bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
High‐temperature geochronology constraints on the tectonic history and architecture of the ultrahigh‐pressure Dabie‐Sulu Orogen
Authors: Hacker Bradley R. , Wallis Simon R. , Ratschbacher Lothar , Grove Marty , Gehrels George
Published: October 2006

New U/Pb zircon and Th/Pb monazite ages are presented from the giant Sulu ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) terrane. Combined with Sm/Nd ages, Rb/Sr ages, inclusion relationships, and geologic relationships, they help define the timing of peak recrystallization, the timing of subsequent amphibolite‐facies metamorphism, and the architecture of the Dabie‐Sulu suture zone between the collided Sino‐Korean and Yangtze cratons. The data indicate a ∼15 Myr record of UHP recrystallization, the first clearly documented for a giant UHP terrane; this requires that continental subduction in the Dabie‐Sulu orogen involved multiple UHP tectonic or recrystallization events. A 244–236 Ma “precursor” UHP event, seen only in the Dabie Shan, was followed by a second, ∼230–220 Ma “main” UHP event, which was itself terminated by a 220–205 Ma amphibolite‐facies overprint. Older eclogite‐facies events seen in the Qinling segment of this orogenic belt raise the possibility that these rocks have undergone (U)HP metamorphism three or four times, but at present, there is no geochronological evidence in the Dabie‐Sulu area to support this. The subduction of the lower, Yangtze plate did not proceed in a simple fashion: The ages of inherited zircon cores demonstrate that a ribbon continent of Yangtze affinity escaped subduction and became wedged against the Sino‐Korean plate hanging wall.
Emerging national research needs for agricultural air quality
Authors: Aneja Viney P. , Schlesinger William H. , Nyogi Dev , Jennings Greg , Gilliam Wendell , Knighton Raymond E. , Duke Clifford S. , Blunden Jessica , Krishnan Srinath
Published: October 2006

Over the next 50 years, the Earth's human population is predicted to increase from the current 6.1 billion to more than 9 billion, creating a parallel increase in demand for agricultural commodities. Satisfying the demand for food is already driving changes in crop and livestock production methods that may have profound environmental effects. Increased consumption of animal protein in developed and developing countries, for example, has resulted in concentrated production of poultry and livestock, which has led to concentrated emissions of pollutants from these production facilities and has created regulatory concerns for agriculture. Development of land for nonagricultural uses has placed more pressure on marginal agricultural lands and has caused environmental degradation including the emission of trace gases (e.g., carbon,sulfur, and nitrogen species) into the atmosphere.
The Holocene CO2 rise: Anthropogenic or natural?
Authors: Broecker Wallace S. , Stocker Thomas F.
Published: October 2006

In view of the wide attention received by the suggestion that the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) over the last 8000 years is anthropogenic rather than natural in origin [Ruddiman, 2003], this claim should be carefully examined.The basis for the claim is that following each of the three preceding glacial terminations, the CO2 content of the atmosphere peaked early on and then underwent a steady decline. By contrast, following the end of the last glacial period, while it also peaked early the decline bottomed out around 8000 years ago, and since then the atmospheric CO2 content has steadily risen.

By analogy with previous interglaciations, Ruddiman estimates that in the absence of human activity, the CO2 content of the atmosphere would have dropped to 240 ppm. Instead it has risen to 280 ppm. In a recent article, Ruddiman [2005] proposes that this 40 ppm human‐induced rise prevented the onset of another ice age.
Studies examine Bangladesh arsenic contamination problem
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

Between 35 and 77 million Bangladeshis (out of a population of 125 million) are at risk of drinking water contaminated with arsenic levels above the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 0.01 milligrams per liter (mg/1), according to the WHO. A British Geological Survey study in 1998 found that 35 percent of shallow tubewells sampled had arsenic levels above 0.05 mg/1 (the maximum concentration allowed in Bangladesh) and 8.4 percent had levels above 0.3 mg/1.

Some recent research focusing on this problem could help Bangladesh provide clean water to these people.
Geiss receives 2005 William Bowie Medal
Authors: Gloeckler George , Geiss Johannes
Published: October 2006

Johannes Geiss was awarded the 2005 William Bowie Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held on 7 December 2005 in San Francisco, Calif. The medal recognizes outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and unselfish cooperation in research.
The future of ice core science
Authors: Brook Edward , Wolff Eric
Published: October 2006

Cores drilled through the polar ice sheets provide information about past climate and environmental conditions on timescales from decades to hundreds of millennia, and direct records of changes in the composition of the atmosphere. As such, they are cornerstones of global change research.

In the past 15 years, several major projects have increased our understanding of past climate change on a variety of timescales. These include the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2),the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP),and North GRIP deep ice cores in Greenland.They also include the Taylor Dome, Siple Dome, Law Dome,Vostok, and European Programme for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) Dome C ice cores in Antarctica, the latter of which has pushed the record for the oldest ice core back to 720,000 years.
Practical Magnetotellurics
Authors: Constable Steven
Published: October 2006

Practical Magnetotellurics lives up to its title and nicely fills a big hole in the literature on the subject of the magnetotelluric (MT) method, a means by which the geological and physical properties of the crust and mantle may be studied using electrical conductivity images.

In an MT sounding passive time series, measurements of the Earth's naturally occurring magnetic and electric fields are used to generate an electromagnetic impedance of the subsurface as a function of frequency, which may in turn be interpreted in terms of Earth electrical conductivity. Because short‐period (higher frequency) energy is absorbed more rapidly in conductive rocks than longer‐period MT fields, the method has an intrinsic depth resolution, which for appropriate frequencies can span the range from a few meters at the surface all the way to the lower mantle. Electrical conductivity is a strong function of porosity, mineralogy, and temperature, so applications of the MT method include petroleum and mineral exploration, groundwater and environmental studies, structural geology and understanding the geodynamical state of the planet.
Adam Paulsen, A pioneer in auroral research
Authors: Jørgensen Torben S. , Rasmussen Ole
Published: October 2006

The 20 to 30 years following the first International Polar Year in 1882–1883 was a period of quickly advancing knowledge and understanding of auroral phenomena. This was the time when hypotheses of aurora being due to, for example, reflections of fires from the interior of the Earth or sunlight from ice particles were abandoned and replaced by the mechanism of precipitating electrons.

One of the auroral researchers at that time was the Dane Adam Frederik Wivet Paulsen (1833–1907). However, when reading literature about auroral history, his ideas and work do not seem to have attracted much interest outside his own and neighboring countries. For example, in his sweeping historical account Majestic Lights: The Aurora in Science, History, and the Arts [1980], author Robert Eather only referred to Paulsen in a couple of lines
Bush pledges increased science research and education funding
Authors: Kumar Mohi
Published: October 2006

In his 31 January State of the Union address, U.S. President George W. Bush announced two new initiatives aimed at galvanizing scientific research and education.

For the American Competitiveness Initiative, Bush proposes to “double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences in the next 10 years…[and to] make permanent the research and development tax credit to encourage bolder private‐sector initiative in technology”
Keep religion out of national space policy
Authors: Carter William E.
Published: October 2006

In an Eos forum last spring, Robert Frodeman (University of Texas, Denton) suggested that “it is time that we draw more consciously upon the expertise of scholars trained in the areas of art, philosophy, and religion in the design of our space policy” [2005]. I would agree that artists and philosophers may help the public to appreciate the true grandeur of the universe and thus increase popular support for the exploration of space, but I cannot think of a potentially more disastrous step than to bring “scholars trained in… religion” into the development of our national space policy, as Frodeman advocates.

My concerns have nothing to do with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution—I simply think that the potential negatives far outweigh the potential benefits.
U.S. budget requests more for some science
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

Under the Bush Administration's budget request for Fiscal Year 2007, which was announced on 6 February, some agencies would receive deep cuts, while science funding at three others would see significant increases if Congress approves. Those agencies, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF),the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science, and the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) also would see their science budgets doubled within 10 years as part of the president's new American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI; see Eos 87(6}, 2006).

However, continuing a trend of flat funding for science, U.S. federal non‐defense research and development (R&D) would receive only a 1.9 percent increase under the budget request.
The late Paleozoic ice age revisited
Authors: Fielding Christopher R. , Frank Tracy D. , Isbell John L.
Published: October 2006

The late Paleozoic Gondwanan ice age (LPGIA), which spans the late Carboniferous through early Permian, marks Earth's last complete transition into, and out of,‘icehouse’ conditions, and corresponds to peaks in the diversity and extent of paleotropical ‘wet’ forests [Gastaldo et al., 1996]. Studying the LPGIA therefore has the potential to provide valuable information for understanding the Earth's transition out of the current Cenozoic ice age.

A recent two‐day workshop brought together about 40 researchers from the various subdisciplines of the geosciences to (1) assess the current understanding of the timing, duration, and character of the LPGIA and how it influenced Earth's climate, sea level, depositional systems, and biota; (2) begin integrating the growing body of knowledge into a holistic framework that includes all aspects of studies of the LPGIA, including sedimentological, paleontological, and geochemical data; and (3) devise plans for future integrated research.
Observations of the inter‐ocean exchange around South Africa
Authors: de Ruijter W. P. M> , Brummer G.‐J. A. , Drijfhout S. S. , Lutjeharms J. R. E. , Peters F. , Ridderinkhof H. , van Aken H. , van Leeuwen P. J.
Published: October 2006

There is growing evidence that the interocean exchange south of Africa is an important link in the global overturning circulation of the ocean, the so‐called ocean conveyer belt. At this location, warm and salty Indian Ocean waters enter the South Atlantic and are pulled by currents that eventually reach the North Atlantic, where water cools and sinks.

A major contributor to the exchange is the frequent shedding of ring eddies from the termination of the Agulhas Current south of the tip of Africa.This shedding is controlled by developments far upstream in the Indian Ocean, and variations in this ‘Agulhas Leakage’ can lead to changes in the rate and stability of the Atlantic overturning, with possible associated global climate variations [Weijer et al., 1999]. Regional climate variations in the tropical and subtropical Indian Ocean are known to affect the whole system of the Agulhas Current, including the interocean exchanges. This article reports on some of the seminal results of ongoing multinational, multidisciplinary projects that explore these issues.
Ice core could be oldest ever recovered
Authors: Kumar Mohi
Published: October 2006

The Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition on 23 January drilled to a depth of 3029 meters at Japan's Dome Fuji Station in east Antarctica and recovered ice estimated to be one million years old.

If the age is verified, the ice core will be the oldest ice ever retrieved, 20,000 years older than the one from East Antarctica's Dome C.The core will be dated using ice flow law models, cosmic ray analysis, geomagnetic time markers, and comparisons to ocean sediment cores.
Board calls for improving science education
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

The ability of the United States to retain its position at the forefront of global science and engineering may be threatened by the inconsistency of precollege student performance in science and mathematics, the U.S. National Science Board (NSB) concluded in a companion to its latest edition of Science and Engineering Indicators, released on 23 February.

The latest Indicators reported that although math scores rose between 1990 and 2003 for many demographic groups, science scores have not similarly improved. In a 2003 international exam that measures students' ability to apply math and science skills and knowledge, U.S. 15‐year‐olds scored below the international average.
Conferees examine deadly 2005 Kashmir earthquake
Authors: Yeats Robert S. , Kausar Allah Bakhsh , Nakata Takashi
Published: October 2006

The last major urban earthquake to strike Pakistan prior to 2005 severely damaged the city of Quetta in 1935 and killed 35,000 people. In the last 70 years, although much progress has been made in studying the location of active faults and zones of seismicity in Pakistan, the general public in Pakistan has not yet fully understood or recognized the earthquake hazard.The near‐destruction of two towns—Balakot in the North‐West Frontier Province, and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu Kashmir Province—and the deaths of more than 70,000 people caused by the 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake (Mw 7.6) led the government of Pakistan to request a scientific response and plan of action.

Accordingly the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) organized a recent international conference, which was attended by Pakistani scientists and participants from Austria, France, India, Iran, Japan,Turkey the United Kingdom, and the United States [Kausar et al., 2006].
Fire‐made minerals found in icy comet
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

Minerals created under high temperature conditions have been found in particles collected from the comet Wild 2 and may have come from the formation of the Sun or another solar system, NASA mission scientists said at a 13 March press conference.

The Stardust spacecraft trapped the particles in an aerogel detector when it passed within 240 kilometers of the comet on 2 January 2004. Mission scientists have been processing the tiny grains, which range in size from 50 microns to less than one micron, since a few days after the Stardust return capsule landed in the Utah desert on 15 January 2006.
Lake Agassiz meltwater
Authors: Steig Eric
Published: October 2006

TV Lowell et al., authors of “Testing the Lake Agassiz Meltwater Trigger for the Younger Dryas,” in the 4 October 2005 Eos, are to be commended for re‐examining the evidence for the role of meltwater forcing as the cause of the Younger Dryas cooling episode.Yet the article comes up short in attempting to point toward future progress on the important question of the causes of abrupt climate change.

Lowell et al. neglect to address an obvious conundrum: if the Aggasiz meltwater pulse occurred at the wrong time to have caused the Younger Dryas, then it evidently did not cause any significant climate response. Does this not suggest that the assumed importance of meltwater forcing in abrupt climate change be reconsidered entirely?
Outstanding student papers: 2005 Fall Meeting
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The following members received Outstanding Student Paper Awards at the 2005 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. (Winners in other sections and focus groups will be announced in subsequent issues of Eos).
Assessing global water system research
Authors: Braimoh Ademola K. , Craswell Eric T.
Published: October 2006

Rapid growth of global change science has led to improved knowledge about interdependencies in the global water cycle and recognition that the global water system consists of physical, human, and biogeochemical components [Vörösmarty et al., 2004].Traditionally, water research is spread over a number of scientific disciplines. However, for water science to effectively inform policy for sustainable water management, research about the dynamics of water in the context of global change needs to be holistic, must integrate the existing knowledge base, and should synthesize knowledge about how the interactions between nature and society at various scales are affecting the global water system.

This article assesses the level of interdisciplinarity in water science programs by comparing the activities of international waterrelated projects with the Global Water System Project (GWSP) activity profile (http://www.gwsp.org).The GWSP is a project of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) comprising the International Geosphere‐Biosphere Programme (http://www.igbp.kva.se/cgi‐bin/php/frameset.php), the International Human Dimension Programme on Global Environmental Change (www.ihdp.org), the World Climate Research Programme (http://www.wmo.ch/web/wcrp/wcrp‐home.html), and the DIVERSITAS international program on biodiversity science (http://www.diversitasinternational.org/). GWSP's attributes include its scientific and policy‐informing orientation, global perspective, integrative and interdisciplinary approach, and multitemporal investigation of human impacts on water resources.
Searching for water on the Moon
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

NASA plans to crash the upper stage of a rocket into a crater on the Moon's South Pole to look for water, the agency announced on 10 April.

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was chosen by NASA as the secondary payload on the launch vehicle for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). LRO is scheduled to for launch in October 2008 and will create high‐resolution maps of the lunar surface for use in planning future Moon missions.
Eocene hyperthermal event offers insight into greenhouse warming
Authors: Bowen Gabriel J. , Bralower Timothy J. , Delaney Margareth L. , Dickens Gerald R. , Kelly Daniel C. , Koch Paul L. , Kump Lee R. , Meng Jin , Sloan Lisa C. , Thomas Ellen , Wing Scott L. , Zachos James C.
Published: October 2006

What happens to the Earth's climate, environment, and biota when thousands of gigatons of greenhouse gases are rapidly added to the atmosphere? Modern anthropogenic forcing of atmospheric chemistry promises to provide an experiment in such change that has not been matched since the early Paleogene, more than 50 million years ago (Ma),when catastrophic release of carbon to the atmosphere drove abrupt, transient, hyperthermal events.

Research on the Paleocene‐Eocene Thermal Maximum(PETM)—the best documented of these events, which occurred about 55 Ma—has advanced significantly since its discovery 15 years ago. During the PETM, carbon addition to the oceans and atmosphere was of a magnitude similar to that which is anticipated through the 21st century. This event initiated global warming, biotic extinction and migration, and fundamental changes in the carbon and hydrological cycles that transformed the early Paleogene world.
Ship logbooks help analyze pre‐instrumental climate
Authors: García‐Herrera Ricardo , Können Gunther P. , Wheeler Dennis A. , Prieto Maria R. , Jones Phips D. , Koek Frits B.
Published: October 2006

The Climatological Database for the World's Oceans: 1750–1854 (CLIWOC) project, which concluded in 2004, abstracted more than 280,000 daily weather observations from ships logbooks from British, Dutch, French, and Spanish naval vessels engaged in imperial business in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

These data, now compiled into a database, provide valuable information for the reconstruction of oceanic wind field patterns for this key period that precedes the time in which anthropogenic influences on climate became evident. These reconstructions, in turn, provide evidence for such phenomena as the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation. Of equal importance is the finding that the CLIWOC database—the first coordinated attempt to harness the scientific potential of this resource [Garcia‐Herrera et al., 2005]—represents less than 10 percent of the volume of data currently known to reside in this important but hitherto neglected source.
Sessions focus on astrobiology, geoneutrinos, and international science years
Authors: Kumar Mohi
Published: October 2006

New technologies, such as the emerging field of geoneutrino research, and new data sets from the Cassini and Voyager spacecrafts have captured the attention of scientists, prompting them to freshly explore the furthest reaches of their fields, from the Earth's deep interior to the outer solar system and beyond. Several sessions at the 23–26 May 2006 AGU Joint Assembly in Baltimore, Md., will offer a glimpse into these new investigations, while others are devoted to discussing plans for coordinated research efforts during upcoming international science years.
Senate committee recommends replacing FEMA
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

Flaws in the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that were exposed after Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in August 2005 are too substantial to be fixed, and the agency should be replaced with a more capable structure, recommends a 27 April report released by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

“FEMA is discredited, demoralized, and dysfunctional. It is beyond repair. Just tweaking the organizational chart will not solve the problem,” said Committee Chair Sen. Susan Collins (R‐Maine).
Smithsonian climate change exhibits
Authors: Kumar Mohi
Published: October 2006

Two new museum exhibits, “Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely” and “Atmosphere: Change is in the Air” opened 15 April at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., in partnership with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

In “Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely,” anecdotes from indigenous polar people reveal how climate changes have affected life within the last 50 years. For example, as permafrost melts and sea ice shrinks, plant distributions and animal migration patterns are changing, severely affecting culture.
NSF Geosciences Advisory Committee solicits input
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Members of the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) Geosciences Advisory Committee have requested that members of the geosciences community communicate their views and concerns to the committee in time for its next meeting on 3‐5 May in Arlington, Va.

The Geosciences Advisory Committee advises the NSF Directorate for Geosciences, which supports a broad range of research focusing on understanding and predicting the Earth's environment and its habitability. At its May meeting, the committee will consider current and future geoscience plans and programs and additional issues of relevance to the community.
NASA planetary science summer school applications
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

NASA is accepting applications from science and engineering post‐doctoral and graduate students for its 18th Annual Planetary Science Summer School, which will hold two sessions this summer (24–28 July and 31 July 31–4 August) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

During the summer school, student teams will carry out the equivalent of an early concept study in response to a selected NASA Announcement of Opportunity prepare a proposal authorization review presentation, present it to a review board, and receive feedback.
Celia receives 2005 Hydrology Award
Authors: Rodriguez‐Iturbe Ignacio , Celia Michael
Published: October 2006

Michael A. Celia received the Hydrology Award on 5 December 2005, which was presented by the Hydrology Section at the 2005 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Calif.
Reevaluating Hubbert's prediction of U.S. peak oil
Authors: van derVeen C. J.
Published: October 2006

In 1956, M. King Hubbert, chief consultant for the Shell Development Company's exploration and production research division, forecasted that U.S. oil production would peak in the early 1970s. He subsequently updated this prediction using newer data, but the predicted timing of peaking did not change significantly (see Hubbert [1982] for a review and references to earlier papers). In 1971, U.S. annual production of crude oil peaked at slightly more than three billion barrels (bbl).

Yet, Hubbert's model continues to be challenged by some. For instance, according to economist Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research, Inc., Winchester, Mass., it was only after Hubbert published his predictions “that the Hubbert curve came to be seen as explanatory in and of itself, that is, geology requires that production should follow such a curve” [Lynch,2003].
Shallow seabed methane gas could pose coastal hazard
Authors: Best Angus I. , Richardson Michael D. , Boudreau Bernard P. , Judd Alan G. , Leifer Ira , Lyons Anthony P. , Martens Christopher S. , Orange Danial L. , Wheeler Simon J.
Published: October 2006

Abnormally high levels of methane gas in seafloor sediments could pose a major hazard to coastal populations within the next 100 years through their impact on climate change and sea level rise. Marine scientists have known for many years that biogenic methane (CH4) is generated in shallow seabed sediments on continental margins, especially in rapidly deposited muddy sediments with high organic matter content (see Methane Flux Control in Ocean Margin Sediments (METROL) project in Mienert et al., [2004]).

Gassy sediments are found in river deltas, estuaries, and harbors, but also in deeper waters on continental shelves and slopes. Human activities can accelerate natural seafloor gas generation by increasing the supply of sediments and organic matter from rivers through deforestation and intensive farming, and also by the disposal of human waste at sea. When this extra organic matter becomes buried to about one meter beneath the seabed, biogeochemical processes start to convert it to CH4 [Floodgate and Judd, 1992]. The impact of this extra CH4 could be felt within the next 100 years, assuming a one‐centimeter‐per‐year sediment accumulation rate.
An acoustically linked moored‐buoy ocean observatory
Authors: Frye Dan , Freitag Lee , Detrick Robert , Collins John , Delaney John , Kelley Deborah , LaBonte Alison , Brown Kevin
Published: October 2006

A team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI; Woods Hole, Mass.) recently developed and successfully deployed a buoy‐based ocean observatory that uses acoustic communication to retrieve data from sensors in the water column and on the seafloor out to ranges of about three kilometers from the buoy (Figure 1).

Each buoy is equipped with an Iridium satellite link that can transmit more than one megabyte of data per day to shore. The near‐real‐time data provided by this system, and two‐way communication that enables control of sensors from shore, affords new opportunities for observing episodic events—such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and phytoplankton blooms—and changing ocean conditions over seasons and years, or during times of the year when measurements from shipboard platforms are simply not possible.
Research vessels: Underutilized assets for climate observations
Authors: Gould W. John , Smith Shawn R.
Published: October 2006

Sustained, global observations of the ocean and atmosphere, which are coordinated by the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), include various international and national mooring networks, Argo floats, surface drifters, and measurements from satellites, volunteer observing ships (VOSs),and research vessels (R/Vs).These sustained measurements have to some extent drawn attention away from the role of R/Vs in collecting global observations, yet R/Vs' global coverage and onboard technical support make them uniquely valuable to climate observing no matter what the primary scientific discipline is for any particular cruise.

Remarkably, there is no systematic compilation of global R/V tracks. This article presents documentation of R/V coverage for 1997 using the positions of about 80,000 individual meteorological reports (Figure 1) from 154 oceangoing R/Vs. If 1997 is typical, then each year R/Vs cover almost the entire globe and thus have great value since their missions often take them far from commercial shipping routes. A University of Delaware database (http://www.researchvessels.org/) shows 60 R/Vs capable of working across entire ocean basins (≥50‐meter length and 30‐day endurance).
An integrated geologic framework for EarthScope's US array
Authors: Tikoff Basil , Van Der Pluijm Ben , Hibbard Jim , Keller George Randy , Mogk David , Selverstone Jane , Walker Doug
Published: October 2006

The GeoFrame initiative is a new geologic venture that focuses on the construction, stabilization, and modification of the North American continent through time. The initiative's goals can be achieved through systematic integration of geologic knowledge—and particularly geologic time—with the unprecedented Earth imaging to be collected under the US Array program of EarthScope (http://wwwearthscope.org/usarray).The GeoFrame initiative encourages a cooperative community approach to collecting and sharing data and will take a coast‐to‐coast perspective of the continent, focusing not only on the major geologic provinces, but also on the boundaries between these provinces. GeoFrame also offers a tangible,‘you can see it and touch it’ basis for a national approach to education and outreach in the Earth sciences.
Imaging a growing lava dome with a portable radar
Authors: Wadge Geoffrey , Macfarlane David G. , James Michael R. , Odbert Henry M. , Applegarth L. Jane , Pinkerton H. , Robertson Duncan A. , Loughlin Susan C. , Strutt Michael , Ryan Graham , Dunkley Peter N.
Published: October 2006

The tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat has been in a state of crisis since the Soufriere Hills Volcano (SHV) began its current eruption in July 1995. With its main town, Plymouth, destroyed by pyroclastic flows in 1997, the islanders who have remained have had to rebuild their society on the northern half of the island under varying degrees of threat from the volcano to the south. During this time, the Montserrat government continues to receive advice on the volcanic hazards from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO).

The continuing eruption has provided a wealth of research opportunities for many international groups who sought to study the growth and repeated partial destruction of a Peleean andesitic lava dome. There have been three episodes of dome growth: November 1995 through March 1998, November 1999 through July 2003, and August 2005 to present. Pyroclastic flows and explosions have been the main source of hazard.The pyroclastic flows have been generated mainly by gravitational collapse of the lava dome, but also by collapse of explosive ash columns. The dome collapses tend to occur from the area of the dome where new lava is being added. Similarly collapses are more likely when the rate of lava extrusion varies. Also, the propensity of explosive evacuation of the magma in the conduit is partly controlled by the magma supply rate, with high rates favoring explosions.
Chronology of the Baikal Rift System
Authors: Fedotov Andrey , San'kov Valdimir , De Batist Mark , Kazansky Aleksey , Parfeevets Anna , Mirosh‐Nitchenko Andrey , Pouls Tom
Published: October 2006

The deepest lake in the world, Lake Baikal, Russia, lies on the intracontinental Baikal Rift system (BRS) along with the nearby Lake Khubsugul in northern Eurasia. Many questions connected with the history of the development of BRS remain open, in particular the time and causes of the formation of the recent BRS morphology. Thus, the rate of the Indo‐Asian collision, and the discovery of mantle plume intrusion on the large area of Northern and Central Mongolia and on the TransBaikal area in the vicinity of the rift, have been subjects of hot debate throughout the past 50 years of research on the formation of the intercontinental BRS.

Studies by the authors of this article have focused on the southwestern BRS, particularly the Khubsugul Rift. Because of its submeridional trend, the Khubsugul Rift is believed to manifest various reactions when parameters of the tectonic stress field change due to the influence of the Indo‐Asian collision in forming the northeast compression impact or of mantle plume intrusion that forms the northwest extension stress field.
On “Carrington, Schwabe, and the gold medal”
Authors: Schröder Wilfred
Published: October 2006

I note with interest the article by Cliver [2005] about the early solar investigations of Heinrich Schwabe and Richard Carrington and offer some further insights into Schwabe's work and its reception at the time.

Schwabe commenced his observations in 1826 with a small telescope he had bought some years earlier. For more than 40 years, he observed the Sun and made meteorological notes. In his 1843 essay, he noted a sunspot cycle of about 10 years, but his result aroused little interest with contemporary astronomers. Research at the time was focused on the physics of the planets, the Moon, and other topics. Schwabe had published his data in the well‐known Astronomische Nachrichten, but not until Alexander von Humboldt republished it in his Kosmos, volume 3 (1851), did the data begin to be recognized and accepted by Schwabe's fellow scientists. Humboldt's Kosmos was a publication of considerable prestige, and it had a wide circulation among scientists and the educated public. Schwabe's work became familiar to other scientists including Carrington, Angelo Secchi,and Gustav Sporer and, as noted by Cliver, earned him the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Filling gaps in ecosystem data
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

Filling 10 key gaps in U.S. ecosystem data could double the number of indicators of ecosystem conditions in the nation and improve environmental decision‐making, according to a report released 13 June by the nonprofit Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment.

The gaps identified by the Heinz committee, which was comprised of representatives from government, industry, academia, and nonprofit organizations, fell under the following categories: landscape pattern/remote sensing analysis; contaminants related to human exposure; nitrogen yield and load in rivers; carbon storage/soil organic matter; stream and riparian condition; groundwater levels; extent of specific key habitat elements; at‐risk species and communities; non‐native species; and biological community conditions.
Challenges for U.S. tsunami preparedness
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

Despite recent improvements in U.S. tsunami preparedness, greater efforts are needed in tsunami hazard assessment, detection, warning, and mitigation, according to a 5 June report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In the United States, tsunami detection and warning is handled by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while a combination of federal, state, and local agencies manage hazard assessment and mitigation.
Goethe's basalts
Authors: Stern David P.
Published: October 2006

My mother, who was born under Austria's emperor but died in New York, often cited a German rhyme which she attributed to the renowned German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832): Amerika, du hast es besser Hast keine Basalte und keine Schloesser, or America, you have it better Hast no basalts and no castles.
Hart receives 2006 Edward A. Flinn III Award
Authors: Brett Robin , Hart Pembroke J.
Published: October 2006

Pembroke J. Hart received the Edward A. Flinn III Award on 25 May 2006 during the Honors Ceremony at the 2006 Joint Assembly in Baltimore, Md. The award honors individuals who personify AGU's motto of “unselfish cooperation in research” through their facilitating, coordinating, and implementing of activities.
Connections between science and spirituality
Authors: Garen David C.
Published: October 2006

I would like to continue the discussion of points raised in William Carter's response to Robert Frodeman's Eos Forum article [Carter, 2006; Frodeman, 2005]. I have appreciated Frodeman's work and feel that perspectives on science deriving from humanities, philosophy, and religion can add depth, insight, and meaning to our endeavors. I would like to broaden the discussion beyond just space policy to include the relationship between science in general and these, what I would call, spiritual issues.

I can fully understand Carter's aversion to including religious people or perspectives in the formation of science policy. In addition to the examples he cites in which religious motivations have led to some scientifically questionable actions and policies by the U.S. government (having to do with medicine and stem cell research), I would also add the continued attempts by religiously motivated people (some with scientific credentials themselves) to discredit Darwinian evolution and instead advocate alternative models, such as ‘intelligent design,’ which make room for supernatural creation instead of, or alongside, evolutionary processes.
What something is called does matter
Authors: Jordan Benjamin R.
Published: October 2006

My comments are prompted by a seemingly innocuous Eos meeting report on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Small Bodies Educator Conference (Eos, 87(8), 2006). While I applaud the efforts that JPL and others go to in order to train educators and to educate the general public on advances in Earth and space science, I nonetheless take issue with the idea that, as it was reported educators were told, “what we call something is not really important.” This is an entirely specious claim, and I find it disturbing that such a perspective should ever find general acceptance.
How should the Senator be advised?
Authors: Trapani Josh
Published: October 2006

A primary job for Congressional staff members is to advise their bosses—senators or representatives—on issues before the U.S. Congress. As AGU's Congressional Fellow and a Senate legislative staff member, I try to provide the best possible advice to my boss, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D‐Calif.). My struggles in this regard have taught me a lot about the thorny issues involved in the interplay of science and policy.

One issue on which I was asked to advise the senator is what, if anything, to do after forests are disturbed by fires or other events. Specifically, should the burned and dead wood be logged? Some people believe it is better not to log; forests regenerate naturally and ‘salvage logging’ as it is called, is ecologically harmful. Others believe logging paves the way for faster forest and habitat restoration.
Earthquakes and archeology: Neocatastrophism or science?
Authors: Kovach Robert L. , Nur Amos
Published: October 2006

The recent number of devastating, large earthquakes serve as a tough reminder that geophysicists remain unable, after decades of continuous and frustrating efforts, to predict not only where but also when and how big such events will be. These recent earthquakes include those in Pakistan (8 October 2005), Sumatra (26 December 2004, 3 March 2005), Iran (20 June 1990, 10 May 1997, 26 December 2003), India (29 September 1993, 26 January 2001), and Turkey (17 August 1999), and China (the 1976 Tangshan earthquake responsible for at least 300,000 fatalities).

This difficulty in predicting earthquakes can be traced, in part, to the absence of sufficient temporal data about the occurrences of large past earthquakes. In this case, sufficient means a time period that spans, for a given area, several large events, typically over a period of several millennia or more. Written records can provide a more or less complete record only for the past several hundred years. Excavations across geologic faults can provide paleoseismic information but only in special geological settings. Archeological evidence for past catastrophic earthquakes has been emerging as a third important source of data that should be considered. The authors of this article have been pursuing this avenue of research for several decades.
Panel considers future of U.S. land imaging
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

A U.S. government interagency working group charged with developing a strategy for the future of U.S. land imaging began eliciting comments from the users of Landsat data at a public workshop held on 26 July in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy, in December 2005, announced that it would acquire the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), which for a time had been planned to be part of the National Polarorbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System. In addition, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and other government agencies would develop a plan for what to do after Landsat and the LDCM to acquire moderate‐resolution land images.
Ionoquakes: Earthquake precursors in the ionosphere?
Authors: Rishbeth Henry
Published: October 2006

The ionospheric literature is sprinkled with descriptions of phenomena observed near the site of future earthquakes. Any real connection, reliably established, clearly would be of practical value as well as of scientific interest, so the topic is worthy of debate.

Ionospheric effects following an earthquake have been well observed.They include large‐scale waves, known as traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs),that travel thousands of kilometers. TIDs normally are launched by auroral disturbances in the highlatitude ionosphere or by storms and weather fronts in the lower atmosphere.Those observed on 28 March 1964 by sounders (ionosondes) in Alaska, California, and Hawaii [Leonard and Barnes, 1965] and Colorado [Davies and Baker, 1965] apparently originated earlier that day in the vicinity of the great Alaskan earthquake (M=9.2).Artru et al. [2001] have shown that seismic waves indeed can couple to the atmosphere.The reported ‘earthquake precursors’ are ionospheric phenomena recorded within a few hundred kilometers of the epicenter of a quake that occurred up to a few days later. The data come from ionosondes, of which about 100 worldwide make hourly records, and from instruments aboard orbiting satellites that happened to be passing near the site of the earthquake. Orbiting satellites offer global coverage, but their data are limited by the vagaries of orbits. Recently, precursors have been detected by monitoring the total ionospheric electron content along slant paths from radio transmitters on Global Position System satellites to a ground receiver.With its great advantages of continuity and wide geographic coverage, this technique deserves wider use.
Nijhuis receives 2006 Walter Sullivan award for excellence in science journalism—Features
Authors: Larmer Paul , Nijhuis Michelle
Published: October 2006

Michelle Nijhuis received the Walter Sullivan Award at the Joint Assembly Honors Ceremony, which was held on 25 May 2006 in Baltimore, Md. Nijhuis was honored for “Hot Times: Global Warming in the West,” which combines science, policy, and human interest in telling the story of global warming from a regional perspective.
James A. Van Allen, (1914–2006)
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

James A.Van Allen, who served as president of AGU from 1982 to 1984, died on 9 August.Van Allen was president of the Planetary Sciences Section from 1964 to 1968 and president of the Solar‐Planetary Relationships
George Walker, 1926–2005
Authors: Self Stephen
Published: October 2006

George Patrick Leonard Walker, an outstanding and multi‐faceted geologist and one of the most influential volcanologists in the world, died on 17 January 2005, at the age of 78. He was born in London on 2 March 1926 and grew up mainly in Northern Ireland. He read geology for B.Sc. honors and M.Sc. degrees at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and completed his training with a Ph.D. in mineralogy from Leeds University in England, which he received in 1956. By then, he had already been appointed, in 1954, to a lectureship at Imperial College London.
NSF updates science board on major facilities projects
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

The Scientific Ocean Drilling Vessel (SODV) is expected to cost more than initial estimates but other U.S. National Science Foundation‐sponsored major research facilities currently under construction are largely running on schedule and within budget, NSF Deputy Director Kathie Olsen told the U.S. National Science Board on 9 August

The SODV project, in which a ship will be converted into a deep‐sea drilling vessel, is about 7% complete, Olsen said. NSF and the Joint Oceanographic Institutions are preparing to negotiate with bidders on this conversion. However, the cost of the project is expected to be higher than anticipated due to increased steel and oil prices, she said
Proposal would define “planets” and “plutons”
Authors: Zielinski Sarah
Published: October 2006

Pluto would be classified as a type of planet named a ‘pluton’ under a new definition of ‘planet’ that is being considered by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly, the IAU announced on 16 August.

IAU President Ron Ekers said, ‘Recent new discoveries have been made of objects in the outer regions of the solar system that have sizes comparable to and larger than Pluto. These discoveries have rightfully called into question whether or not they should be considered as new planets.”
Hold your breath: The economic impact of human respiration
Authors: Mackie Douglas S.
Published: October 2006

The definition of anthropogenic emissions in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change contains a loophole that could be exploited to destabilize the ratification process. I point out this loophole here so that others may use it to prevent effective implementation of the Protocol, alongside arguments of equal scientific weight and credibility currently used by the administrations of some western nations against the Protocol, in particular, and the need to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in general.

Under the Protocol, the emission permitted (CP ) by a country is defined in terms of a fraction of CO2 emissions for a given baseline year (CB); CP= CB x q, where q is an agreed factor that varies from country to country and is set out in Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol. CB is unique to each country and represents the emissions of a country in the baseline year, usually 1990. If actual emissions fall below CP, then the difference may be traded, and recent sales have been at about € 5.50 (US$7.05) per ton of C02.The intent of the Kyoto Protocol is to constrain gases released through source activities that, in general, burn fossil fuels. However, enteric fermentation (ruminant digestive fermentation producing methane) is specifically included as a source activity in Annex A of the Protocol. The definition of emissions used in the Protocol thus may be interpreted to include other non‐fossil‐fuel, natural metabolism sources of carbon, such as the products of human respiration.