bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Japanese Halley missions with Sakigake and Suisei
Authors: Oya Hiroshi
Published: October 2011

Two Japanese spacecraft, MS‐T5 and Planet‐A, have been launched into interplanetary space with the aim of encountering Comet Halley. The encounters will be March 9 and 11, 1986, for Planet‐A and MS‐T5, respectively. The planned trajectories of the two spacecraft are given in Figure 1. These spacecraft will join the other ships of the so‐called Halley observation “fleet,” including the two VEGA craft, ICE, and European Space Agency's Giotto spacecraft. Together, the Japanese spacecraft will carry a total of five instruments.
Introduction to Plasma Theory
Authors: Schulz Michael
Published: October 2011

Plasma physics is the study of collective phenomena involving vast numbers of charged particles, usually in the presence of a magnetic field and usually distributed so that the net charge density is very small compared to the density of charges of either sign. Dwight Nicholson' s book Introduction to Plasma Theory is an educational treasury of the conceptual foundations and mathematical methodology of modern theoretical plasma physics. The book is primarily intended for classroom use at the first‐year and second‐year graduate level and is well written for this purpose in that individual topics are introduced at the lowest possible level of sophistication but subsequently developed in an increasingly mathematical way. The book is well supplied with literature citations, exercises, problems, and hints for solution. It is also well indexed for use as a reference book, a lthough it is not primarily intended forth is purpose.
Report to the American Physical Society of the Study Group on Radionuclide Release From Severe Accidents at Nuclear Power Plants
Authors: Shaw George
Published: October 2011

The release of radioiodine during the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident was more than an order of magnitude smaller than what had been predicted from analyses of hypothetical nuclear accidents. The Reactor Safety Study of 1975 (RSS), which carried out the analyses, is a fundamental factor in formulating regulations concerned with such accidents. This American Physical Society (APS) study group report is a result of the obvious need to reevaluate the RSS analysis of the “source term,” that is, the amount of various radionuclides that are predicted to be emitted under various reactor failure scenarios.

The report includes an introductory background to the history of nuclear reactor accidents and accident studies and to the health aspects of radionuclide releases. It then describes nuclear reactors and reactor failure modes, including reasonably detailed descriptions of particular modes thought to be especially critical. The most extensive discussion concerns the chemical and physical processes important in the generation, transport, and release of radionuclides. The large computer codes used to model these processes are considered and evaluated. The results of some of the computer runs are examined in the light of a simplified but informative model to evaluate those features of an accident that are most likely to affect the source term. A review of the research programs currently underway precedes both the study group conclusions about the need to revise the source terms from those in the RSS and recommendations for further studies that are necessary to better evaluate the source term.
Climatic change and world affairs
Authors: Tickell Crispin
Published: October 2011

Climate is a condition of life. When it changes, so must we. Yet until recently, most people would not admit any real possibility of climatic change in their calculations of past, present, and future. Even those required to think forward—farmers, economists, planners, and politicians—preferred to work on a simple extension of here and now. All that has begun to change.
A history of paleoflood hydrology in the United States, 1800”1970
Authors: Costa John E.
Published: October 2011

The origins of paleoflood hydrology in the United States can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century, when windgaps and watergaps in the Applachians were believed to have been eroded by extraordinary floods as large lakes that were ponded behind the ridges rapidly drained. Sediment evidence for extraordinary floods was evoked several decades later when glacial sediments in New England were interpreted as deposits from the great Biblical deluge, and estimates of the depth and velocity of the great flood were attempted. The popularization of the glacial origins of drift by Agassiz by 1840 resulted in strong beliefs in uniformitarianism and waning interests in paleoflood investigations. The documentation of the origins of the channeled scablands in eastern Washington by catastrophic glacial outbreak floods, begun by Bretz in the early 1920s, led to renewed interest in paleoflood hydrology. Subsequent efforts to reconstruct hydraulic variables of past floods used conventional open channel flow equations applied to other enormous Pleistocene floods. The elevation of sediments was used as a paleostage estimator in the 1880s, and botanical techniques for estimating paleoflood frequency and magnitude were well documented by the mid‐1960s. Since 1970, an exponential expansion has occurred in the recognition and use of paleoflood hydrology in the United States.
The 1985 Ruiz Volcano disaster
Authors: Herd Darrell G.
Published: October 2011

Nevado del Ruiz, northernmost active volcano in the Andes, erupted on November 13, 1985, triggering lahars that killed at least 22,000 persons and destroyed more than $212 million in property. The eruption culminated a year of precursory earthquake and fumarolic activity that began in November 1984 and intensified in September 1985 with the start of phreatic eruption. Colombian and other international scientists, concerned that Ruiz might be building to a large eruption, initiated monitoring of Ruiz volcano on July 20, and in October completed hazard and risk assessments that correctly anticipated the disastrous effects of November 13. Although relatively small, the paroxysmal eruption at 9:08 P.M. produced pyroclastic flows and surges that scoured and melted part of the summit ice cap, generating lahars that swept down river valleys on the east, north, and west flanks of the volcano. A volcano observatory has been established in Manizales, Colombia, to monitor Ruiz's continuing activity.
Hydrothermal chimneys and associated fauna in the Manus Back‐Arc Basin, Papua New Guinea
Authors: Both Ross , Crook Keith , Taylor Brian , Brogan Scott , Chappell Bruce , Frankel Ed , Liu Lori , Sinton John , Tiffin Don
Published: October 2011

Between December 6, 1985, and January 9, 1986, the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics Research Vessel Moana Wave surveyed the Manus Basin, north of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. This basin occupies a back‐arc position with respect to the New Britain arc‐trench system and contains an active plate boundary (Figure 1; also Taylor [1979]). Organized under the aegis of the Committee for Coordination of Joint Prospecting for Mineral Resources in South Pacific Offshore Areas (CCOP/SOPAC), the cruise was part of a program to assess the mineral potential of southwest Pacific marginal basins and included a National Science Foundation‐sponsored study of crustal accretion processes in a fastspreading (greater than 100 mm/yr) back‐arc basin. The tectonic fabric of the Manus Basin was mapped and defined with the Sea MARC II sidescan sonar and bathymetric mapping system. Then dredge samples and cores were collected, and a towed bottom camera system was used to search for signs of hydrothermal activity.
Special issue on Antarctic Ozone Depletion: GRL
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The November 1986 issue of Geophysical Research Letters will contain a special issue on studies of antarctic ozone depletion. Authors are invited to submit recent results from theoretical or observational studies of the ozone depletion or related topics, such as polar dynamics, heterogeneous chemical reactions, polar stratospheric clouds, and so on. To be considered for the special issue, articles should be received by the editors before August 15, 1986. Five copies, conforming to standard GRL guidelines, should be sent to Mark R. Schoeberl or Arlin J. Krueger Guest Editors, GRL Code 616 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD 20771 telephone: 301‐286‐5819.
Nuclear winter or nuclear fall?
Authors: Berger André
Published: October 2011

Climate is universal. If a major modern nuclear war (i.e., with a large number of small‐yield weapons) were to happen, it is not even necessary to have a specific part of the world directly involved for there to be cause to worry about the consequences for its inhabitants and their future. Indeed, smoke from fires ignited by the nuclear explosions would be transported by winds all over the world, causing dark and cold. According to the first study, by Turco et al. [1983], air surface temperature over continental areas of the northern mid‐latitudes (assumed to be the nuclear war theatre) would fall to winter levels even in summer (hence the term “nuclear winter”) and induce drastic climatic conditions for several months at least. The devastating effects of a nuclear war would thus last much longer than was assumed initially. Discussing to what extent these estimations of long‐term impacts on climate are reliable is the purpose of this article.
Proposals sought for ocean study
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is seeking proposals to study global ocean circulation using the data to be gathered by the collaborative U.S./French TOPEX/Poseidon altimetric mission. The mission will use a spacecraft that carries altimetric and tracking instruments to make precision measurements of sea surface topography. These observations will be used to study the general circulation of the ocean and its mesoscale variability, ocean tides, surface gravity waves, and problems in marine geophysics.
Update from the Committee on Solar‐Terrestrial Research
Authors: Intriligator Devrie
Published: October 2011

Solar‐terrestrial research is the study of the essential processes by which energy in all forms is generated by the sun, is transported to earth, and ultimately, vitally influences the terrestrial environment. The principal science issue today in solar‐terrestrial research is to understand this coupled system.
July streamflow
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

In contrast to the intense and persistent drought in the Southeast, many U.S. streams were flowing well above normal during July, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). USGS scientists reported excessive flows (within the highest 25% of record) in a broad band that stretched from Arizona to Vermont. Across the country, 41% of the 174 measured rivers and streams were in the excessive range for July, compared to 24% in the deficient range (within the lowest 25% of record). Record low July flows, the lowest in 50 years of measurement on many streams, were set at 10 of the 12 key index streamflow‐gaging stations in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, where flows ranged
Toward a theory of impact crises
Authors: Alvarez Walter
Published: October 2011

In a certain sense, the impact explanation for the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous had its origin in Lamont Hall. A couple of years after I came to Lamont in 1971, I started working with another new Lamonter, Bill Lowrie, now at Eidgenössiche Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zürich, on the paleomagnetism of pelagic limestones in Italy. We went to the little medieval city of Gubbio because of the very complete section of Upper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary limestones that is exposed in the Bottaccione Gorge, which cuts through the mountains behind the town.
Monthly satellite‐derived phytoplankton pigment distribution for the North Atlantic Ocean basin
Authors: Esaias W. E. , Feldman G. C. , McClain C. R. , Elrod J. A.
Published: October 2011

Surface phytoplankton distributions have been derived from Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) with an accuracy of from 35% in open oceans to within a factor of 2 generally [Gordon et al., 1983; Brown et al., 1985]. The remotely sensed pigment fields have been used to quantify spatial and temporal variability of plankton biomass on scales of days [McClain et al., 1984, 1986; Walsh et al., 1986] to years [Feldman, 1986; Abbott and Zion, 1985; Banse and McClain, 1986; Barale et al., 1986; D. K. Clark, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS), Suitland, Md.; personal communication]. Efforts to relate these fields to areal primary productivity [Eppley, 1985; Piatt, 1986] are very promising. These findings form the basis of current plans to investigate the carbon flux within the oceans on a global scale over the next decade (see the article “The Global Ocean Flux Study (GOFS): Status of the U.S. GOFS Program” by P. Brewer et al., this issue), as well as a multitude of regional process‐oriented field studies.
The GEOSAT Altimeter Mission: A milestone in satellite oceanography
Authors: Cheney Robert , Douglas Bruce , Agreen Russell , Miller Laury , Milbert Dennis , Porter David
Published: October 2011

In April 1985 the U.S. Navy satellite GEOSAT began generating a remarkable data set that may change the way in which physical oceanographers view the global oceans. GEOSAT (Figure 1) carries a radar altimeter that provides a continuous record of sea level along the satellite ground track. Such records enable determination of sea level variability and have application in many areas of ocean dynamics. Experience with GEOS 3 (Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite 3) and Seasat in the 1970s demonstrated the enormous potential of altimetry for oceanography. Seasat, for example, gathered sufficient altimeter data in its last 25 days alone to yield a global description of the mesoscale eddy field [Cheney et al., 1983], wave number spectra of sea level variability [Fu, 1983], and a global model of the M2 tide [Mazzega, 1985].
High‐energy nearshore processes
Authors: Holman R. A. , Sallenger A. H.
Published: October 2011

The problem of shoreline erosion has become a matter of much interest in the recent press. To some extent this interest has been driven by the slow rise in sea level that has lent an air of inevitabilty to matters. However, the discussions certainly become more focused by the approach of a major storm or hurricane: for instance, the 1985 scare associated with Hurricane Gloria. In fact, it is these major events that dominate the episodic erosion history of an area, and so it is on the basis of knowledge of these events that decisions are made on the development and management of our shorelines. Unfortunately, both our understanding of the fundamental processes and the extent to which our knowledge is transmitted to coastal planners is less than we might hope.
AGU Members Receive Physics Today
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Physics Today, published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP), is now being mailed to all AGU members.
ODP Fellowships
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. (JOI), in cooperation with the U.S. Science Advisory Committee (USSAC), is offering Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) graduate fellowships for students in residence at U.S. institutions to perform research on problems compatible with the interests of the ODP. Research proposals may involve participation in an upcoming leg on the drillship JOIDES Resolution andlor work on data that has been collected on prior ODP legs.
Seismology in the days of old
Authors: Lehmann Inge
Published: October 2011

I may have been 15 or 16 years old when, on a Sunday morning, I was sitting at home together with my mother and sister, and the floor began to move under us. The hanging lamp swayed. It was very strange. My father came into the room. “It was an earthquake,” he said. The center had evidently been at a considerable distance, for the movement felt slow and not shaky. In spite of a great deal of effort, an accurate epicenter was never found. This was my only experience with an earthquake until I became a seismologist 20 years later.

In the autumn of 1925, I became an assistant to N. E. Norlund, who shortly before had been appointed director of “Gradmaalingen” (a geodetic institution that was in charge of measuring the meridian arc in Denmark). He had become interested in establishing seismic stations in Denmark and Greenland. He wanted everything done in the best possible way, and much attention was paid to the time service. The best existing seismographs had to be used, and they were to be placed so that they were not strongly affected by disturbing movements, such as traffic, for example. Two solid buildings, part of the fortification system that surrounded Copenhagen, were made available. My first major task was to assist in the installation of the Galitzin‐Willip seismographs there. On November 18, 1926, the seismic station was inaugurated. Its standard was high in comparison with existing seismic stations.
Lightning networks detect storms
Authors: Katzoff Judith A.
Published: October 2011

Systems used to detect cloud‐to‐ground lightning flashes are proving to be “a tremendous supplement” to radar and satellite information in forecasting thunderstorms, according to a meteorologist who uses the new systems. Some of the benefits of this technology for weather forecasters, air traffic controllers, and power companies will be discussed in a session on “Meteorological Applications of Lightning Detection Systems” on Wednesday, May 20, at the AGU Spring Meeting in Baltimore, Md.
Aircraft collects acid rain data
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is in the midst of a year‐long effort to improve the accuracy of a computer model that will be used in predicting airflow and the movement of acid rain‐producing compounds across the eastern half of the United States. A specially instrumented NOAA research aircraft is making a series of flights during a 1‐week period this month to gather air samples and meteorological data along a 1600‐km flight path parallel to and about 200 km west of the Mississippi River. The same series of flights, originating from Little Rock, Ark., was made in February and will be repeated during July and October, according to Joe Boatman of NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.
Plate tectonics: Scientific revolution or scientific program?
Authors: Mareschal Jean‐Claude
Published: October 2011

In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas S. Kuhn suggested that science progresses discontinuously: As a scientific theory becomes obsolete, a period of crisis results, at the end of which the old theory is overthrown and replaced by a new, sounder, more complete theory [Kuhn, 1962]. After the scientific community has accepted the new [paradigm,] it undertakes only routine research until a new crisis occurs, usually as a result of an anomalous experiment that accidentally happens to be critical.
Lethal gas bursts from Cameroon Crater Lakes
Authors: Sigurdsson Haraldur
Published: October 2011

On August 15, 1984, a cloud of gas burst out of Lake Monoun in Cameroon, killing 37 people by asphyxiation. A study of the lake revealed that it occupies a 96‐m‐deep crater and that very high levels of dissolved carbon dioxide prevail in the anoxic deep waters [Sigurdsson et al., 1987]. The carbon isotope characteristics of Lake Monoun indicate derivation of the CO2 from mantle source (high 14C age of lake; ∂13C of −7) , but the chemistry of the lake showed no indication of input of hot magmatic gases, such as elevated levels of sulfur or evidence of halogen compounds or gases in the water. We therefore proposed that the Lake Monoun event was not related to a volcanic explosion but was rather the consequence of long‐term buildup of mantlederived CO2, which was dissolved in the anoxic lake waters and was derived from soda springs or other carbon dioxide‐rich groundwater flow into the submerged crater. Sudden degassing of the CO2‐rich waters was attributed to an upset of the density stratification of the lake by a landslide from the crater's eastern rim.
Jan Hospers and the Rise of Paleomagnetism
Authors: Frankel Henry
Published: October 2011

The purpose of this article is to describe the key role that Jan Hospers played in the early stages of what has been called the revolution in the earth sciences: plate tectonics. Hospers was the first to demonstrate that reversals of the field and not self‐reversals were responsible for reversed magnetization. He was the first to demonstrate empirically the validity of the geocentric axial dipole (GAD) hypothesis. Both are important foundation stones of modern global tectonics.
A software package for the data‐independent management of multidimensional data
Authors: Treinish Lloyd A. , Gough Michael L.
Published: October 2011

The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) provides access to data from and information about a plethora of scientific experiments from a variety of disciplines. To help fulfill this mission, NSSDC has developed a software package that supports a self‐describing data structure. This structure, called the Common Data Format (CDF), provides true data independence for applications software that has been developed at NSSDC. Scientific software systems at NSSDC use this construct so that they do not need specific knowledge of the data with which they are working. This permits users of such systems to apply the same functions to different sets of data. This data‐independent concept was first introduced at NASA in support of atmospheric and climatic research via the Pilot Climate Data System (PCDS), a scientific information system and analysis system developed at NSSDC [Treinish, 1984; Reph et al., 1986]. The users of such data‐independent NSSDC systems as the PCDS rely on their own knowledge of different sets of data to interpret the results, a critical feature for the multidisciplinary studies inherent in the earth and space sciences. Such CDF‐based software can use the information available through the CDF software package to inform a user about contents, history, and structure of the data that are supported in a given CDF.
Paleomagnetic sampling using portable drilling equipment: Virtue, vice, and/or criminal offense?
Authors: Geissman John W. , Smyers Norman , Marion Roger
Published: October 2011

The use of portable drilling equipment in field sampling for paleomagnetic research has been commonplace for well over 2 decades. Advances in field drilling “technology” in the past 10 years or so have afforded paleomagnetists a quite straightforward, reasonably painless, and very portable means of obtaining independently, accurately oriented samples for their research. Perhaps the last major breakthrough, in particular, with all due respect for the back of the unsuspecting graduate student/field assistant, would be the availability of dehydrated water!
Correction: Position of the South Magnetic Pole
Authors: Barton C. E.
Published: October 2011

The following correction should be made to figures in the news item "Position of the South Magnetic Pole, January 1986," which was published in the previous editin of The GP Compass (Eos, March 24, 1987, p. 162).
Remote sensing of snow
Authors: Foster J. L. , Hall D. K. , Chang A. T. C.
Published: October 2011

Snow is a variable resource that, after being deposited on the Earth's land surface, subsequently serves as a source of water vapor input to the atmosphere through the processes of sublimation and evaporation and as a source of water to the soil and river systems when melting occurs. When the snow is deposited on a land surface, it also markedly changes the albedo and the radiation balance. Therefore snow cover represents a changing atmospheric output that is a function of variability in the Earth's climate, and it is also a boundary condition that affects meteorology and climate through the changes that it makes in the radiation balance and the water vapor input to the atmosphere. Thus it is important to have an active snow cover‐monitoring program that will describe the spatial and temporal variability of the snow cover over land areas.
Unstraining paleomagnetic vectors: The current state of debate
Authors: Cogné Jean‐Pascal , Perroud Hervé
Published: October 2011

One of the main goals of paleomagnetic studies is to produce evidence for ancient continent displacements and thus produce paleogeographical reconstructions of the earth in the geological past. To achieve this goal, paleomagnetists use the direction of remanent vectors as measured in rocks to derive latitudinal and azimuthal data, according to the model of the Earth magnetic field (EMF). One of the many difficulties faced by these researchers is the determination of whether the rock deformation may have altered the original paleomagnetic direction. If so, the paleomagnetists must correct the effect of such a deformation. Obviously, this aspect is of secondary importance in cratonic areas where beds lie flat or are gently folded, and in earlier times, most paleomagnetic studies were conducted in such areas. However, it now appears that we cannot avoid work within orogenic belts if we want to resolve geodynamic problems [Van der Voo and Channel, 1980]. It therefore became necessary to examine more carefully the interaction between magnetizations and deformation. During the last decade, several teams have conducted research efforts in this direction.
Structural style of continental rifting in Ethiopia: Reverse decollements
Authors: Mohr Paul
Published: October 2011

Quickening crustal extension since the Late Miocene in the Ethiopian rift is a response to forcible jacking apart at a progressively weakening lithospheric suture, rather than a passive reaction to regional stress in the African plate. Rates have increased from less than 1 mm/yr to integrated Holocene values that locally reach 4 mm/yr at the axis of the rift floor. Middle Miocene‐Early Pleistocene faulting of the rift margins is now largely substituted for by intense faulting and Assuring along the rift floor axis, concurrent with increased strain in the lower crust and lithospheric mantle. Unlike the detachment models advocated for the Basin and Range Province, the North Sea, and now the Kenyan rift, the new hypothesis advanced here envisions Ethiopian and Kenyan rifting to be a response to diapiric injection of anomalously hot and mobile asthenosphere that has most recently breached the upper crust.
Along the water front
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

William O. Pruitt, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service, Fort Collins, Colo., has received the American Society of Civil Engineers' Royce J. Tipton Award, which recognizes contributions to the advancement of irrigation and drainage engineering.

Depart of Interior Meritorious Service Awards have been presented to the following AGU Hydrology Section members: James P. Bennett and John E. Moore of the U.S. Geological Survey (Reston, Va.).
Modeling the aquatic effects of acid precipitation
Authors: Thornton K. W.
Published: October 2011

The Water Quality Committee of the AGU Hydrology Section sponsored this session at the 1986 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Cochaired by K. H. Reckhow (Duke University, Durham, N.C.) and K. W. Thornton (FTN Associates, Little Rock, Ark.), it included more than 20 technical papers on approaches for assessing the effects of acid deposition on aquatic systems. The papers focused on three primary areas: factors influencing aquatic effects, system models, and regional assessments.
Scandinavian paleomagnetists meet
Authors: Pesonen L. J.
Published: October 2011

Recently, there have been two meetings at which most of the paleomagnetists from the five Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) gathered to discuss current research in paleomagnetics and to plan future collaboration among the Scandinavian paleomagnetic laboratories. The first meeting took place in Helsinki during May 12–17, 1986, in connection with the 17th Nordic Geology Meeting. A special session on paleomagnetism was convened by L. J. Pesonen (Geological Survey of Finland, Espoo) and K. J. Neuvonen (University of Turku, Turku , Finland). Twenty‐three papers were presented during the 2‐day session. A wide selection of paleomagnetic topics was covered, including papers on Precambrian paleomagnetism of the Fennoscandian and Canadian shields, Quaternary paleomagnetism in and around the Baltic Sea, paleomagnetism and plate tectonics, studies on multicomponent remanences, archeomagnetism, and paleomagnetic instrumentation. The majority of the participants were from the Scandinavian countries, but participants from Canada (D. J. Dunlop, University of Toronto , Toronto; Ö. Özdemir, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; K. Buchan, Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa), Argentina (M. Ruocco, University of Stockholm, Stockholm; C. Sylwan, University of Stockholm), Czechoslovakia (M. Krs, Geofyzika Brno, Brno), Poland (M. Lewandowski, University of Warsaw, Warsaw), and the German Democratic Republic (K. Rother, Institute of Geophysics, Potsdam) were also present. A postconference excursion (led by Pesonen and his students) visited the Paleomagnetic Laboratories in the Otaniemi campus area, Espoo, near Helsinki (Geological Survey of Finland, Helsinki University of Technology, and Technical Research Centre of Finland). The highlight of the excursion was a visit to the magnetically shielded room with its new SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Detector) magnetometers at the Cryogenic Laboratory of Helsinki University of Technology.
Chernobyl fallout on Alpine Glaciers: A new reference horizon for dating
Authors: Ambach W. , Rehwald W. , Blumthaler M. , Eisner H.
Published: October 2011

In profiles taken of old snow on Alpine glaciers, a new reference horizon for dating has been discovered in the form of atmospheric fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident. The dating method is based on the known time of deposition of the fission products immediately after the Chernobyl accident on April 26, 1986. In future, this reference horizon may be used for the determination of net accumulation over a long period. The peak value of gross beta activity from the Chernobyl accident is of the same order of magnitude as the peak value from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in 1963.
Increasing the accessibility of IMS magnetograms
Authors: Russell C.T.
Published: October 2011

There has been an improvement in the accessibility of ground‐based magnetic records obtained from 1978–1979, during the International Magnetospheric Study (IMS). During this period, many new magnetic stations were established with digital output. These records have been archived at the World Data Center A for Solar Terrestrial Physics, but they are difficult to use because of the way the data are stored.
Atmospheric Chemistry: Fundamentals and Experimental Techniques
Authors: Ronneau C.
Published: October 2011

This book by B. J. Finlayson‐Pitts and J. N. Pitts appears at a time when atmospheric chemistry has reached a remarkable achievement. This relatively new discipline was given its first impetus in the 1950s, when Haagen‐Smit and his coworkers published their nowclassical papers about the Los Angeles photochemical smog. In less than 3 decades, atmospheric chemistry has matured and is now able to cope with the major challenges of air pollution. It has grown into an elaborate science, covering a broad range of experimental and theoretical approaches.
The periodic structure of the natural record, and nonlinear dynamics
Authors: Shaw Herbert R.
Published: October 2011

Concepts of cyclicity in geology have involved many famous protagonists in the history of Earth sciences. Early in this century, sophisticated theories of terrestrial rhythms had been formulated by such pioneers as T. C. Chamberlin [1909], R. T. ,Chamberlin [1914], Barrell [1917], Stille [1924], Joly [1925, 1930], Holmes [1926], Lull [1929], Schuchert [1932], Grabau [1940], and Umbgrove [1939a,b, 1947] (see the review by Williams [1981]). The physical chemist S. Arrhenius [1908] had also formulated a general hypothesis for cosmological origins of terrestrial phenomena. Khain [1964] later proposed resonances between terrestrial and cosmological rhythms, and McCrea [1975] and Williams [1975] summarized evidence of galactic correlations with glaciation.
Geomorphic and hydrologic dynamics of zero‐order basins
Authors: Iverson Ricahrd M.
Published: October 2011

The 1987 International Symposium on Erosion and Sedimentation in the Pacific Rim, held August 3–7, 1987, in Corvallis, Oreg., included a special session on the geomorphic and hydrologic dynamics of zero‐order drainage basins. “Zero‐order basin” is one of several terms used to describe unchanneled swales or hollows that may occupy considerable areas of higher‐order drainage basins. These basins serve as important accumulation sites for water, sediment, and accompanying contaminants that subsequently may enter streams. Moreover, in many terrains along the Pacific rim, zero‐order basins are significant geologic hazard sites in which rapid landslides and debris flows commonly begin. Widespread recognition o f the importance of zero‐order basins has occurred only within the last 15 years, and this special session was aimed at collecting and assessing some of the pertinent knowledge that has been gained to date.
Nuclear waste under glass, reconsidered
Authors: Crovisier J. L. , Honnorez J.
Published: October 2011

“Mg May Protect Waste Under Glass,” a news item in the January 26, 1988, issue of Eos (p. 49), summarized the work of John O'Keefe (National Aeronautics and Space Administration/ Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.), B. P. Glass (University of Delaware, Newark), and Aaron Barkatt (Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.). We can only agree with Barkatt's final word of caution about O'Keefe's (overall conclusion) suggestion that “Mg added to the backfill surrounding glass‐filled cannisters…would react with infiltrating fresh water to seal off the glass from dissolution that would release radioactive material.” It is indeed an oversimplified interpretation, since several environmental parameters (and not only pH nor Mg ++ activity) simultaneously control glass dissolution.

From the start, two main dissolution mechanisms of a silicated glass have to be distinguished: congruent dissolution (all of the glass constituents dissolves simultaneously) and selective dissolution (the modifier elements of the glass network, e.g., alkali and alkaline earths, are exchanged). In the first case, the glass dissolution rate is controlled by the rate of Si‐O‐Si bond breakdown, which depends on temperature, pH, and solution silica activity. In the second case, the glass corrosion rate depends on the diffusion rate of the various species into a residual hydrated glass network.
Horton and Ewing Medalists
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

AGU has announced the recipients of the 1988 Robert E. Horton and Maurice Ewing medals. The recipient of the Robert E. Horton Medal for outstanding contributions to the geophysical aspects of hydrology will be Peter S. Eagleson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Eagleson is the immediate Past‐President of AGU.

The recipient of the Maurice Ewing Medal for significant original contributions to understanding physical, geophysical, and geological processes in the ocean; and/or significant original contributions to scientific ocean engineering, technology, and instrumentation; and/or outstanding service to marine sciences is Wolfgang H. Berger of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The medal is presented jointly by the U.S Navy and AGU.
Prediction and theory evaluation: Alfven on space plasma phenomena
Authors: Brush Stephen G.
Published: October 2011

According to some scientists and philosophers of science, a theory is or should be judged by its ability to make successful predictions. This paper examines a case from the history of recent science—the research of Hannes Alfvén and his colleagues on space plasma phenomena—in order to see whether scientists actually follow this policy. Tests of five predictions are considered: magnetohydrodynamic waves, field‐aligned (“Birkeland”) currents, critical ionization velocity and the existence of planetary rings, electrostatic double layers, and partial corotation. It is found that the success or failure of these predictions had essentially no effect on the acceptance of Alfvén's theories, even though concepts such as “Alfvén waves” have become firmly entrenched in space physics. Perhaps the importance of predictions in science has been exaggerated; if a theory is not acceptable to the scientific community, it may not gain any credit from successful predictions.
AGU elects 1990 Fellows
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Twenty‐five distinguished scientists have been elected Fellows of the Union. Fellows are scientists who are judged by their peers as having attained acknowledged eminence in a branch of geophysics. The number of Fellows elected each year is limited to 0.1 % of the total membership at the time of election. The newly elected Fellows are listed here.
Horton Grantee gets AAG Award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Jeffrey McDonnell, an assistant professor of forest hydrology at Utah State University, Logan, received the J. Warren Nystrom Award from the Association of American Geographers for his doctoral dissertation, “The Age, Origin and Pathway of Subsurface Stormflow in a Steep Humid Headwater Catchment.” In 1987, McDonnell was awarded AGU's Horton Research Grant for his thesis proposal.

McDonnell received his Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. His dissertation was supervised by I. F. Owens, Department of Geography, University of Canterbury and A. J. Pearce, New Zealand Forest Research Institute.
Science funding bills reach critical stage
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Several House and Senate subcommittees are working on science‐related appropriations bills providing funding for federal departments and agencies for the 1991 fiscal year, which starts October 1. Although final work on these bills will probably not be completed until September, the appropriations made to various science agencies in the next few weeks are likely to be close to the final numbers. These weeks will be critical for science.

Funding for the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency is included in the Fiscal 1991 VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Bill. Although the Administration's request for these agencies is up significantly, both House and Senate Committee members have repeatedly commented on the difficulty they will have in providing funding for science programs as well as veterans and housing needs. The Senate has started “marking‐up” (drafting) this legislation, although the House must vote on its own bill first.
Dyfrig Jones 1940”1989
Authors: Horne Richard
Published: October 2011

Dyfrig Jones, Head of the Space Plasma Physics Group at the British Antarctic Survey, died August 6, 1989.

Dyfrig was born August 16, 1940, in the fishing village of Crwbin, Pembrokeshire, South Wales. He attended Cardigan Grammar School and went on to read physics at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, completing a Ph.D. in experimental physics in 1964 on interpreting ionospheric drift data. The skills he learned during his Ph.D. work, which entailed the design of radio and signal processing equipment and the development of new computer methods for signal correlation and spectral analysis, laid the foundation for his career.
Magellan begins radar tests at Venus
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Magellan spacecraft was set to conduct the first tests of its synthetic aperture radar system on August 16 after settling into a near‐perfect orbit upon its arrival at Venus on August 10. If the tests are successful, Magellan project scientists could see their first images of the planet's surface before the end of August.

“Everything went very well at Venus orbit insertion,” said project scientist Stephen Saunders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “We got into a very good orbit.” Magellan went into Venus orbit at 9:46 A.M. Pacific Time, nearly matching the specifications of the target orbit. The target distance of the orbit's closest approach to the surface was 275 km; a distance of 294 km was achieved. The orbit's target period was 3.18 hours; 3.26 hours was achieved.
Hydrogeological Regimes and Their Subsurface Thermal Effects
Authors: Beck Alan , Garven Grant , Stegena Lajos
Published: October 2011

The symposium on which this monograph is based was organized for the purposes of bringing together two bodies of experts from the hydrological and geothermal communities to tackle the problem of the coupled thermalhydrological processes in the subsurface.

For many years, workers interested in the measurement and interpretation of terrestrial heat flow have been well aware of more efficient modes of heat transport than conduction but assumed that if the temperature‐depth, or total thermal resistance‐depth (Bullard) plots obtained using borehole data were linear, then perturbing influences were insignificant. In other words, linearity of such plots was implicitly used as a test of reliability—so much so that in some cases where the data appeared to have systematic deviation, due to perturbing sources of unknown form and strength, the data were massaged until linear plots were obtained, thus allowing inferences to be made about the perturbing source and the conductive heat flow densities [Allis and Garland, 1976; Francheteau et al., 1984; Jaupart et al., 1985].
Paradoxes of Italian seismicity
Authors: Boschi E. , Pantosti D. , Valensise G.
Published: October 2011

Ten years after Europe's largest earthquake of the past half‐century, scientists will gather in the heart of Italy's earthquake country to assess the current state of study of active tectonics and seismic hazards in the region. The meeting, organized by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica, Rome, and sponsored by the major Italian research institutions, will be held in Sorrento November 19–24, 1990.
Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The promotion of interaction among investigators of all oceanographic disciplines studying the eastern Pacific Ocean was the goal of the 1990 Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference (EPOC), held October 17–19 on the snow‐covered slopes of Mt. Hood, Oreg. Thirty oceanographers representing all disciplines attended.

Dick Barber, Duke University Marine Lab, Beaufort, N.C., chaired a session on the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, emphasizing issues related to biological activity. Steve Ramp of the Naval Postgraduate School in Montery, Calif., chaired a session on recent results from northern and central California experiments. On October 19, following an early morning earthquake, a business meeting and discussions regarding a collaboration in future experiments were held.
Tilting at windmills
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Last week, NASA's Magellan probe began a so‐called “windmill” experiment to probe the upper atmosphere of Venus. In the experiment, the spacecraft's wing‐line solar arrays are turned in opposite directions, like windmill sails, to encounter pressure from molecules in the upper atmosphere of Venus. The experiment, a “next to last act” of Magellan before it burns up in Venus' atmosphere October 14, is measuring how much torque will be needed to keep the spacecraft from spinning on its axis, according to Doug Griffith, project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. After the windmill experiment, the craft will undergo additional orbit trim maneuvers to prepare for the termination experiment to enter Venus' lower atmospheres.
Here today, gone tomorrow
Authors: Friebele Elaine
Published: October 2011

Shorelines are ephemeral boundaries that might serve as a forest floor or a seafloor thousands of years from now. What will happen to present shorelines is determined thousands of miles away, by the behavior of continental ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland. To investigate the timing and magnitude of past sealevel changes and their relationship to the waxing and waning of ice sheets over the past 25 million years, scientists working for the Ocean Drilling Program are beginning to collect sediment and rock samples below the ocean floor off the coast of New Jersey, near the edge of the continental shelf. Scientists from seven countries will extract more than two miles of cores from an immense pile of sediments that accumulated on the ocean floor over millions of years. By analyzing the sedimentary layers, researchers will document the precise timing and scale of sea level changes, which are hypothesized to result from the advance and retreat of continentsized ice sheets that stored and released water during climate cycles.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

John F. Jedlicka died on November 12,1998, at age 66. He had been a member since 1995.

Alfredo Murri died on August 25,1998, at age 86. He had been a member (SPA‐Magnetospheric Physics) since 1965.
Military Geology in War and Peace, GSA Reviews in Engineering, Vol. XIII
Authors: Patrick David M.
Published: October 2011

Military Geology in War and Peace is the published version of a military geology symposium held during the 1994 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Seattle. The book consists of a foreword by Frank Whitmore and 25 chapters by American and British specialists in this field. The volume is a rather broadly based collection of case histories from previous and ongoing military operations, including information on data collection and management, dissemination of geologic products to troops in the field, and views on the effectiveness of the integration of geology and Earth science data within the military.
Obsolete pesticides
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Several hundred tons of obsolete pesticide stocks worldwide will pose a threat to humans and the environment until the year 2030 in some regions, unless funding for waste disposal is significantly increased, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a message directed to donor governments and industry on May 24.

“Deadly chemicals are contaminating the soils, groundwater, irrigation, and drinking water,” said Amemayehu Wodageneh, senior expert on obsolete pesticides for FAO. “These ‘forgotten’ stocks are a serious risk, [and] they could cause an environmental tragedy in rural areas and big cities. There is hardly any developing country that is not affected by the hazards of obsolete pesticides.”
Little‐studied arc‐backarc system in the spotlight
Authors: Stoffers P. , Wright I. C. , de Ronde C. , Hannington M. , Villinger H. , Herzig P. ,   Shipboard Scientific Party
Published: October 2011

A research cruise has documented changes in rift tectonics, volcanism, and hydrothermalism along the least studied and most enigmatic sector of a crustal complex in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Results from the longitudinal transect are expected to provide insight into processes involving the Kermadec arc‐Havre backarc (KAHB) system, a continuum from oceanic spreading to continental rifting at a convergent plate boundary KAHB forms the central sector of an active, 2000‐km arc‐backarc complex between Tonga and New Zealand (Figure 1).

The expedition also engaged in the first comprehensive survey of submarine vents in the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ) at the south end of the KAHB system. Identified in the off‐shore segment of TVZ were three major hydrothermal vent areas associated with late Quaternary fault structures. Data from the expedition and from other recent research in the same area addressed questions concerning the type of hydrothermal venting, magmatic heterogeneity along and across KAHB, the style of backarc rifting, and tectonic and magmatic consequences of anomalous terranes colliding with the subduction margin.