Vornberger Patricia L.
Published: October 2006

Standing on the surface of the West Antarctic ice sheet, it is difficult to appreciate the dynamic nature of the ice below your feet and the concern many glaciologists hold for how the future of this ice sheet may seriously impact the rest of the world. This ice sheet, grounded on a bed hundreds to more than a thousand meters below sea level, is of a type believed capable of rapid collapse, an event that could raise global sea level a total of 6 m at rates over 30 mm/a. Such rates have not been experienced since the deglaciation of the North American ice sheet 12,000 years ago [Fairbanks, 1989] and would have serious economic and ecologic consequences worldwide.
Greenland Sea Project: A venture toward improved understanding of the oceans' role in climate
Authors:   GSP Group
Published: October 2006

The Greenland Sea is one of the few major areas where convective renewal of intermediate and deep waters contributes to world ocean ventilation. Basin‐scale cyclonic circulation, boundary currents advecting waters of Atlantic and Polar origin, mixing across the fronts related to the boundary currents, wintertime heat loss to the atmosphere, ice formation and related brine release and sequences of penetrative plumes control the renewal. The scales involved range from gyrescale to small‐scale and from interannual to hours. This wide range of environmental conditions provides an extreme ecosystem for which biota have evolved specific surviving strategies. In a joint effort, research groups from 11 nations are investigating both the processes and the rates of water‐mass transformation and transport and are working on the food chain dynamics and the life cycles of dominant species up to the zooplankton level in a several‐year program—the Greenland Sea Project (GSP).
More jobs, fewer geoscientists
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

While today's geosciences enrollments and degrees awarded have dropped to the lowest levels since the early 1970s, the future demand for geoscientists is projected to grow. The imbalance between supply and demand has reached “critical proportions,” according to Nicholas H. Claudy and Marilyn J. Suiter of the American Geological Institute, who presented survey results to support this conclusion at the AGU Spring Meeting last month.

“The declining geoscience enrollment is based, in part, in the decrease of 18‐to 24‐year‐olds in the population,” Claudy and Suiter reported in their poster presentation. “Other factors affecting supply include an aging population, which contributes to the increase in workforce requirements.”
GPS documentation available
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The University Navstar Consortium facility announces that an investigator's manual and a number of technical reports are available. The Investigator's Manual is intended primarily for UNAVCO members interested in using the UNAVCO facilities for GPS field projects, but it may also be of interest to others planning GPS fieldwork. For users with Internet access, the manual is available via anonymous ftp as a postscript file. A hard copy may be requested from Barbara Perin at UNAVCO (address below).
Dynamic modeling of the solar atmosphere
Authors: Mariska J. T. , Dahlburg R. B. , Karpen J. T. , Picone J. M.
Published: October 2006

Over the past 2 decades our observational understanding of the outer layers of the solar atmosphere has increased dramatically. We now know that the solar chromosphere, transition region, and corona are highly structured and dynamic. Magnetic fields, rooted in the subphotospheric layers, provide the structure that channels the plasma in the upper layers of the solar atmosphere.
Research on agrichemicals in water resources
Authors: Burkart Michael R. , Onstad Charles A. , Bubenzer Gary D.
Published: October 2006

A plan to study the effects of agricultural systems on the occurrence of agricultural chemicals in ground and surface waters is being formulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Geological Survey. Initial research will focus on the herbicides atrazine and alachlor, the insecticide carbofuran, and plant nutrient, nitrate, in the midwest cornbelt. The cornbelt has uniquely similar agriculture over a large area. Many hydrologic and agronomic scientific disciplines from several federal and state agencies are being integrated to conduct research at several scales. The integration of information from this research is intended to lead to the identification of major processes affecting agrichemical fate and ultimately to development of farming systems that protect, improve, or remediate water quality.
Editors' Citations: Excellence in Refereeing
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The reviewers whose photographs appear below have been cited by editors of AGU's journals for excellence in refereeing. The time and diligence contributed by these reviewers enhance the quality of AGU's journals. The editor's citation recognizes this special service to the Union.
IAHS Symposium responds to modified flow regimes
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The International Association for Hydrological Sciences is sponsoring a symposium, Hydrology for the Water Management of Large River Basins, to be held August 12–14 in Vienna, Austria, within the framework of the 20th General Assembly of the IUGG. Flow regime changes related to large scale changes in land use, river development activities, and climate change will have a tremendous influence on the water management of large river basins. This symposium seeks to improve the understanding of various hydrological processes and to investigate the availability of tools and methods that can be used to analyze hydrological impacts.
Super plume connection to Cretaceous warming
Authors: Blue Charles
Published: October 2006

A global warming event that took pace during the Cretaceous period may have been caused in part by a “super plume” from the Earth's interior that released massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to a paper published in the June issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

Ken Caldeira and Michael Rampino of New York University used global biogeochemical carbon‐cycle models to calculate the climatic effects of a large injection of CO2 into the atmosphere/ocean system. The primary sources of CO2 that they studied included mantle degassing at mid‐ocean ridges and metamorphic decarbonation of sediments at subduction zones.
Paleoclimatic aspects of El Niño/Southern Oscillation
Authors: Diaz Henry F.
Published: October 2006

A workshop on paleoclimatic aspects of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon was held May 2–4 in Boulder, Colo. Sponsored by the National Geophysical Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, goals of the workshop were to review the state of knowledge of the ENSO phenomenon based on instrumental and historical records and modeling experiments; to review paleoclimatic proxy evidence from records of tree rings, sea corals, tropical glacier ice cores, and fluvial and lacustrine sediment sequences from North and South America, Australasia and the equatorial Pacific for their sensitivity to ENSO, and to assess their potential for reconstructing past ENSO variability; to explore ways to integrate different aspects of ENSO paleoclimatic information with contemporary observations and numerical models of ENSO; and to identify strategies and goals for future interaction and collaboration between climatologists and paleoclimate researchers working on ENSOsensitive proxy records.
Senate panel funds station, cuts NASA, NSF requests
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

The Senate Appropriations committee accepted the recommendations of its subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing, and Urban Development, headed by Barbara Mikulski (D‐Md.), and approved full funding for Space Station Freedom for FY 1992, while cutting some space science programs. It also approved a 14% increase for the National Science Foundation, which is 3% below the increase already approved by the House. The resolution was sent to the Senate floor for a full vote on July 17, where an amendment by Dale Bumpers (D‐Ark.) to eliminate Freedom's funding was defeated by a vote of 64 to 35.

The committee recommended that NASA receive $14.3 billion for FY 1992, which was $436.9 million above the amount recommended by the House, but $1.4 billion below the Administration's request.
Hydrogeochemical responses of forested catchments
Authors: Robbins Church M. , Hornberger George , Driscoll Charles , Sklash Michael , Hemond Harold
Published: October 2006

The AGU Chapman Conference on Hydrogeochemical Responses of Forested Catchments was held September 18–21, 1989, in Bar Harbor, Maine, and brought together geochemists with interests in determining the effects of different geochemical processes on resulting surface water chemistry and hydrologists with interests in explaining flow generation in catchments with the aim of fostering better communication between the two groups on the topic of geochemical and hydrological interactions in intermediate‐size watersheds. An important point of consideration was the emphasis on intermediate‐size watersheds, which we defined operationally as watersheds of sufficient size to yield flow and habitat suitable for supporting at least a marginal recreational fishery, for example, on the order of at least a few square kilometers in the northeast United States. This emphasis is important because it is the potential effects of pollutants, as modified by watershed geochemical and hydrological processes, in watersheds of this scale that drive much of the concern of the nation's regulatory agencies with regard to adverse environmental effects and required water quality legislation. A good example of this is the current concern over potential adverse effects of acidic deposition on surface water quality, especially in streams that support upland sport fisheries.
International Reference Ionosphere update
Authors: Bilitza Dieter
Published: October 2006

The International Reference Ionosphere is the standard ionospheric model developed and improved by a joint working group of the International Union of Radio Science and the Committee on Space Research. Based on all reliable and accessible ground and space data, IRI describes monthly averages of the electron density, electron temperature, ion temperature, ion composition, and ion drift at ionospheric altitudes. The newest version of IRI is described in a report, NSSDC/WDCA‐R&S 90‐22, published by the National Space Science Data Center in November 1990. The book contains sections on history and new developments, formulas and buildup, graphs, and references.

The main difference between IRI‐90 and its predecessor IRI‐86 are new models for the E‐F region electron density and for the ion composition. It was decided to offer these new model choices in addition to the older versions, thus making the transition from old to new version more transparent to the user community.
NSF “back in the education business”
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

“Education has been a hot growth area for the National Science Foundation since 1984,” according to Arnold Silverman, program director for education and human resources in the Earth Sciences Division, who recently explained how education programs fit into a foundation dedicated to funding cutting‐edge research. “Education is the new glamour field for NSF, in the sense that it has attracted the attention and support of both Congress and the executive branch,” he said.

Funding for education and human resources at NSF jumped from $36 million in FY 1983 to $463 million in FY 1991. The foundation currently spends one‐fifth of its budget on education. “I think we need to convince the geosciences community that NSF is back in the education business, and we're slowly doing that,” said Silverman.
AGU supports Earth science radio show
Authors: Cole Stephen
Published: October 2006

Radio listeners across the country will soon get a daily introduction to the Earth and space sciences when a new syndicated radio program, “Earth and Sky,” debuts this fall. Produced by Deborah Byrd and Joel Block of Austin, Texas, the creative team behind the long‐running “Star Date” radio program, “Earth and Sky” premieres on September 30. The program is being produced in association with the American Geophysical Union.

“‘Earth and Sky’ is a new vehicle for the dissemination of accurate and up‐to‐date information on Earth and space sciences,” says AGU Executive Director Fred Spilhaus. “It has tremendous potential to advance one of AGU's fundamental missions: to make the results of scientific research available to the public.”
The carbon geodynamic cycle
Authors: Tingle Tracy N.
Published: October 2006

How carbon was incorporated into the Earth and evolved to its present concentration in the modern mantle was the focus of the special session, The Carbon Geodynamic Cycle, convened at the 1990 Spring AGU Meeting in Baltimore, Md. Thirteen talks in the session covered a wide range of topics that included terrestrial accretion of carbon, carbon‐isotopic composition of diamonds, magma degassing and the relationship of carbonate sedimentation to the global carbon cycle.
Interannual and seasonal variation in the Western Mediterranean Circulation
Authors: LaViolette Paul E.
Published: October 2006

There is increasing evidence that seasonal and interannual variation in the western Mediterranean circulation is due to the seasonal formation of dense intermediate and deep water. This theory and the attendant questions it raises have been the topic of several papers and meeting sessions conducted as a result of analyses of the data from the Western Mediterranean Circulation Experiment (WMCE). This article summarizes recent thinking on this topic.
Changing “Lifestyles” Without Graduates
Authors: Lomnitz Cinna
Published: October 2006

I couldn't agree more with Professor Singer about the need to “persuade citizens of developing nations to cooperate [in controlling current trends in global warming, topsoil erosion, and depletion of resources) by modifying their lifestyles.” (Eos, May 21, 1991, p. 234).

But a strange thing happens. The very people who should be doing the persuading are not here! They went abroad to study—and never came back. Altogether, 27,00 0 grants for graduate study abroad were awarded since 1971 by the Mexican National Research Council alone, mostly to the United States. Two thousand young Mexican students have left every year for the past 10 years on various grants and scholarships. Where are they?
House looks at GOES status
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

Members of Congress have recently expressed their concern over a possible gap in weather satellite data resulting from the flawed GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) program. They looked into options to supplement data in the event that GOES‐7 fails before the scheduled launch of GOES‐I in December 1992. GOES‐7 is currently the only geostationary weather satellite in orbit. GOES‐I is the first of in the GOES‐Next (next generation) series, which will carry improved instrumentation and will be part of the modernization of the National Weather Service

At a joint hearing between the House subcommittee on the Environment and the subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight held July 25, members heard testimony on factors contributing to the GOES‐NEXT problems, current technical status of the program, and options to help avoid a gap in data. The General Accounting Office also released a report that investigated the cost, schedule, technical status, reasons of cost increases and delays, and options to avoid the data gap. A Senate subcommittee heard testimony on the flawed project July 10.
Geologic mapping act supported
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

Information provided by geologic maps is increasingly in demand in the United States, but, according to Congressional testimony by Chip Groat, executive director of the American Geologic Institute, “The United States remains the most poorly mapped industrialized nation in the world … The level of effort for 112 years has fallen short of meeting the needs for geologic maps.”

Representatives of the U.S. Geological Survey, the AGI, the Association of American State Geologists, and the Bureau of Land Management expressed support of the Geologic Mapping Act of 1991 (SI 179), at a hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Mineral Resources Development and Production on July 30. Similar legislation was also recently reviewed in the House.
Discontent grows over restrictions on GPS data
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

A current trade magazine ad, headlined “Selective Availability,” features the Mona Lisa with pieces missing from her face. To those in the global positioning trade, including many geophysicists, the ad aims a graphic jab at the Air Force's controversial policy of selective availability (SA), which denies the public the full benefits of its Global Positioning System in the interest of national security.

Civilian users of the Department of Defense's Navstar Global Positioning System are at odds with the military over who should have access to a technology that can be used to navigate ships and planes, monitor the rate of strain along a fault, and even guide a satellite. Since SA was switched on again at the beginning of July, after being cut off during the Persian Gulf war, the debate has heated up anew.
AGU Fellow Roger Revelle Dies
Authors: DeVito M. Catherine
Published: October 2006

AGU Fellow Roger R.D. Revelle, past Oceanography section president and recipient of the William Bowie Medal, died July 15. Revelle was a pioneer in global warming research and plate tectonics, and a major contributor to oceanography, education, and public policy.

Appointed an AGU Fellow in 1936, Revelle was president of the Oceanography section from 1953–1956. In 1968 he was awarded the Bowie Medal, AGU's highest honor. Revelle extended his activities beyond the limits of his specialty to actively work with scientists in other fields for the betterment of science. In presenting the award, George E. Backus described Revelle's career as one of bold and selfless service to science and his fellow man. “If scientific progress is built on the shoulders of giants, Roger Revelle is certainly to be counted among the giants.”
GOES‐I delay urged by House Committee
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

A near‐crisis situation with the GOES‐Next (next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) program seems to be nearing a resolution. Howard Wolpe (D‐Mich.), chairman, and Sherwood Boehlert (R‐N.Y.), ranking Republican of the House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight recently recommended that Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher delay the GOES‐I launch, which is scheduled for December 1992.

Although officials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have recently stated that NASA would be able to meet the December 1992 launch of GOES‐I within a budget, Wolpe and Boehlert urge Mosbacher “to accept NASA's plans and assurances with caution.” It is possible, they said, that “NASA's judgment has become clouded by the rush to launch.” NASA is responsible for implementing the satellite's design, which is provided by NOAA.
Recognizing outstanding achievements
Authors: Speiss Fred
Published: October 2006

One function of any professional society is to provide an objective, informed means for recognizing outstanding achievements in its field. In AGU's Ocean Sciences section we have a variety of means for carrying out this duty. They include recognition of outstanding student presentations at our meetings, dedication of special sessions, nomination of individuals to be fellows of the Union, invitations to present Sverdrup lectures, and recommendations for Macelwane Medals, the Ocean Sciences Award, and the Ewing Medal.

Since the decision to bestow these awards requires initiative and judgement by members of our section in addition to a deserving individual, it seems appropriate to review the selection process for each and to urge you to identify those deserving of recognition.
Scientists grapple with EOS redesign
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

Scientists are gearing up to plot a revised course for NASA's Earth Observing System in light of budget cuts the Senate has proposed for the project.

In July the Senate chopped $50 million out of the $336 million NASA requested for EOS in FY 1992. It also took about $5 billion from the program's baseline of more than $16 billion—the amount that NASA wants to spend on EOS through the end of the century—declaring that full funding will not be possible in the present budget climate.
Report looks at megaprojects
Authors: Leath Audrey
Published: October 2006

“Are large nondefense R&D projects being funded at the expense of other science and technology programs?” This question is examined by a Congressional Budget Office report, “ Large Nondefense R&D Projects in the Budget: 1980–1996,” which was issued in July. Congress is wrestling with this question as it determines how to fund such “megaprojects” as NASA's Space Station and Earth Observing System, and the Department of Energy's Superconducting Super Collider, while providing enough support for other research.

The study avoids making policy recommendations on the best balance between large and small science, but states bluntly that “if cost overruns or budget constraints require choosing between large and small projects, it would be against the national interest to support large projects at the expense of small ones for nonscientific and nontechnical reasons.”
NAPAP Acid Rain Conference improves scientific consensus, discounts extremes
Authors: Irving Patricia M.
Published: October 2006

While there is still debate concerning the causes and effects of acid rain, most scientists agree that extreme interpretations of the issue can now be eliminated. This is one conclusion drawn from a major international conference convened in February in Hilton Head, S.C., to examine and critique the findings of the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP), a 10‐year federally sponsored research and assessment effort.

When NAPAP was initiated in 1981, scientific opinion on acid rain was divided. The issue was viewed by some as a rapidly intensifying disaster requiring immediate remediation, and by others as a speculative hypothesis without sufficient substantiation. The NAPAP International Conference confirmed that most scientific opinion now lies well inside both of these two positions. The NAPAP work indicates that acid rain has damaged certain lakes and streams in the eastern United States and Canada, and that it contributes to decline of high‐evaluation spruce‐fir forests, materials degradation, and visibility impairment.
Global biomass burning: Atmospheric, climatic and biospheric implications
Authors: Levine Joel S.
Published: October 2006

Over the last decade, it has become increasingly apparent that the trace gas composition of the atmosphere is changing with time. These changes include the buildup of atmospheric greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, the chlorofluorocarbons, and tropospheric ozone), which may lead to a global warming and the chemical destruction and depletion of stratospheric ozone (90% of the total atmospheric ozone is in the stratosphere, with the remaining 10% in the troposphere), which absorbs biologically lethal solar ultraviolet (200–300 nm) radiation. In addition, tropospheric concentrations of chemically active nitric oxide and carbon monoxide are also increasing with time, as is acidic precipitation. These changes in the trace gas composition of the atmosphere and their environmental consequences have become areas of great national and international concern.
Using transoceanic cables to quantify global environmental changes
Authors: Walker Daniel A.
Published: October 2006

Coaxial, transoceanic telecommunications cables, which are broadly distributed in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and in marginal seas, may present a unique opportunity for data acquisition over a wide range of geologic, oceanographic, and atmospheric regions. The concept of using these cables for Earth science observatories was suggested in the mid‐1970s, and subsequent efforts resulted in the publication of a paper focusing primarily on the use of retired cables as ocean bottom seismic observatories [Nagumo and Walker, 1989] and the publication of a workshop report [Chave et al., 1990] discussing various basic research uses and existing technologies applicable to differing recording strategies.
Arid lands hydraulic engineering awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Surface Water Hydrology Committee of the Hydraulics Division of the American Society of Civil Engineering is seeking nominations for the Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering Award.

The award is given on the basis of original contribution in hydraulics, hydrology, climatology, planning, irrigation and drainage, hydroelectric power development, or navigation especially applicable to arid or semi‐arid climates. Contributions may include published works, outstanding performance, or noteworthy actions. Theoretical research should include recommended applications to planning, design, construction, or operation and maintenance of water resource projects or programs.
Forum: The challenge of global change
Authors: Roederer Juan G.
Published: October 2006

How can we sustain a public sense of the common danger of global change while remaining honest in view of the realities of scientific uncertainty? How can we nurture this sense of common danger without making statements based on half‐baked ideas, statistically unreliable results, or oversimplified models? How can we strike a balance between the need to overstate a case to attract the attention of the media and the obligation to adhere strictly to the ethos of science?

The task of achieving a scientific understanding of the inner workings of the terrestrial environment is one of the most difficult and ambitious endeavors of humankind. It is full of traps, temptations and deceptions for the participating scientists. We are dealing with a horrendously complex, strongly interactive, highly non‐linear system. Lessons learned from disciplines such as plasma physics and solid state physics which have been dealing with complex non‐linear systems for decades, are not very encouraging. The first thing one learns is that there are intrinsic, physical limits to the quantitative predictability of a complex system that have nothing to do with the particular techniques employed to model it.
History of fracture flow
Authors: Wang Herbert F. , Doe Thomas W.
Published: October 2006

The Committee on the History and Heritage of Hydrology sponsored this special session at the 1990 AGU Spring Meeting, held in Baltimore, Md. The history of fracture flow was an appropriate conclusion to 2 days of papers on the geologic characterization of media heterogeneity. Fracture flow theory developed from several technical disciplines, including rock mechanics and geological engineering in addition to hydrogeology. In particular, the 1960s and 1970s saw major advances in methods for describing and analyzing discontinuous geologic features. Institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley, which had strong interdisciplinary groups in the fields mentioned above, spearheaded much of the technical development.
Arctic scientists begin historic expedition
Authors: Smith Robin
Published: October 2006

Arctic marine geologists were a strong presence in the small city of Tromso, Norway, this summer. Scientific parties and crews for three icebreaker research vessels were joined by representatives of the scientific and executive committees of the Nansen Arctic Drilling (NAD) Program. As many of the world's leading Arctic scientists gathered, preparations were made for what some consider to be the most ambitious scientific expedition to the North Pole ever. Arctic '91, a six‐nation research expedition in the Barents and Laptev Seas north of the Soviet Union, will collect valuable data for studies of global warming.
New EOS payload proposed
Authors: Simarski Lynn Teo
Published: October 2006

Scientists working on NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) are now considering a new set of instruments for the global monitoring program and debating the order in which these should fly.

“In this time of uncertain budgets, what we have to do as a scientific community is to prioritize our measurements,” said Jeff Dozier, EOS project scientist, at a NASA press workshop September 12. “This allows us to give to the Congress and the administration a program they can buy by the yard.”