bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
“Moon beyond 2000” Workshop participants discuss next steps in lunar science and exploration
Authors: Lawrence David J.
Published: October 2006

Lunar science has received a substantial boost as a result of global, integrative analyses of remote sensing and lunar sample data following the recent Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions. Spurred by these results, new missions to explore and characterize the Moon are now being implemented by the Japanese and European space agencies, and are being discussed in detail by several teams of U.S. scientists. A recent survey of scientific opinion conducted by the Space Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences () indicates that enthusiasm is high in the United States for a return to the Moon in the near future.

To take advantage of this momentum, and to focus attention on the future of lunar science, a workshop titled “The Moon Beyond 2002: Next Steps in Lunar Science and Exploration” was recently held. Two questions were posed to attendees: What key questions should now be addressed to advance lunar science and exploration? And what actions should the planetary science community take to best address these questions?
Cicerone receives 2002 Roger Revelle Medal
Authors: Chameides William L. , Cicerone Ralph J.
Published: October 2006

Ralph J. Cicerone was awarded the Revelle Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held on 8 December 2002, in San Francisco, California. The medal is given for outstanding accomplishments or contributions toward the understanding of the Earth's atmospheric processes, including its dynamics, chemistry, and radiationsemi; and toward the role of the atmosphere, atmosphere‐ocean coupling, or atmosphere‐land coupling in determining the climate, biogeochemical cycles, or other key elements of the climate system.
Committee issues report on Bush Administration's Climate Science Plan
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

The Bush administration's draft strategic plan for the federal government's Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) represents a good start, but it requires substantial improvements to the science, and to the program management, according to a review issued by the U.S. National Research Council on 26 February.

CCSP Director James Mahoney promised an improved final plan—likely in April—which incorporates many of the concerns raised by the NRC and by others who have commented on it. The draft, released on 11 November 2002, is a first attempt to chart a course for the CCSP That program incorporates the decade‐long, Congressionally‐mandated U.S. Global Change Research Program, and the administration's Climate Change Research Initiative.
Discussions of ODP Leg 205 and Drilling of Middle America Seismogenic Zone
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Erosional convergent margins, where material is removed from the base of the upper plate and subducted on the lower plate, are fundamental features of the Circum Pacific. The erosional Middle America Trench convergent Pacific margin, remarkable for its broad diversity of dynamic environments, is a natural laboratory for studying convergent margin processes and seismogenesis. These environments include a shallow and deep trench axis, shallow‐to‐steep‐dipping plate interfaces, abnormally hot‐to‐cold subducting plate temperatures, and a subducting plate with smooth morphology bordering basement ridges and seamounts. The subducting topography accelerates erosion and localizes seismicity.
Is it just a rise in the mean sea level?
Authors: Kivioja Lasse
Published: October 2006

I have a suggestion for those numerous authors who almost invariably say that after a certain amount of land‐supported ice melts, the sea level will rise “so much.” It would be much more correct to say that the oceans will get “so much” deeper.

As is well known, there are over a dozen reasons for mean sea level changes. When land‐supported ice melts, the amount of water in oceans increases and all of the oceans get deeper. This will cause an immediate increase in the pressure on every square meter of the ocean floor, which covers approximately 70% of Earth's surface. Due to the isostatic equilibrium between large surface areas, it would not be unreasonable to expect that the ocean floor would start to sink due to the increased pressure, and the rest of the Earth's surface—that is, the continents—will start to rise, especially where the ice melted.
NSF initiates education centers to expand students', public understanding of oceans
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

The National Science Foundation is hoping that a $13‐million initiative to fund seven new Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence COSEE will help to bring together ocean science researchers and educators to dramatically improve the public's awareness of oceans and the role they play in global environmental cycles and processes.

Funding for the regional centers and a central coordinating office was announced in December 2002, and the COSEE network held its initial organizational meeting on 3–4 March.
Oil and gas impacts in northern Alaska
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Efforts by the oil industry and regulatory agencies have reduced, but not eliminated, the adverse environmental effects of oil and gas exploration and production on Alaska's North Slope, according to a 5 March report issued by the U.S. National Research Council. The report found that within the 230,000‐ square‐kilometer North Slope region, there have been substantial improvements in seismic exploration technologies and that operators have been more careful.

“The technology used for obtaining seismic data continues to improve, but there is still potential damage to the tundra because of the large camps, the number of vehicles used, and the higher spatial density of [three‐dimensional seismic] trails. The new technology has reduced but not totally eliminated damage to the tundra,” the report said.
Astrophysical particle acceleration in geospace and beyond
Authors: Horwitz J. L. , Gallagher D. L. , Perez J. , Lieu R. , Mlller J.A. , Preece R.
Published: October 2006

Natural acceleration of charged particles occurs within a variety of physical contexts and through a range of physical processes. “Cosmic” charged particle acceleration can involve particle energies and energy changes from less than one electron Volt (eV),and on through kilovolt (keV) energies,up to 1018 and perhaps 1020 eV These acceleration processes can be in the forms of various types of electric fields directed parallel to the magnetic field lines, which are believed chiefly responsible for the energization of the auroral electrons which bombard the Earth's upper atmospheres at high magnetic latitudes to create auroras.

There are also “collisionless” shock layers in our interplanetary space and well beyond, to energize charged particles in solar and stellar winds. And there may be exotic—and somewhat speculative—processes such as the effect of intense radiation beams associated with non‐thermal compact objects, or unipolar electric fields of huge magnitudes near a rotating and accreting black hole. These processes may accelerate particles to even 1020 eV energies. The propagation of such ultra‐high energy particles in time and space may be severely modified by quantum gravity effects, which are no longer negligible in these extreme situations.
AGU continues 2003 journal access for libraries affected by RoweCom bankruptcy
Authors: Lifland Jonathan
Published: October 2006

Following the default of one of its major journal subscription agents, AGU has committed itself to providing campus‐wide electronic access for 2003 to libraries whose journal orders are affected by the bankruptcy. The company, RoweCom Inc. of Westwood, Massachusetts, filed for Chapter 11 protection on 27 January 2003.

RoweCom folded in December with nearly $80 million in unfulfilled orders which were destined to thousands of publishers. Subscription agents consolidate orders from libraries and transmit payments to publishers for journal subscriptions. The bankruptcy could cost AGU up to $700,000 in lost revenue in 2003, approximately 7% of AGU's gross institutional subscriptions.
Carlson receives Ocean Sciences Early Career Award
Authors: Bronk Deborah A. , Carlson Craig
Published: October 2006

Can you believe they actually pay us to do this?

This is a quote from Craig Carlson, spoken as we stood aboard the RVIB Nathaniel Palmer looking out over the stark beauty of Antarctica and watching for the helicopters that would carry us into McMurdo. The quote captures one of Craig's great gifts—he has never lost his sense of awe and honor at being part of the scientific enterprise. It is just one of the reasons I am so pleased to present this citation for Craig, the first recipient of AGU's Ocean Sciences Early Career Award.
Probing for life in the ocean crust with the LEXEN program
Authors:   LEXEN Scientific Party, Johnson H. P.
Published: October 2006

The oceanic upper crustal reservoir is a mosaic of environments with different thermal and hydrological characteristics that may form distinct biospheres. The upper 500 meters of oceanic crust is porous, permeable, and the site of extensive circulation of warm sea water—from the axis out to the sea floor that is more than tens of millions of years in age. This upper crustal section represents an enormous reservoir of hydrothermal fluid that has been suggested as a microbial incubator of global proportions. In the axial crustal formation zone at mid‐ocean ridges, local environments near high temperature hydrothermal vent fields can harbor unique microbial populations [Summit and Baross, 2001; Huber et al., 2002]. The geographic distribution of these microbial populations is not known, and they may exist only in the immediate proximity of individual vent fields, or they may be more extensively distributed within the near‐surface rocks along the entire spreading axis.
Catching the wind: New views of aeolian processes
Authors: Gill Thomas E. , Zobeck Ted M.
Published: October 2006

A joint meeting of the Fifth International Conference on Aeolian Research (ICAR‐5) and the Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems‐ Soil Erosion Network (GCTE‐SEN) brought together physical and environmental scientists interested in the latest challenges and discoveries in aeolian (wind as a geological process) research.

The conference provided an opportunity for researchers focusing on both theoretical modeling and field experimentation aspects of aeolian processes to interact and learn the research needs and findings of their counterparts. Perhaps due to the meeting's location in the heartland of the North American Great Plains, many presentations at ICAR‐5 dealt with wind erosion of agricultural lands in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. One hundred thirty scientists from 18 nations attended.
Lifting Titan's Veil: Exploring the Giant Moon of Saturn
Authors: Kirk Randolph L.
Published: October 2006

It is a relatively well‐kept secret among planetary scientists that Saturn's moon Titan is not merely the second largest satellite, but one of the most complex and interesting bodies in our solar system. Its complex organic chemistry, which includes hydrocarbon lakes, rain, and perhaps even rivers, make it in some ways more like Earth. Indeed, Titan has been called “the Mars of the outer solar system,” not so much because of its dense atmosphere, but because of its potential to capture the public's imagination.

The secret will be out and the potential for wonder is likely to be realized in full in 2004, when the Cassini spacecraft begins mapping Titan from orbit and drops the Huygens probe into its atmosphere. Lifting Titan's Veil is intended to prepare readers for that adventure; two of its stated goals are to enumerate what is currently known about Titan and to describe Cassini‐Huygens and what it may reveal. The third is to offer a case history of how scientific exploration proceeds, not in a steady upward curve of progress, but in fits and starts as limited and sometimes erroneous data are gathered, interpreted, and re‐interpreted.
Workshop held to discuss population connectivity in marine systems
Authors: Cowen Robert K. , Thorrold Simon , Pineda Jesus , Gawarkiewicz Glen
Published: October 2006

A central goal of marine ecology is to achieve a mechanistic understanding of the factors regulating the abundance and distribution of marine populations. One critical component of the above goal is to quantify rates of exchange, or connectivity among sub‐populations of marine organisms via larval dispersal. Theoretical studies suggest that these linkages play a fundamental role in local and meta‐population dynamics, community structure, genetic diversity, and the resiliency of populations to human exploitation [Fogarty, 1998].

Understanding population connectivity is also key in efforts to develop spatial management methods for marine‐capture fisheries, including the design of networks of marine reserves [Sala et al., 2002]. We have made considerable advances in our understanding of the biology of juvenile and adult life history stages through experimental marine ecology However, there has been no concomitant increase in our knowledge of the biological and physical processes that determine the extent to which marine populations are connected via larval dispersal.
Young member places seventh in noted U.S. student science competition
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

A student member of AGU is one of the top 10 winners of a science contest for pre‐college age students which is sponsored annually by Intel Corporation.The contest results were announced on 11 March at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.

Carolyn Tewksbury 17, was a finalist in the 2003 Intel Science Talent Search competition. She took seventh place in the contest for her project, titled “Collapse of the Pasom‐mana Tessera Region, Venus: Implications for the Evolution of Crustal Plateaus.”
Harold A. Thomas Jr. (1913–2002)
Authors: Matalas Nicholas C.
Published: October 2006

Harold A. Thomas Jr., of Cotuit, Massachusetts, died on 26 March 2002. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, 14 August 1913. Thomas followed his father in a professorial career. He spent his entire academic life at Harvard, where he earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1935, his master's degree in sanitary engineering in 1937, and his Doctor of Science degree in 1938, whereupon he assumed a teaching position at Harvard. In 1956, he was awarded the chair, Gordon McKay Professor of Civil and Sanitary Engineering. He held the chair until 1984 when he stepped down from his formal faculty position and assumed the professor emeritus title. His research and teaching ranged over the subjects of civil and sanitary engineering, hydrology statistics, economics, system analysis, and demography.
Bill would extend efforts against harmful algal blooms and hypoxia
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Legislation to deal with the problems of harmful algal blooms and hypoxia in U.S. waters needs to recognize the growing national scope and economic effects of these phenomena, improve monitoring capabilities, and target remedies for them. It should also emphasize research and management in the Great Lakes and other fresh water bodies, as well as in U.S. coastal waters.

This, according to a panel of scientists who testified at a 13 March hearing of the Science Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rose receives the 2002 N. L. Bowen award
Authors: Bluth Gregg , Rose William I.
Published: October 2006

William I. Rose received the Bowen Award, presented by the Volcanology Geochemistry, and Petrology Section at the 2002 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, last December.
“Clear skies” Proposal draws mixed reactions at Senate Hearing
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

The Bush administration's “Clear Skies Initiative” proposal to reduce atmospheric sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury was described at an 8 April Senate hearing as a good amendment to the Clean Air Act, and alternately, as a delay in attaining a cleaner environment.

The hearing, by the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety, was the first of several anticipated this session on the Clear Skies Act (S.485), which represents the administration's top environmental initiative.
Researchers ponder Hadley circulation's past, present, and future
Authors: Diaz Henry F. , Bradley Raymond S.
Published: October 2006

The large‐scale meridional overturning circulation named after George Hadley spans half the area of the globe, and variability within this system affects the lives of billions of people. Along with the large‐scale zonal tropical cells named after Sir Gilbert Walker, the Hadley and Walker Circulations comprise fundamental regulators of the Earth's energy budget. Although Hadley Circulation is a well‐known concept, surprisingly little attention has been paid to understanding both short and long‐term variability of the system. To address this issue, 60 scientists from 10 countries met at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu to consider evidence for changes in Hadley Circulation on different time scales.
Ocean research, technology, and policy: The 12th ocean sciences meeting
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Discussion of the science, technology, and policy that apply to the understanding of the oceans, the life in them, and their role in the Earth system is the raison d'etre for the Ocean Sciences Meeting, 26–30 January 2004 in Portland, Oregon. This AGU meeting will bring oceanographers in all specialities together with researchers in the atmospheric, hydrologic, solid Earth, and life sciences, and those with related technology and policy interests. Together you will share your message about the oceans and learn from each other, making the meeting an ideal venue for fostering cross‐disciplinary communication.
World Data Center for Marine Environmental Sciences provides lessons in marine geosciences data management
Authors: Dittert Nicolas , Diepenbroeck Michael , Huber Robert
Published: October 2006

World Data Centers (WDCs) provide scientific data and information systems that help transfer comprehensive knowledge among researchers in a straightforward manner and under a sensitive data policy. However, use and acceptance of a WDC within the scientific community depends on respective knowledge and individual scientific needs. For that reason, the staff of the World Data Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (WDC‐MARE) (www.wdc‐mare.org) is providing lessons in information and data management in marine geosciences at the University of Bremen in Germany Recently, WDC‐MARE expanded this service to scientific programs outside of Germany.
Global Environmental Change: Modelling and Monitoring
Authors: Kelley John J.
Published: October 2006

The second half of the 20th century was a period of unprecedented and rapid change in the global population, the biosphere, the world economy and society. Recent inquiry related to the environmental effects has focused on the complexities of how the Earth behaves as a system, with connectivity linking its oceans, land, atmosphere, living, and non‐living components. The search for delineation of natural and human causes and effects of global change has ushered in new mathematical approaches to the pursuit of a global environmental system science. Judging from the reports of several international conferences—for example, The Amsterdam Declaration on Global Change, 2000—a consistent theme has emerged, calling for the development of an effective ethical framework of global stewardship and strategies (modeling and monitoring) for Earth system management.
Analysis of short‐term droughts in Oklahoma
Authors: Illston Bradley G. , Basara Jeffrey B.
Published: October 2006

The impacts of drought—an unavoidable threat worldwide—are felt in many ways, but mainly in the form of depleted water resources, reduced agricultural yields, and increased livestock fatality rates. Agricultural communities are especially susceptible to short‐term drought (less than 6 months) impacts because production of non‐irrigated crops is dependent on rainfall and soil moisture reserves. As such, short‐term droughts can be responsible for financial disasters to economies that depend heavily on agriculture. Long‐term droughts (lasting 6 months or more) affect regions by further depleting surface and groundwater levels.
In Brief
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Everglades restoration critiqued The monitoring and assessment plan for the $7.8‐billion effort to restore the hydrologic regime of the remaining wetlands of Florida's Everglades needs to be strengthened, according to a 2 April study by a committee of the National Academy of Sciences.

The evolving monitoring and assessment plan of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is grounded in current scientific theory and practice of adaptive management, according to the report. However, the least‐developed aspects of the management are feedback mechanisms to connect monitoring to planning and management, the report notes.
Improvements planned for European geomagnetic repeat stations
Authors: Korte Monika , Mandea Moira
Published: October 2006

Direct measurements of the Earth's magnetic field are continuously made around the world at magnetic observatories; they are obtained at all kinds of locations, ranging from ocean to land and even air. All this activity has prompted the question, Why all the effort in the magnetic satellite epoch?, or, Why observe the Earth's magnetic field in such different locations? To answer these important questions, a workshop on European geomagnetic repeat station surveys was organized at the Adolf Schmidt Observatory for Geomagnetism in Niemegk, Germany
Undergraduate engineering students investigate inexpensive seismometer design
Authors: Hubenthal Michael , Boyd Tom , Lahr John , Taber John
Published: October 2006

Using seismometers as a catalyst for learning, the IRIS Consortium has partnered with the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to intensively expose the 2002 CSM freshman engineering class to geophysics instrument design. These students worked to design inexpensive seismic recording systems for use in educational environments as part of the Engineering Practices Introductory Course Sequence (EPICS).

Through the EPICS courses, CSM strives to strengthen the ability of first‐year engineering students to resolve open‐ended problems in a team environment and learn skills that are vital to their success as engineers. Students learn AutoCAD, technical drawing/drafting skills, prototyping, analysis skills, and communication skills necessary to present and promote engineering design solutions to the professional community. These engineering skills, introduced through coursework, are applied to an open‐ended engineering challenge throughout the semester. Although the CSM faculty clearly has skills and expertise in engineering, as well as the pedagogy to deliver this information, the program needs exciting, real‐world engineering challenges, technical support to develop the problem, and the human resources and experience to provide students with sufficient content knowledge to attempt the challenge.
Salt marsh hydrology data web site facilitates research
Authors: Gardner L. R. , Reeves H. W.
Published: October 2006

The interface between maritime forests and inter‐tidal salt marshes along the southeastern coast of the United States is a major ecological boundary characterized by a sequence of botanical zones that typically consist of pine/ oak forest>Iva>Juncus>Salicornia>Spartina. In addition to questions regarding the physical and chemical factors that govern this ecotone, this interface is of interest because of the potential for groundwater flow to transfer nutrients and pollutants from developed uplands to the adjacent marshes. The interface is also of interest because it is presumably migrating upslope as a result of ongoing sea level rise and concomitant aquifer salinization.

A new Web site, http://links.baruch.sc.edu/data/GRNDWATER/data/data.htm, contains long‐term and spatially dense measurements of groundwater heads and salinity from a network of nested piezometers that has been installed along three forest‐marsh transects across the Crab Haul Creek finger marsh basin at the North Inlet‐Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Georgetown County South Carolina (Figure 1).
Warnings of aftershocks from 1 May earthquake in eastern Turkey
Authors: Jacobs Judy
Published: October 2006

Seismologists at the University of Ulster in Belfast have warned that there is a danger of further earthquakes in the area of southeastern Turkey that was struck by a magnitude 6.4 shock on 1 May.

John McCloskey one of the members of the University of Ulster Geophysics Research Group, said that preliminary calculations that he and his colleagues have performed since the tremor “…indicate significant increased hazard on the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) to the southwest of the rupture, toward the city of Elazig, and to the northeast of Bingöl. These results, combined with the faults known to exist in the area, indicate that large aftershocks may occur, with events of magnitude 6 on the Richter scale possible.”
Geodetic contribution helped validate plate tectonics
Authors: Carter Bill
Published: October 2006

Direct measurements of contemporary plate motion rates by geodesists are generally acknowledged as having been essential for confirming plate tectonic theory. For example, in Oreskes [2001], Tanya Atwater attests that “The real test of plate motions, however, required that we measure the ongoing motions of the plate interiors, far from any plate boundary complications. Global‐scale measurements of relative positions on the Earth's surface became possible in the latter decades of the 20th century through the very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) program. Repeat measurements of locations over the decades have given us the wonderful and reassuring result that the movements of the rigid plate interiors during the past few decades have been the same as the motions over millions of years, that is, motions we had deduced from the magnetic anomalies!”
Why did a “no‐ozone‐hole” episode occur in Antarctica?
Authors: Varotsos Costas
Published: October 2006

Stratospheric observations in the Southern Hemisphere show that the Antarctic ozone hole exhibited unprecedented features in 2002. During the second half of September 2002, the size of the Antarctic ozone hole was around half of that observed in September of the last few years. Apart from its smaller size, the Antarctic ozone hole broke up into two holes on 24–25 September 2002.

These unusual events concerning both the size and break‐up of the Antarctic ozone hole in September 2002 have been examined by Varotsos [2002]. Both events have been attributed to the occurrence of a major, sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) in Antarctica, an event that appeared for the first time in that region. In particular, concerning the smaller size of the ozone hole, it was suggested that the major SSW did not allow the heterogeneous chemical reactions, which are substantially active at very low temperatures, to lead to a considerable chemical ozone loss. The early break‐up was attributed to the 2‐month early polar vortex splitting in two. It began 2 days earlier, with the unusual early building of a quasi‐stationary anti‐cyclone, and an opposite, secondary anti‐cyclone later on, due to the major SSW.
European Margin Sediment Dynamics
Authors: Mulder Thierry
Published: October 2006

Observing the ocean floor and subsurface has been a challenge for the last three decades and will remain so for the next century. Like the space odyssey it brings to our eyes an unexpected and sometimes virgin world. Tremendous progress in technology has improved both the accuracy and speed of data acquisition. In particular, acoustic imagery mosaics provided by side‐scan sonar data offer a view of the ocean floor. This revolution in our vision and knowledge of the ocean floor is equivalent to the one that followed the first aerial photographs of the emerged Earth in the 1940s, or the satellite photographs of the late 1970s. A new, complex world appears, one that can be appreciated at different scales.
Key Senators issue call for “meaningful” climate legislation
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

With the U.S. Senate currently considering national energy legislation, Senators John McCain (R‐Arizona) and Joseph Lieberman (D‐Connecticut) plan to offer a modified version of their bipartisan, proposed Climate Stewardship Act of 2003 (S. 139) as an amendment.

The amendment would establish a marketdriven system of greenhouse gas tradeable allowances to reduce emission. It would also provide for a program of scientific research on abrupt climate change in order to identify and understand past instances of abrupt change; and would establish a national greenhouse gas data base.
The U.S. tornado outbreak of 4–10 May
Authors: Brooks Harold E.
Published: October 2006

One of the most remarkable spells of tornadoes in the history of severe weather observation brought damage to a large part of the United States the week of 4–10 May 2003. Preliminary reports indicate that 384 tornadoes occurred in 25 states, causing 42 deaths with at least 23 tornadoes on each day Hardest hit were Missouri, where tornadoes occurred on 6 of the 7 days and 19 died; and Tennessee, where tornadoes occurred on 5 days and 11 died. In addition, the Oklahoma City metropolitan area was hit by strong and violent tornadoes on consecutive days with both events crossing damage paths of tornadoes from 1998 and 1999.
Evolutionary Catastrophes: The Science of Mass Extinction
Authors: Hames Willis
Published: October 2006

The stories behind the greatest scientific controversies are more than entertaining. They provide windows into the evolution of scientific thought, scientific method, technological achievements and their research applications, and the influence of individuals and personalities on a community's acceptance of a theory Epic controversies surround the theories for Earth's mass extinction events, and none is more spectacular than the continuing polemic over the Cretaceous‐Tertiary (K/T) mass extinctions and ultimate demise of the dinosaurs.

In contrast to other great scientific debates, we tend to view the K/T event in the context of a crime scene, where the spectacularly diverse flora and fauna of a primordial Eden were unwittingly slain by one or more ruthless and efficient killers. A “foreign” suspect has been fingered; an intruder that killed suddenly and randomly has become the principal suspect. The main clues uncovered in the case include a global K/T iridium anomaly; shock‐deformed minerals in K/T boundary sediments; the ˜6 5 m.y‐old Deccan flood‐basalt province, which covered an area roughly the size of France; and the ˜6 5 m.y‐old Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatan peninsula, which seems to be among the largest to have formed in the inner solar system over the past billion years.
Re‐examining potential for geothermal energy in the United States
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

New technological initiatives, along with potential policy and economic incentives, could help to bring about a resurgence in geothermal energy development in the United States, said several experts at a 22 May forum in Washington, D.C. The forum was sponsored by the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses, the Sustainable Energy Coalition, and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.

Among these initiatives is an ambitious program of the U.S. Department of Energy to expand existing geothermal energy fields, and potentially create new fields through “enhanced geothermal systems.” In addition, a program of the Bush administration encourages geothermal development on some public lands, and current legislation would provide tax credits and other incentives for geothermal development.
Reliability of current U.S. modeling of atmospheric plumes questioned
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

The deficiencies of atmospheric modeling used to determine the dispersion of chemical, radiological, or biological plumes came under fire during a 2 June hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives. Several members of Congress said that current modeling efforts provide inadequate information to assess plumes that could result from a terrorist incident, warfare, or some other cause.

Much of the hearing, held by the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, focused on two reports released that day: one by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and the other by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO).
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

James Bush died this year, at age 83. He had been an AGU member (Ocean Sciences) since 1950.

Faure Hugues died this year. He had been an AGU member (Hydrology) since 1986.
EarthScoping the inner workings of magmatic systems
Authors: Hamburger Michael , McNutt Stephen , Dzurisin Daniel , Fink Jonathan , Hill David P. , Meertens Charles , Newhall Chris , Owen Susan , Power John
Published: October 2006

In the shadow of one of the world's great volcanic systems, an intensive 3‐day workshop was undertaken to work toward developing a scientific plan for the magmatic systems component of the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) EarthScope Initiative. This NSF‐sponsored workshop was designed to provide direction to the EarthScope planning committee and the NSF in developing scientific, technical, deployment, and management decisions related to the magmatic systems component of EarthScope. The meeting featured a mixture of oral and poster scientific sessions, breakout group and plenary discussions, and a field trip to examine one of the targets of the EarthScope magmatic science research plan: Mount St. Helens.

The 60 participants represented a broad cross‐section of the volcanology community including geologists, geophysicists, geodesists, penologists, and geochemists. Details on the meeting plan can be viewed at http://www. unavco.net/earthscope.asp.
An educational partnership in the ocean sciences: Benefits and lessons learned
Authors: Matsumoto George I. , Kochevar R. E.
Published: October 2006

For the past 15 years, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) have been involved in a collaborative relationship that could serve as a prototype for other institutions interested in maximizing their potential for science education based on current research programs. This article describes this relationship collaboration and its operational functioning.

Despite their similar names, the two institutions have separate missions, staffs, budgets, boards of directors, and facilities. MBA is a non‐profit aquarium with ∼400 paid staff members and another 800 volunteers, whose mission is to inspire conservation of the world's oceans. MBARI is a non‐profit research organization with ∼200 staff members and a mission “to achieve and maintain a position as a world center for advanced research and education in ocean science and technology, and to do so through the development of better instruments, systems, and methods for scientific research in the deep waters of the ocean.”
Improved spatial resolution of ocean surface topography from the T/P‐Jason‐1 altimeter mission
Authors: Fu Lee‐Lueng , Stammer Detlef , Leben Robert R. , Chelton Dudley B.
Published: October 2006

On 7 December 2001, the French/U.S. altimetric satellite Jason‐1 was launched as a follow‐on to the TOPEX/Poseidon Mission (hereafter referred to as T/P). The two satellites are now flying in tandem with a track separation half that of the T/P mission, offering a much improved sampling capability for the study of ocean circulation and tides.

Since 1992, T/P has been measuring the surface topography of the global oceans along a 10‐day repeat orbit, establishing a decade‐long data record that has been used in a wide range of oceanographic and geophysical studies [Fu and Cazenave, 2001]. The primary objective of Jason‐1 is to continue the data record of TIP, by carrying the same instrument payload and measuring sea surface height along the ground track pattern established by T/P, with a measurement performance at least as good as that of T/P [Ménard et al., 2000].
ILEAPS:A new program to study land/atmosphere interactions in the second phase of IGBP
Authors: Andreae Meinrat O. , Kabat Pavel , Arneth Almut
Published: October 2006

Recent progress in global change research has shown clearly that the Earth's environment is a complex system, defined through intricately linked processes, feedbacks, and teleconnections. This integral perspective renders obsolete the conventional scientific approach of investigating disjunct causal relationships, and demands a new, integrated way of conducting environmental Earth research.

For example, the glacial record of synchronous fluctuations in climate and atmospheric CO2 and CH4 begs the question of cause and effect: Are fluctuations in the biotic greenhouse gases driving the climatic variability or are externally forced climate variations responsible for changes that result in varying emissions of these gases? Current consensus suggests that there is no simple “either/or” answer to this question, but that the biota and their geophysical and geochemical environments have co‐evolved, resulting in a multitude of complex feedbacks.
Earth processes in wake of Gujarat earthquake reviewed from space
Authors: Singh Ramesh P. , Ouzounov Dimitar
Published: October 2006

Two years after a devastating earthquake in Gujarat, India, scientists from many disciplines met at an international workshop to share the latest knowledge about Earth system processes related to this natural disaster. The meeting particularly focused on the use of spaceborne technology to study the effects of lithosphere‐atmosphere‐ionosphere interaction prior to and following the earthquake. More than 80 of the participants were affiliated with research and academic institutions in India, and several scientists from the United States, Germany Russia, and China also participated.

Soon after the earthquake on 26 January 2001, Indian scientists established a Global Positioning System (GPS) network to monitor crustal motion around the earthquake's epicenter in cooperation with scientists from Japan, Germany, and the United States. Observations made by routine GPS measurements in the past have shown that the Bhuj area has significantly shifted anti‐clockwise. The leveling observations made by the Survey of India show that the Santal Pur Bhuj Block was uplifted up to 60 cm, while Bhuj, Bhachau, and Mundra subsided ∼60 cm. The need to establish a dense network of level lines and gravity stations in Kachchh was stressed at the meeting.
Groundwater Science
Authors: McKenna Sean A.
Published: October 2006

A good introductory groundwater textbook must strike a delicate balance in presenting the basics of the physical, chemical, geological, mathematical, and engineering aspects of the groundwater field without being too lengthy or overly detailed. Charles Fitts states that his motivation for writing Groundwater Science was to be able to “…teach concepts and quantitative analyses with a clear, lean, but thorough book.” He has succeeded in striking this balance of having just the right amount of information, and has met his goals of producing a concise book that can be used to teach the concepts and analyses necessary for the study of groundwater.

Overall, Groundwater Science would serve well as the text for an introductory groundwater course at the college senior or first‐year graduate level. The author and the publisher have made excellent use of two‐color, gray and blue‐scale images throughout the book. The graphics are crisp and explanatory. Data sets needed to work some of the problems in the book are available as text files from its Web site (http://www.academicpress.com/groundwater). I found these files to be complete and easy to understand. The references are up to date and point the reader to additional information across a wide range of groundwater issues, and also provide a number of examples to illustrate different points made in the book.
First‐year performance assessment of SWATH Research Ship
Authors: Atkinson Larry , Hebert David , Measures Chris , Slowey Niall , Whitledge Terry , Reimers Clare , Benner Ron , Coburn Joe
Published: October 2006

The first small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) design ship in the U.S. academic research vessel fleet, the R/V Kilo Moana (Figure 1), entered service in September 2002. The ship, whose home port is in Honolulu, has been operating with diverse groups of oceanographers on board. Before the ship became operational, the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System Fleet Improvement Committee (UNOLS‐ FIC) decided that it was important to gather fair and representative impressions of the vessel's performance from the first scientists on board. Science mission requirements developed over the past year by UNOLS have all indicated that sea‐keeping is a very high priority: oceano graphers wanted to work comfortably at higher sea states. Just about the only way to achieve this is by using the SWATH design rather than the mono‐hull.
EPA issues guidelines for agency consideration of outside data
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued new guidelines to ensure that the quality of scientific information it uses that is generated from outside of the agency meets the same standards as research conducted by the agency itself.

The intent of the guidelines is to enhance transparency about EPAs quality expectations for information from sources outside the agency, and to raise awareness about quality considerations, so that scientists can better understand how the agency evaluates and weights such information.
Astronomers zero in on solar system analog
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Scientists searching for extra‐solar planets have discovered the closest known analog to our own Solar System.

A planet with a mass about twice that of Jupiter is in a near‐circular orbit of the star HD70642,a team of astronomers from Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced on 3 July at a conference in Paris on extra‐solar planets.
An Introduction to Underwater Acoustics: Principles and Applications
Authors: Odom Robert I.
Published: October 2006

When I agreed to review An Introduction to Underwater Acoustics I expected something like an updated version of Ocean Acoustics: Theory and Experiment in Underwater Sound by Tolstoy and Clay. This and other classics cover the basics well, and I wondered how the author could improve on their presentations. However, Lurton's book is not an updated version of the old classics. The main focus is engineering, and the book's purpose is to provide readers with enough knowledge to understand how underwater acoustic systems work, what they are and are not capable of, and where to begin from a design standpoint.
Agricultural sequestration called useful stop‐gap mitigation measure for reducing atmospheric carbon
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Increasing the agricultural sequestration of carbon is an important stop‐gap measure for reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide, even though the agricultural sector is not the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, scientists and other experts told a U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee.

The 8 July hearing was held to examine the potential for such sequestration. Agricultural soils can sequester carbon, but can also release it to the atmosphere; for example, through poor land management practices.
[Comment on “Should Memphis build for California's earthquakes?”] from A.D. Frankel
Authors: Frankel Arthur D.
Published: October 2006

Seth Stein et al. [2003] argue that the city of Memphis, Tennessee should not adopt the seismic design provisions of the new International Building Code (IBC), which are based on the national seismic hazard maps produced by the US.Geological Survey [Frankel et al., 1996; Frankel et al., 2000]. They contend that the USGS national seismic hazard maps overestimate the earthquake hazard from the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) in the central United States.

As project chief for the USGS national seismic hazard maps, I think that constructive criticism is always useful. However, Stein et al. [2003] do not present any valid scientific reason why they think the ground motion values in the USGS maps are too high. They also ignore important scientific research that has been conducted over the past 20 years on earthquakes and ground motions in intra‐plate areas, research that is included in the USGS maps. They do not mention the extensive consensus process among scientific experts involved in developing the USGS hazard maps, as well as the elaborate consensus and vetting process among engineers in the decisions made in constructing the IBC design maps from the hazard maps. They also present a cost‐benefit analysis to argue against adopting the IBC. I contend that their cost‐benefit analysis is unrealistic.
[Comment on “Should Memphis build for California's earthquakes?”] from S.E. Hough
Authors: Hough Susan E.
Published: October 2006

The recent article by Seth Stein, Joseph Tomasello, and Andrew Newman raised thought‐provoking questions about one of the most vexing open issues in hazard assessment in the United States: the hazard posed by ostensibly infrequent, large, mid‐continental earthquakes. Many of the technical issues raised by this article are addressed by A. D. Frankel in the accompanying comment. I concur with this, and will only address and/or elaborate on a few additional issues here: (1) Detailed paleoseismic investigations have shown that the New Madrid region experienced sequences of large earthquakes around 900 and 1450 A.D.in addition to the historic events in 1811–1812. With a repeat time on the order of 400–500 years, these cannot be considered infrequent events. Paleoseismic investigations also reveal evidence that the prehistoric “events” were also sequences of two to three large earthquakes with a similar overall distribution of liquefaction in the greater New Madrid region as produced by the 1811–1812 sequence [Tuttle et al., 2002]. And if, as evidence suggests, the zone produces characteristic earthquakes, one will not see a commensurate rate of moderate events, as would be the case if seismicity followed the Gutenburg‐Richter distribution.
Solar Activity and Earth's Climate
Authors: Tinsley Brian
Published: October 2006

This is an exciting time for those pursuing the physical explanations of the widely reported correlations between magnetic activity in the outer layers of the Sun and changes in weather and climate on planet Earth.

R. Benestad's book makes a persuasive case for the reality of one or more physical links, in the context of thorough discussions of applicable statistical tests. His book is a valuable update of the 1978 book by J. Herman and R. Goldberg, Sun, Weather and Climate, and reviews the extensive literature on this subject up to the beginning of 2001. More recent work adds to the solidity of the statistical associations. The state of research in this field can be compared with that of “continental drift” half a century ago; evidence from sea floor spreading could not be ignored, and the field was data‐rich and theory‐poor.