bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Line‐item veto may pass this month
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

U.S. House and Senate Republicans have cleared the way for legislation to give the President the power of a line‐item‐veto in time for the 1998 budget season.

The line‐item veto, as proposed, would allow the President to remove from appropriations bills selected appropriations items, new entitlement spending, or narrowly targeted tax breaks. Once a line item is cut from the budget, Congress would have to pass a separate appropriations bill for that individual item; that new, separate bill would then be subject to the traditional Presidential veto.
Reply [to “Comment on ‘Science in the political arena: Taking fire from the right and the left’”]
Authors: Applegate David
Published: October 2011

I tend to agree with Michael Darzi that the budgetary attacks being brought to bear by Congress are the greater problem for science, but it was the growing rift with the environmental community that most surprised me during my year on Capitol Hill. As a card‐carrying member of several environmental groups, I was disturbed that a movement that had, as Darzi rightly points out, spurred many crucial areas of scientific research, was adopting a know‐nothing approach even when common interests exist.

As to the solution, I could not agree more with Darzi that better communication is only one step toward greater activism, particularly at the grassroots level.
Hot stuff
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

Disturbances in the Sun's corona such as coronal mass ejections appear to be global phenomena, not just local, according to research presented at the AGU Spring Meeting. An international team of solar physicists led by Guenter Brueckner of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory has detected global, short‐term (hours‐ to days‐long) disturbances in the Sun's corona that may help explain the origin of the solar wind.
Flow of information
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

Through the wonders of the Internet, the U.S. Geological Survey's Oklahoma City office is now providing real‐time data on streamflow in Oklahoma. Preliminary data on stream and river stages and flow at 11 gauging sites can now be reviewed by every farmer, fisherman, industrialist and insurance assessor who has access to the World Wide Web.
Rain dance
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

The concept of altering weather soon may get some added credibility. Residents of Mexico's parched state of Coahuila just hope to get some rain.

In a program that links scientists from the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) with others working for the Mexican government and agricultural and industrial labs, researchers will test a new technique to enhance and perhaps induce rainfall. In field trials planned for June through October for the next four years, scientists will use pyrotechnic flares mounted on aircraft to seed clouds: as the plane flies at the base of the cloud, the burning flares produce moisture‐retaining particles that rise into the cloud and attract water vapor. When the technique succeeds, the water particles become droplets which can become bonafide precipitation.
Proposed change to Bylaw 22
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Statutes and Bylaws Committee has recommended that the bylaw governing the number of new Fellows to be elected each year be amended. The proposed change, which decouples the number to be elected from the date of the meeting, would provide a stable number for each year.

Recipients of AGU medals who are members are accorded Fellowship in the Union. Additional Fellows may be elected from the membership of the AGU by a committee of 11 Fellows appointed by the President.
New award will honor contributions to education
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

AGU is seeking nominations for the Union's new award, the Excellence in Geophysical Education Award, which recognizes a contribution to the advancement of the geophysical sciences through educational activities. Members have supported the geophysical sciences through a wide variety of educational activities at all levels, kindergarten through postgraduate, with such contributions helping to build the foundation for future research and advancements in science. Approved by the Council at the 1996 Spring Meeting, this award is the culmination of several years of discussion by the Education and Human Resources Committee and of a final proposal for Council action prepared jointly by the Education and Human Resources Committee and the Fellows Committee. An Education Award Committee, appointed by the AGU President, will review nominations and recommend a recipient for the final approval of the Executive Committee.
Going with the flow
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

The Colorado River will never be the same. Declaring success in the controlled flooding experiment conducted on the river in April (Eos, June 11), U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has officially changed the operation plan for the Glen Canyon Dam in order to better protect the natural resources of Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon National Recreational Area.

In a ceremony on October 9 in Phoenix, Arizona, Babbitt completed a process that began during the Bush Administration. In 1989 researchers and land managers began preparing an environmental impact assessment of how the river and dam could be managed to better protect the ecosystem. The new “record of decision” signed by Babbitt directs the Department of the Interior to operate the dam in “such a manner as to protect, mitigate adverse impacts to, and improve the values” for which the parks were established. The order makes permanent some changes first ordered in 1991; those changes allow for (but do not necessarily prescribe) occasional controlled floods and other dam management procedures that minimize erosion downstream.
Drill bit
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) is seeking proposals by January 15, 1997, for its next cycle of scientific projects.

Started in February 1996 as a joint program between Germany's GeoForschungsZentrum‐Potsdam, the United States' National Science Foundation (NSF), and China's Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, ICDP was created to support scientific research of global importance that requires access to continental drilling capability. ICDP is currently funding projects to drill volcanic sequences in Hawaii and the Chicxulub Impact Crater in the Yucatan Peninsula. The program also is supporting workshops on lake drilling for high‐resolution records of environmental and tectonic change; drilling the high‐pressure metamorphic rocks of the Dabieshan Mountains in China; and drilling the feeder of the dacite dome that has intruded into the vent of the Unzen Volcano in Japan.
No Grand Central stations
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

Reflecting on the lessons of the Kobe (1995), Mexico City (1985), Northridge (1994), and Loma Prieta (1989) earthquakes, two social scientists have proposed that societies invert the traditional way information is communicated in the hours and days after a natural disaster. Rather than the usual top‐down, military‐style, need‐to‐know approach to sharing information in the wake of a disaster, the researchers suggest that emergency communications should be decentralized into an “open access” system to serve leaders and ordinary citizens alike.
Best and Fulbrightest
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

The Fulbright Senior Scholar Program offers opportunities in all disciplines and professional fields, including the natural and applied sciences. In the 1998–99 competition, college and university faculty and professionals outside academe can vie for opportunities to lecture or conduct advanced research in one of more than 135 countries. Fulbright awards range from two months to a full academic year.
Societies that endorsed the joint statement on scientific research
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

American Association of Physicists in Medicine American Astronomical Society American Chemical Society American Geological Institute American Geophysical Union American Institute of Biological
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Ulrich Hornung died December 4, 1996, at age 55. He had been a member (Hydrology) since in 1983.

Mae D. Lethbridge died October 12, 1996, at age 87. She was a retired life member (Atmospheric Sciences ), who joined AGU in 1981.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Ramon R. Cabre died February 24, 1997, at age 74. He was a retired life member (Seismology) who joined AGU in 1962.

Tate Dalrymple died September 2, 1996, at age 92. He was a retired life member (Hydrology), who joined AGU in 1937.
Surf's up
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Until now, no one was able to experience the ocean‐like breaking of waves in the air above our heads—except when jet planes experienced sudden losses of altitude. Now a new turbulence warning system is being developed by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., to alert air traffic controllers and pilots to turbulent conditions. The warning system, which is being developed for Hong Kong's new airport and tested at Juneau, Alaska, summarizes data from a wind profiler, anemometer, and Doppler lidar (a type of laser).
Better hurricane forecasts
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

People living in coastal areas can rely on better hurricane predictions because forecasters now have nearly instant access to global wind data. Measurements of wind speed and direction over the world's oceans are available within 3 hours of measurement from the Japanese satellite ADEOS (Advanced Earth Observing Satellite).

Wind parameters at 25‐km resolution are being measured by NASA's scatterometer traveling on the Japanese satellite ADEOS (Advanced Earth Observing Satellite). “The high accuracy and spatial resolution of the data were quickly recognized by our forecasters, who have been starved for data over significant expanses of the world's oceans,” said Jim Hoke, director of NOAA's Marine Prediction Center.
Kilauea crack up
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

On January 29 and 30, a network of data‐collecting stations placed along the flanks of Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii went on the move. Eight hours before Hawaii's most active volcano erupted, a new rift on the volcano's south flank opened and expanded 20 cm, spewing fountains of lava from a series of cracks more than a mile long. The stations, placed along the flanks of the volcano by a team of scientists from Stanford University and the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, consisted of markers anchored in the rock and antennae taking readings from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to precisely calibrate each marker location
Particle umbrella
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Sulfate emitted from the burning of fossil fuels is thought to limit global warming by acting as a shield that reflects solar radiation back into space. But recent measurements of atmospheric particles over the U.S. east coast indicate that carbon particles, which absorb radiation, far outnumber the more reflective sulfates. Theoretically, such a particle mixture would increase global warming.
Basic research championed
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

In April, the Office of National Science and Technology Policy released its biennial report to Congress. Science and Technology: Shaping the Twenty‐First Century addresses the President's policy for maintaining U.S. leadership in science and technology, significant developments, and important national issues in science, and opportunities to use science and technology in federal programs and national goals. The administration strongly supports basic research as a sound investment and an inspiration to society. As corporate laboratories increasingly favor applied R&D projects, the federal government is becoming the dominant sponsor of long‐term, basic research.
Mud probe
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Metals and other chemicals in marine waters and sediments can be measured in situ at concentrations as low as one part per billion, thanks to a new microelectrode developed by Delaware Sea Grant researcher George Luther and his colleagues. Until now, sensors could characterize only gaseous compounds, and typically only one gas could be measured per electrode. The new microelectrode consists of a gold wire plated with mercury and enclosed in a glass tube. The mercury in the wire reacts with chemicals, each having a different peak potential, in marine water or sediment. The reaction creates a current directly proportional to the chemical's concentration. The design overcomes the problems of existing electrodes, which survive poorly in the muddy marine field conditions.
Ocean commotion
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Whether we live on the coast or in a land‐locked region, the ocean is our life‐supporting system and regulator of the Earth's climate. To recognize the importance of the watery mass covering roughly three‐quarters of the planet, the United Nations has declared 1998 as the International Year of the Ocean (IYO). This designation, proposed by the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC), highlights the need for governments and the public to sustain ocean resources by protecting the marine environment. The major aim of the joint efforts during 1998 will be to create awareness and obtain commitments from governments to take action, provide adequate resources, and give priority to the ocean and coastal areas as finite economical assets.
Panoramic nomad
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

While the Sojourner robot has inched from rock to rock across the Martian landscape over the past few weeks, amazing Earthlings with its close‐up view of the red planet, scientists are developing a next generation of bigger and more robust space‐ready robots.

During a 45‐day field experiment that ended on July 31, a 726‐kg (1,600‐lb) robotic rover nicknamed “Nomad” practically sprinted more than 215 km (133 miles) around the cold and arid landscape of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. The robot, which reached a maximum cruising speed of about 1.6 km per hour (1 mph), traveled 32.2 km (20 miles) further than scientists originally had hoped for.
Coral bleach
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

With a major El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) now stirring in the Pacific Ocean, scientists are concerned about the potential impact to fragile coral reefs.

The ENSO could trigger massive bleaching of coral reefs in both the Pacific and Atlantic, according C. Mark Eakin, a program manager with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Global Programs.
Mentor awards
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The Association of Women in Science (AWIS) and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) were two of 19 institutions and individuals that received presidential awards for excellence in science, mathematics, and engineering mentoring, on September 11.

Neal Lane, Director of the National Science Foundation, says the awards, which include $10,000 grants, recognize “individuals and institutions working to heighten the participation of underrepresented groups in science, mathematics, and engineering.”
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Robert H. Dicke died on March 4, 1997, at age 80. He was an AGU fellow (1962)(SPA—Solar and Heliospheric Physics) who joined AGU in 1960.

Craig C. Hudson died December 2, 1996, at age 79. He had been a member (Atmospheric Sciences) since 1974.
Bumpy rides
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

When a Japanese airplane ran into severe turbulence above the northwest Pacific Ocean east of Japan on January 20, 20 passengers were injured.

Now, a team of scientists is sending probes into turbulent areas of the jet stream over the Pacific to learn more about clear air turbulence and the structure of the jet stream. The data will be used to verify experimental turbulence prediction models and learn how operational National Weather Service forecast models might be improved to give pilots more accurate warnings of turbulence.
Earth Day honors
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Earth Day on April 22 has become a time for presenting awards for environmental protection, and this year's awardees include several people and organizations whose activities touch upon geoscience‐related issues.

Among the winners of the Goldman Environment Prize is Michal Krav Rk, a hydrologist from Slovakia who led a successful campaign to stop the construction of a proposed 65‐m‐high dam that had been planned for the Upper Torysa River about 50 km northwest of the city of Kosice.
Wide‐ranging sensor applications
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The next time you sip a glass of wine from California's Napa Valley, you may want to offer a toast to NASA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A new partnership between the two agencies could help to improve the management of vineyards there. The partnership, which will apply remote‐sensing data from satellites to 13 initial research issues, also could improve scientists' understanding of wildfires, range management, floodplain drainage, and other resources.

The goal of the research, according to NASA, is to accelerate the movement of remote sensing research results and data into the operational arena.
Economic accounting system should include natural resources and environment, Panel recommends
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Five years after the U.S. Congress ordered the Department of Commerce (DOC) to stop developing a method of accounting that tracks natural resources and environmental conditions as a part of the total national economic picture, a panel established by Congress and sponsored by DOC has unanimously concluded that the department was on the right track.

The National Research Council Panel on Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting said in a report released on July 15 that the department should be encouraged to continue developing comprehensive sets of statistics about nonmarket activities for use in national accounting efforts, and that “the development of environmental and natural‐resource accounts is an essential investment for the nation.”
Outstanding student paper award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Geodesy Section presented an outstanding student paper award to Sean C. Swenson at the 1999 AGU Spring Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, last June.

Sean presented a poster titled “Estimated Effects of the Vertical Distribution of Atmospheric Mass on the Time‐variable Geoid.” Sean graduated from Cornell University with a B.Ain physics in 1996. He is presently working toward a Ph.D. under the direction of Professor John Wahr of the University of Colorado at Boulder. His current research work is on the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE), a dedicated gravity satellite mission. Sean's interests include phase boundary effects on post glacial rebound, global ocean heat‐transport variability and satellite gravity.
Environmental research should be high priority at National Science Foundation, Board says
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Stating that the environment is a critical element of the knowledge base needed to live in a safe and prosperous world, the National Science Board (NSB) on July 29 said that environmental research, education, and scientific assessments should be one of the highest priorities of the National Science Foundation (NSF). To back up this effort, NSB, which is the governing body of NSR called for $1 billion in new federal funding over the next 5 years to supplement the approximately $600 million the foundation spends annually in these areas out of its $4 billion budget. Total federal investment in environmental research and development is approximately $5.3 billion annually
Recent Ph.D.s
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Tectonophysics Section presented two outstanding student paper awards at the 1999 AGU Spring Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, last June.
U.S. federal government tries to get ahead of the curve with drought planning
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Richard Tinker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS), has seen severe droughts in other parts of the country during previous years. But current conditions in the United States are stunting row crops, lowering the levels of reservoirs and rivers, and parching especially hard the Mid‐Atlantic states in addition to parts of California and other regions. The Mid‐Atlantic is a region perhaps not as sensitized to the creepingly slow troubles droughts can wreak, as are the water‐lorn West and the once‐Dust Bowled Great Plains.

The drought—which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on August 6 already has caused the driest seasons in four Mid‐Atlantic states since record‐keeping began 105 years ago—is also taking its toll on Tinker's backyard in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.
Greater public access to U.S. research data permitted under new law
Authors: Folger Peter
Published: October 2011

Amid last year's frantic congressional deal‐making to fund the U.S. government for the fiscal year 1999, Senator Richard Shelby (Republican from Alabama) slipped a small provision into the end‐of‐year omnibus appropriations bill that could have large implications for researchers. Now part of Public Law 105‐277, Shelby's rider is intended “…to require Federal awarding agencies to ensure that all data produced under an award will be made available to the public through the procedures established under the Freedom of Information Act.” The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law enacted in 1966 that allows any citizen to request documents from federal agencies in the United States.
Climate change science is now big science
Authors: Stanhill Gerald
Published: October 2011

Climate change is now a big issue, “perhaps the most pressing and urgent environmental issue on the world's agenda,” according to the United Kingdom's National Environment Research Council (NERC) [1998], and so not surprisingly climate change science (CCS) is now Big Science involving Big Money How this situation came about, how big is Big, and whether Big is too big are three of the questions concerning the future of CCS addressed in the following discussion.

The growth of the scientific literature on climate change shown in Figure 1 indicates that the transition of CCS from a Little to a Big science began in 1950. Up until that time CCS was conducted by a few self‐motivated individuals using simple observational techniques to study past changes occurring over geological eras. Since then CCS has grown into a major and highly organized activity carried out by large national and international groups using state‐of‐the‐art and very expensive remote sensing and computing facilities. It is now almost exclusively concerned with current and near‐future changes.
Education resources on the Web
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

As students and teachers in the United States begin a new school year, they will find an increasing amount of educational resources available on the Internet.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Education Resources Web site offers activities for students in elementary school and higher levels. NOAA organizes the site into themes, including oceans and coasts, climate change, weather, and satellites and space.
Development efforts must tackle environmental challenges, World Bank says
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The World Bank, in several major documents released in mid‐September, says environmental issues such as global climate change are priority concerns, and links them to poverty and development.

While the Bank says its development efforts in the past 10 years have contributed to significant progress in protecting the environment and alleviating poverty, it admits that much more needs to be done to address these issues.
A constellation of microsatellites promises to help in a range of geoscience research
Authors: Kuo Y.H. , Chao B. F. , Lee L. C.
Published: October 2011

An octet of microsatellites to be launched in 2003 promises to deliver a large amount of useful data for meteorological, climatic, ionospheric, and geodetic research as well as for operational weather forecasting and space weather monitoring. Known as the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC), the joint Taiwan‐U.S. scientific satellite project makes use of Global Positioning System (GPS) occultation and tracking signals.

COSMIC's final operational configuration is depicted in Figure l.Each of the eight microsatellites in low‐Earth‐orbit (LEO, shown relative to the high‐altitude GPS satellite orbits) will carry in particular an advanced limbsounding GPS receiver, a Tiny Ionospheric Photometer, and a triband beacon transmitter.
Tectonic evolution in the Rocky Mountain region: 4‐D imaging of the continental lithosphere
Authors: Keller G. Randy , Karlstrom Karl E. , Farmer G. Lang
Published: October 2011

An interdisciplinary study under way this summer and fall in the southern Rocky Mountains hopes to show that the lithospheric structure produced there during the formation of the southwestern United States profoundly influenced both physical and chemical modification of the continental lithosphere during all subsequent tectonism. Known as the Continental Dynamics‐Rocky Mountain (CD‐ROM) project, the study is focusing on understanding the assembly, growth, stabilization, reactivation, and present structure of the Rocky Mountain lithosphere.

The Rocky Mountain region of the western United States has experienced a complex geologic history that can only be unraveled by the integration of a broad range of geoscience data. This region is of great fundamental interest to studies of the dynamics and evolution of the North American continent. It is also an area where a better understanding of the scarce water resources, natural resources, and earthquake hazards depends on knowledge of the geologic structures present.
New map revises extent of last ice sheet over Barents and Kara seas
Authors: Thiede Jörn , Mangerud Jan
Published: October 2011

The last ice sheet over the Barents and Kara Seas, about 18,000 years ago, was much smaller than previously thought, according to a new map (Figure 1) constructed through the interdisciplinary program Quaternary Environments of the Eurasian North (QUEEN), sponsored by the European Science Foundation. The map also has implications for paleoglaciological as well as paleoclimatic modeling and indeed for our understanding of the paleoenvironments of the Arctic Ocean and Eurasian continent far beyond the limits of the ice sheet.

Even though many details remain to be worked out, we now confidently conclude that the last glacial maximum of the Eurasian ice sheet was restricted to the Barents Sea and Novaya Zemlya, possibly with an outlet reaching the very coast of the Taymyr Peninsula (Figure 1).This reconstruction is in strong contrast to Grosswald's [1998] map of a contiguous ice sheet across entire northern Eurasia, from Svalbard to the Bering Sea, and also Peltier's [1994] thick ice over northern Russia.
Looking at the vintage of 1949
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Fifty years ago, as 1949 began, AGU dues had been raised from $5 to $7 per year. James Bernard Macelwane had just received the William Bowie Medal. Walter H. Bucher was about to become president, and H. U‐.Sverdrup was vice‐president.The Union's 4,500 members could choose among eight sections: Geodesy, Seismology, Meteorology, Terrestrial Magnetism and Electricity, Oceanography, Volcanology Hydrology, and Tectonophysics. Of the approximately 200 new members that joined AGU in 1949, 34 are celebrating 50 years of membership this year.

The individuals listed below join the distinguished ranks of the other 50‐year members. Their continuing commitment to AGU is deeply appreciated. Stephen E. Blewett, William E. Bonini, William M. Cameron, Robert A. Clark, John C. Cook, Joseph S. Cragwall, Jr., Richard C. Culler, Martin M. Fogel, Joseph B. Franzini, Thomas A. Gleeson, O. Milton Hackett, Arthur FHasbrook, James W. Hood, Shragga Irmay William W. Kellogg, Elizabeth R. King, Howard Klein, Finley B. Laverty Heinz H. Lettau, Kurt E. Lowe, Arthur R. Miller, Joseph W Mixsell, Carlo Morelli, Jack E. Oliver, B. H. Olsson, George L. Pickard, John L. Rosenfeld, Thorndike Saville, Jr., John W. Siegmund, James E. Slosson, John Summersett, Harold A. Thomas, Jr., Charles M. Weiss, and Glenn C. Werth.
Extend your commitment to AGU
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Voluntary contributions are essential for AGU to maintain and enhance its many innovative programs. In addition to unrestricted contributions to AGU, contributions may be designated to one or more of the special funds. One such fund is the Mineral and Rock Physics Fund.

The Mineral and Rock Physics Fund was established to support an annual award recognizing either one or two outstanding young scientists in Mineral and Rock Physics, broadly defined. Nominations are solicited each year for current graduate students, or recent graduates within one year of their Ph.D. degree, and are reviewed by a subcommittee of the AGU Committee on Mineral and Rock Physics. In 1998, the awardees were Tye Gribb (University of Wisconsin‐Madison) and Abby Kavner (University of California‐Berkeley). They join Donald Isaak (1990), Thomas Duffy (1991), Michael Kruger (1992), Kathleen Kingma (1993), Andy Hsi‐Tien Shen and Andrei Zerr (1994), Nick Beeler and Nobumasa Funamori (1995), Baosheng Li (1996), Ljuba Kerschhofer, and Wenlu Zhu (1997) on the roster of promising colleagues helping to define the future of mineral and rock physics.
Interdisciplinary course focuses on global changes, European north
Authors: Lange Manfred A.
Published: October 2011

Global environmental changes, the European Arctic, regional climate modeling, integrated assessments, socioeconomic consequences of climate change, integrated regional impact studies—do they have anything in common and can they be dealt with collectively? These and related questions were tackled by 25 doctoral students and 25 lecturers at an advanced study course last summer in northern Sweden.

The course addressed two basic issues—regional climate modeling in the European Arctic and integrated regional impact studies in the European north. Called Integrated Regional Impact Studies in the European North: Basic Issues, Methodologies and Regional Climate Modeling (IRISEN), it was held at the Scientific Research Station of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Abisko, July 4–16.
To Interpret the Earth: Ten Ways to Be Wrong
Authors: Le Grand Homer
Published: October 2011

The Scientist Likes Contemplation: Do Senior Scientists Contemplate Everything Methodically? Thus runs one mnemonic suggested by Stanley Schumm to epitomize the central thesis of the slim but provocative book, To Interpret the Earth: Ten Ways to Be Wrong. No, the author warns us, neither is this a discourse on some presumed “scientific method” nor is it a treatise on either the philosophy of science in general or its application to the Earth sciences. Extensive references are given to those literatures. “For example, Schumm gives an insightful account of the method of multiple working hypotheses (or, as one wag termed it, “the method of multiple prejudices”) which has numbered among its proponents several influential Earth scientists.”
Here comes the Sun
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

When Solar Maximum, a period of peak solar activity occurs, “the sun bursts at its seams with explosive power,” according to James Baker, administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “As [the sun] churns, there is potential for electrical power outages, radio problems, and the disabling of satellites,” said Baker. “This can disrupt communications, including broadcast transmissions and pagers.”
Distinguishing volcanic ash from Congressional pork
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

When NBC‐TV's “West Wing,” a weekly drama about the White House, mentioned in early November that a $2 million Senate appropriations bill earmark to monitor airborne ash from erupting volcanoes on Alaska's Aleutian Islands is an example of Congressional “pork barrel spending,” John Eichelberger dismissed the remark as a throwaway line for a quick laugh.

But when the New York Times picked up on the line in a November 19 article about special interest pork, Eichelberger, a professor of volcanology at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, and coordinating scientist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), was “pretty mad.”
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Grigory I. Monterey died on December 4, 1999, at age 45. He was a member (Ocean Sciences) who joined in 1992.

Jack Newman died. He was a member who joined in 1996.
Millennium bug
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

After global fears of computer snafus prompted billions of dollars of remedial action, the Y2K bug appears to have vanished with barely a trace. But on January l, taxonomists with the entomology division of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) reported the discovery of an insect whose scientific and common names will be the “millennium bug.”
New for member subscribers in 2000
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

All member subscribers to AGU print journals can now view articles from 1997 through 1999 in PDF format. Over the next two weeks, 1994 through 1996 also will be online. Going forward, concurrent with mailing of the print issue, it will be published online.
Aftermath of Venezuelan flood disaster
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

One month after several rounds of devastating floods and mudslides waterlogged parts of Venezuela in December and January, the country and government are trying to come to grips with the damage and begin reconstruction efforts. They are also trying to limit potential health risks that can arise following natural disasters. Epidemics, however, rarely occur following a disaster, according to Jean‐Luc Poncelet, a doctor with the Pan American Health Organization.

Between 25,000 and 50,000 people in Venezuela were killed, and about 150,000 displaced, according to local and international aid authorities. In addition,Venezuelan national authorities have declared part of the Port of La Guaira as a dangerous chemical zone because of ruptured containers of dangerous chemicals, hundreds of kilometers of the Caribbean coast have been closed to fishing and swimming because of contaminated runoff from the floods, roads remain blocked, and the lack of potable water is a key concern.
Finding faults with the data
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Rudolph Giuliani and Hillary Rodham Clinton are crisscrossing upstate New York looking for votes in the U.S. Senate race. Also cutting back and forth across upstate New York are hundreds of faults of a kind characterized by very sporadic seismic activity according to Robert Jacobi, professor of geology at the University of Buffalo (UB), who conducted research with fellow UB geology professor John Fountain.

“We have proof that upstate New York is crisscrossed by faults,” Jacobi said. “In the past, the Appalachian Plateau—which stretches from Albany to Buffalo—was considered a pretty boring place structurally without many faults or folds of any significance.”
Space‐age dentistry
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Work on developing high‐power lasers to remotely sense the atmosphere has led to a technological spinoff that could cut down on the need for dentists' drills and scalpels. Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center have demonstrated a multiple‐wavelength laser technology that dentists, with a flip of a switch, can use for working on either hard or soft tissue. If approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the system could replace separate laser systems for hard and soft tissue work, and be easy to use, according to researchers.

“The system is simple because we have already done all the complex physics in the lab,” said Keith Murray, a laser researcher at Langley and co‐inventor of the dental laser technology
Outchasing climate change
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Pygmy possums, monarch butterflies, spoon‐billed sandpipers, and a number of trees and other plants could be among the species unable to migrate fast enough to new habitat in the face of potential global climate changes, according to an August 30 report by the Switzerland‐based World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the U.S. based Clean‐Air‐Cool Planet (CACP), two conservation organizations.
Comment [on “Sea level rise shown to drive coastal erosion”]
Authors: Galvin Cyril
Published: October 2011

The study of coastal processes is a democratic one. Almost everyone has been to a beach, beach changes are easily recognizable, and the prevailing explanations of these changes seem plausible to the intelligent visitor, whether scientist or not. It is a first article of faith, if not of fact, that sea‐level rise causes contemporary beach erosion. It is a second article of faith, if not always of logic, that coastal structures cause contemporary beach erosion.
Union member receives Nation's Premier Award for Young Scientists
Authors: Grant Shermonta L.
Published: October 2011

Dana Longcope, an AGU member and an assistant professor of physics at Montana State University‐Bozeman, is one of 59 U.S. scientists to receive this years Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

The award is the highest honor given by the U.S. government to exceptional scientists and engineers who are launching their careers.
Continental drift, organic evolution, and moral courage
Authors: Irving Edward
Published: October 2011

For the past 40 years or so there has been much discussion of the reasons why, even though there was substantial evidence for it, the continental drift hypothesis of Alfred Wegener and Wladimir Koppen was rejected in the first half of the 20th century. It was often derisively dismissed out of hand.

On April 7, 1998, there was a note in Eos by David Stern that included a perceptive and amusing quotation from Teddy Bullard on the question, which has recently reached something of a culmination in an important new book, The Rejection of Continental Drift, by Naomi Oreskes and published by Oxford in 1999.
Air/sea gas exchange in tropical waters
Authors: Corredor Jorge E.
Published: October 2011

The ocean constitutes a vast reservoir of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, atmospherically active gases believed to be responsible for the current greenhouse warming. In addition, nitrous oxide is an ozone‐active gas capable of affecting the stratospheric ozone layer. While we have gained significant insight regarding the role of temperate oceans in gas exchange, our knowledge of the role of the tropical oceans as sources or sinks of these gases is sketchy

To address these issues, the University of Puerto Rico Tropical Atmospheric Science Centers Air/Sea Interaction Group (TASCASIG) recently hosted a workshop on air/sea gas exchange in tropical marine waters with the participation of local researchers and leading scientists from Bermuda, Florida, California, Hawaii, and Maryland.
Comment on “Operational oceanography: Shall we dance?”
Authors: Wilson Stan , Cole Muriel
Published: October 2011

In a Forum article,“Operational Oceanography: Shall We Dance” (Eos Trans., AGU, March 14, 2000) C. Mooers states that “the worldwide oceanographic community is on the brink of operational oceanography” I beg to differ; this community is already immersed in operational oceanography.

Mooers also states that the “National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has fewer than 100 individuals working in operational oceanography, and they are concentrated at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) of the National Weather Service (NWS).“This is incorrect; NOAA currently has at least 1,317 “full‐time equivalents” (FTEs) working in operational oceanography,some of whom directly trace back to President Jefferson's establishment of the Coast Survey in 1807. And there are hundreds, if not thousands, more in other U.S. agencies at the federal,state, and local levels.
Tectonics and Magmatism in Turkey and the Surrounding Area
Authors: emen Ibrahim
Published: October 2011

Turkey is a country with a very complex geologic evolution, dominated mostly by the opening and closing of the Tethyan Oceans: Prototethys, Paleotethys, and Neotethys. This complexity can become obvious even when one examines a generalized geological map of Turkey Striking features of such a map include the presence of many ophiolitic rocks, at least three suture zones, and other continent‐continent collision‐related structures and basins. The tectonics of Turkey is also complicated by post‐collisional structures such as the Aegean continental extension; the North and East Anatolian strike slip fault zones; and the central Anatolian interior basins.
Clinton releases oceans report
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

U.S. President Bill Clinton is trying to beat the clock on the January 20 close of his administration by maintaining a flurry of activity on resource and conservation issues.

During a December 4 speech in Washington, D.C., he released a broad‐ranging report by the Presidents Panel on Ocean Exploration, entitled “Discovering Earth's Final Frontier: A U.S. Strategy for Ocean Exploration.”
New protection initiatives announced for coral reefs
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Off the coasts of some of the South Pacific's most idyllic‐sounding atolls, Austin Bowden‐Kerby has seen first‐hand the heavy damage to coral reefs from dynamite and cyanide fishing. For instance, while snorkeling near Chuuk, an island in Micronesia, he has observed craters and rubble beds of coral, which locals have told him date to World War II ordnance.

A marine biologist and project scientist for the Coral Gardens Initiative of the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific, Bowden‐Kerby has also identified what he says are some public health effects related to destroyed coral reefs and their dying fisheries. These problems include protein and vitamin A deficiency and blindness, all of which may—in some instances—be linked to poor nutrition resulting from lower reef fish consumption by islanders, according to Bowden‐Kerby.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Robert W . Bogle died this year, at age 81. He was a member (Ocean Sciences) who joined AGU in 1982.

Martha A. Hayes died on November 2, 2000, at age 46. She was a member (Hydrology) who joined AGU in 1991.
John R. Spreiter (1921–2000)
Authors: Stahara Stephen
Published: October 2011

John Robert Spreiter, professor emeritus at the Applied Mechanics Department at Stanford University, passed away on February 6, 2000, in Maui, Hawaii, after a 2‐year struggle with cancer. He was 78 years old. Well known in the space physics community for his seminal work on the interaction of the solar wind with planetary magneto‐ionospheres, John applied his unique perspective as an internationally recognized aerodynamicist to fundamental problems of space physics. He was a longtime member and Fellow of AGU and a faculty member at Stanford University for over 30 years.
Reply [to Leonard Finegold's “Comment on “Assessing flood hazard on dynamic rivers” by Nicholas Pinter, Russell Thomas and Joseph H. Wlosinski”]
Authors: Pinter Nicholas
Published: October 2011

I am the source of the Table 1 mentioned in L. Finegold's letter, and the editors of Eos have asked me to respond.

I don't know about tons of European lead emissions, which was mentioned in the other offending paper, but when it comes to Mississippi and Missouri River discharges, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports measurements to the nearest integer value in cfs (ft3/s). Converting into metric (cmss; m3/s), the values keep the same number of significant figures. Table 1 in Pinter et al. [2002] reported means and standard deviations of USGS annual maximum discharges. The means retain the same number of significant figures as the least precise value in each discharge set (nearest whole unit in cms), and the standard deviations are reported to the same decimal place as the means (again, nearest whole cms).
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Melvin Calvin died last year. He was a retired life member and AGU Fellow (Volcanology, Geochemistry, Petrology) who joined in 1961.

Reverend Keith W. Johnson died on 11 September 2002, at age 78. He was a retired life member (Atmospheric Sciences) who joined AGU in 1965.
Review for peer reviews
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Peer review guidelines for science issued by the federal government which is related to regulatory topics could be tightened up under a 29 August White House proposal.

The proposed guidelines were prepared by the White House Office of Management and Budget in coordination with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Some Mars rocks likely formed in water
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

NASA's Opportunity Rover has found that some rocks on Mars probably formed as deposits in a shallow salt flat, or playa, rover science team members announced on 23 March.

When scientists announced on 2 March that they had found strong evidence that a rock outcrop in Mars' Meridiana Planum region once was a wet and habitable environment, they had still been uncertain about whether the rocks had been laid down in liquid water. (See Eos, 16 March 2004.)
Report on science appointments
Authors: Showstack Andy
Published: October 2011

U.S. policy‐makers should ensure more transparency and speed in the presidential appointment process for senior science and technology posts and for nominees to federal science and technology advisory committees, according to a 17 November report issued by the U.S. National Academies Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy.

Former U.S. Representative John Porter, chair of the committee that wrote the report, said, “In searching for scientists and engineers to serve on federal advisory committees, charges have surfaced recently that the process of making the appointments has been politicized. We believe it is important at this critical time that science and technology advice to the federal government be—and be seen as—impartial and independent.”
Visas Mantis clearance validity extended
Authors: Keelor Brad
Published: October 2011

U.S. visa applications for people who are studying or working in some sensitive scientific and technical fields are subject to an interagency clearance in Washington, D.C., called Visas Mantis. The U.S. State Department, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, announced extensions for the validity of Visas Mantis in the F (international student), J (exchange visitors), H (temporary workers), L (intracompany transferees) and B (tourist and business) categories on 11 February.

F visas will be valid for the length of the student's approved academic program, for up to four years. J, H, and L visas will be valid for the duration of the approved activity, with a maximum of two years. If the visa holder's activity changes at any time after issuance, the holder must apply for a new visa.
Greenhouse emission guidelines
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued its revised guidelines for voluntary reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration, and emission reduction, the agency announced on 22 March.

DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman said the guidelines “represent another significant step in our broad national effort to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of the U.S. economy, and address the risk of global climate change.” He added that the guidelines provide a transparent accounting system to encourage increased participation in voluntary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a cost‐effective manner.