bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Congressional Fellow having a blast on the Hill
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

“It's fun,” says Winston Tao, AGU's 1993–1994 Congressional Fellow, of his stint on the personal staff of Rep. George Brown Jr. (D‐Calif.), who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Along with covering environment, energy, technology, and science policy for Brown, Tao, who received his Ph.D. in geophysics from Harvard University in 1992, also works with members of the committee to produce legislation and to set up hearings.
CASE working to build bridges across AE disciplines
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Atmospheric Electricity (AE) research is breaking new turf these days, according to a recent report of AGU's Committee on Atmospheric and Space Electricity (CASE).

Recent work on above‐thunderstorm electricity may have an impact on upper atmospheric chemistry and electromagnetics and may constitute a key area for lower and upper atmospheric scientists to collaborate on CASE reports
Geophysical science alive and well in Georgia
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Geophysical research has a strong foothold in a surprising place: the strife‐filled former Soviet republic of Georgia.

In April 1993, the Georgian Geophysical Society was founded to cement a more than a century‐and‐a‐half tradition of quantitative geodesy and geophysics in Georgia and maintain Georgia's status as a keen player in the international science arena. In light of the on‐going destruction of Soviet structures and catastrophic economic situation in Georgia, which has subsequently isolated geophysical scientists from most international connections, the move stands as testimony, indeed, to their scientific dedication.
Geologists working to mitigate Mount Rainier hazard
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Someday the modern metropolitan Seattle‐Tacoma area may wake up to find itself a lot like ancient Pompeii—buried in a tomb of pyroclastic ash. But area inhabitants, even in the worst of possible eruption scenarios, will likely fare better than Pompeiians, thanks to an effort by Earth scientists, policy makers, civil authorities, and the like to get ahead of the volcanic hazard curve, tells Richard S. Fiske, a Smithsonian Institution geologist, who chaired a National Research Council (NRC) study released last week on Washington's Mount Rainier.
Seeing California move with global positioning satellites
Authors: Blewitt Geoffrey , Bock Yehuda
Published: October 2006

Imperceptible to the human senses, California's tectonic plates deform every day at a rate comparable to the growth of fingernails.

Convection in the mantle under the Earth's solid crust forces continental‐size “tectonic plates” to move slowly in different directions. Where plates meet, the motion between them is accommodated by slow deformation, but when the crust is no longer strong enough to withstand the stress buildup, it breaks as an earthquake at weak points we call “faults.”
Eye in the Sky: Landsat's future looking up
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

For the first time in recent years, the future is looking bright for Landsat, the U.S. program to provide high spatial resolution measurements of the Earth's surface.

Earlier this month, the Clinton administration said it plans to continue the Landsat program and extend its 20‐year data set. Provided that both houses of Congress are willing, the next generation of the satellite program Landsat 7 will be funded and launched in December 1998.
Ian Donald Moore (1951–1993)
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Early on September 28,1993 our friend and colleague, Ian Moore passed away after a brief but courageous fight with cancer.

Ian was born in Melbourne, Australia. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering (with honors) in 1973 and his Master of Engineering Science in Civil Engineering in 1975, both from Monash University. After completing his Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1979, he joined the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, as an Assistant Professor. In 1983 he returned with his family to Australia to work as a Senior Research Scientist in the Canberra Laboratory of the then CSIRO Division of Water and Land Resources as a hydrologist in the Physical Hydrology and Water Quality Program. He left the Canberra Laboratory in 1986 for an appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Minnesota, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1989.
Where in the world are Winslow Reef and Amelia Earhart?
Authors: Jacobson R. S.
Published: October 2006

Uncharted or doubtful positions of shoals and reefs have played a large role in the history of maritime navigation and oceanography. Two of these shoals, Winslow Reef and Reef and Sand Bank in the central equatorial Pacific, were the subjects of a fruitless 2‐day aerial search in 1937 for Amelia Earhart by planes from the battleship USS Colorado.

Sightings before and after 1937 convinced the U.S. Hydrographic Office and later the Defense Mapping Agency to retain these shoals on navigational charts. Yet all of these sightings and positions were based on unreliable celestial and dead‐reckoning navigation. Nevertheless, at the time, this aerial search by the Colorado planes was probably the most extensive survey for the poorly determined shoals.
AGU on the move
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

2000 Florida Avenue has undergone its metamorphosis: The AGU headquarters building is once again a hub of activity and on its way to becoming the center of geophysical science in Washington.

Indeed, less than 2 years after vacating its old premises, AGU has returned home to find things are happening in the neighborhood. A new 75‐foot‐high, brick‐and stone‐faced building, which maximizes use of the AGU lot, has emerged on the scene to help take AGU into the next millennium.
Monitoring a Test Ban Treaty presents scientific challenges
Authors: Stump Brian W. , Rivière‐Barbier Florence , Chernoby Igor , Koch Karl
Published: October 2006

The Clinton administration has expressed an interest in a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), but few people realize that such a treaty may require detecting, locating, and identifying seismic events as small as mD = 2.5 [Wallace et al., 1992]. The lowest magntiude level to which monitoring must be accomplished depends on quantification of evasion scenarios such as decoupling [Murphy et al., 1991].

To monitor a CTBT, small events—including those resulting from human activities such as construction and mining—must be discriminated from nuclear explosions. The number of man‐made events greater than 50 tons in the United States is 10,000 per day [Richards et al., 1992] with one shot over 200 tons.
Clean Car Initiative tackles Geo issues
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Clinton administration's “Clean Car Initiative” is beginning to spin the wheels of the congressional boulevard. While many roadblocks loom ahead, the proposed government‐industry partnership offers a new political solution to the nation's energy and environmental questions.

Unlike other drives to reduce U.S. petroleum dependence, overall energy use, greenhouse emissions, and urban ozone levels, the “supercar” push may be the first to offer a genuine economic incentive to move to alternative fuels despite that gasoline prices are now at an all‐time low.
Exploring Arctic history through scientific drilling
Authors:   ODP Leg 151 Shipboard Scientific Party
Published: October 2006

During the brief Arctic summer of 1993, the Ocean Drilling Program's research vessel JOIDES Resolution recovered the first scientific drill cores from the eastern Arctic Ocean. Dodging rafts of pack ice shed from the Arctic ice cap, the science party sampled sediments north of 80°N latitude from the Yermak Plateau, as well as from sites in Fram Strait, the northeastern Greenland margin, and the Iceland Plateau (Figure 1).

The sediments collected reveal the earliest history of the connection between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans through the Nordic Seas. The region between Greenland and Norway first formed a series of isolated basins, sometimes with restricted deep circulation, that eventually joined and allowed deep and surface Arctic Ocean water to invade the region. A record was also retrieved that shows major glaciation in the region began about 2.5 m.y.a.
Increasing U.S. streamflow linked to greenhouse forcing
Authors: Lins Harry F. , Michaels Patrick J.
Published: October 2006

Although considerable effort has gone into assessing and projecting climatic change, continental‐scale analyses of trends in only one component of the hydrologic cycle—precipitation—have been described. With few exceptions [see Zektser and Loaiciga, 1993], assessments of temporal variations in runoff, evaporation, and soil water storage have been neglected, to some degree because of a lack of adequate observational data.

On a regional basis, have there been any changes in seasonal patterns of streamflow in the United States? If so, are these changes consistent with documented variations in other hydroclimatic variables? To answer these questions, we examined a set of climate‐sensitive streamflow data recently collected by the U.S. Geological Survey. This data set covers the years 1941–1988 and presents data from 559 gaging stations across the conterminous United States.
Earth Science Computing Conference scheduled
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The frontiers of Earth science computing continue to evolve—as does the importance of Earth science in addressing critical national scientific and technological issues, which in part are embodied in the emerging federal High‐Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) and National Information Infrastructure (NII) initiatives.

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) have organized a workshop at the Mesa Lab of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., July 20–22 to plan ambitious and forward‐looking science and facility programs that will take advantage of these very HPCC and NII enterprises.
New e‐mail link established
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

AGU Space Physics and Aeronomy Section officers are attempting to foster better communication within the section through an e‐mail newsletter.

A test message was sent to SPA member addresses from the most recent AGU directory in May. If you did not receive the message and are interested in having your address added to the list, send a message to Guan Le at the UCLA Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (guan@igpp.ucla.edu or brunet::guan). Guan will serve as editor, in coordination with the SPA section officers for the next 2 years.
Bolivian earthquake ranks as largest deep quake on record
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Early on June 9, an exceptionally large earthquake occurred 630 km beneath a remote area in the Amazon rain forest of northern Bolivia. (USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIQ Quick Epicenter Determination at 13.86°S and longitude 67.54°W).

Minutes later, strong ground motion was felt over much of central South America. Fortunately, no loss of life was reported in initial local news accounts, and damage was relatively minor considering that it was the largest deep event in the seismological record for which accurate estimates are available.
National institute for the environment receives kudos on Capitol Hill
Authors: Wakefield J.
Published: October 2006

Changes may be afoot for the U.S. environmental research enterprise. A bipartisan bill, via introduction by Sen. Tom Daschle (D‐SD), is now in the Senate hopper to create a new government agency to be called the National Institute for the Environment (NIE).

NIE would integrate knowledge assessment, research funding, public information services, and support for education and training across the various federal agencies to improve the scientific basis for environmental policy decisions.
Citation for William J. Best: 1992 AGU Flinn Award
Authors: Minst Jean‐Bernard
Published: October 2006

I am deeply honored to introduce Colonel William Jennings Best as this year's recipient of the Union's Edward A. Flinn III Award. This award was established to recognize individuals who best personify the Union's motto of “unselfish cooperation in research” through their facilitating, coordinating, and implementing activities.

In the minds of all seismologists and others who have been associated with him over the years, Bill Best indeed personifies these ideals. The AGU received a truly impressive show of support for Bill's nomination. Over 50 geophysicists wrote eloquently to back Bill's nomination: some of these letters were from colleagues and friends who have known him for several decades, others were from much younger seismologists who still feel his influence on the field, even though they had no opportunity to interact with him directly; some came from government scientists, others from university professors, and still others from researchers in the private sector. This remarkable unanimity bears testimony to the respect and affection Bill has earned within the seismological community.
Is there a hard money future after graduate school?
Authors: Nelso Stephen T.
Published: October 2006

As a relatively junior member of AGU, I wish to express a few opinions that are probably shared by many other junior AGU members. I am sure we are all familiar with the plight of many recent graduates as they struggle with a changing economy and shifting societal requirements on the sciences. I do not wish to merely join the chorus of those who complain that society has educated them only to see them forced to seek a living outside of their training. I hope, rather, to speak primarily to the senior members of AGU. I hope you will listen.
Over‐the‐horizon radar research consortium formed
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

One casualty of shrinking military budgets and the disappearance of Cold War threats has been the U.S. Air Force's over‐the‐horizon or ionospheric radar system known as OTH‐B. For the scientific community this is not all bad news: The vast potential of the six powerful 5–28‐MHz radars for geophysical monitoring may soon be available to anyone who can afford to run and maintain them.

To reap civilian benefits from the billiondollar investment in these radars, the 1994 defense appropriation directed the Air Force to “fully cooperate with efforts of other governmental agencies to utilize the dual‐use capabilities of this system for remote environmental and weather monitoring and other purposes.” So far, only the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has tapped the radars' environmental monitoring potential. Since 1991, it has conducted tests to map surface wind direction over basin‐scale ocean areas and track ocean storms, including Hurricane Andrew. Recent tests show the radar can be used to map ocean surface currents as well.
Academe defends its role in Test Ban Treaty monitoring
Authors: Wakefield J.
Published: October 2006

Recent jockeying for control of congressional seismic research funds has left the U.S. scientific research community uneasy about future cooperation with the federal government in the development of comprehensive nuclear test ban monitoring systems.

Even though the language in a Defense authorization bill for fiscal year 1995, which cleared the Senate June 30, will likely be toned down in the House and Senate conference, the “aggressive” maneuvering that ensued to tentatively dispose the bulk of power over the interagency seismic network to the Defense Department, critics say, raises new questions about how science policy decisions are made in the United States and how committed the Congress and some federal agencies are to “reinventing” government under the Clinton‐Gore plan. And for now, a hefty chunk of funding for academic seismic research is no longer a sure thing.
Deep Seismic Imaging Workshop probes future of the science
Authors: Holbrook W. S. , Klemperer S. L.
Published: October 2006

In October 1993, the Geophysics Division of the Geological Society of America sponsored a symposium and theme session in Boston titled “Deep Seismic Imaging Across Continental Margins: From the Ocean‐Continent Boundary to the Beach and Beyond.” Talks and posters presented results of recent seismic experiments over convergent, divergent, and transform margins from Greenland to Patagonia to an audience of 150. Perhaps most important for the deep seismic community was the chance to present recent results to the broader geologic community and to continue to build a wide consensus on the importance of crustal‐scale seismic imaging for a variety of multidisciplinary objectives.

Invited presentations illustrated the type of structural and velocity images available from modern deep‐crustal imaging. It was clear that the integration of multiple seismic techniques is needed to understand the architecture of continental margins. Examples include the use of velocities obtained from wide‐angle data to migrate correctly dipping suture‐zone reflections on the Mid‐Atlantic East Coast EDGE survey (S. Holbrook, R. Sheridan, L. Glover); and the combination of shallow high‐resolution reflection, deep‐crustal reflection, and wide‐angle reflection surveys to trace near‐vertical strike‐slip faults through the crust in the San Francisco Bay BASIX surveys (J. McCarthy, T. Brocher, J. Hole, P. Hart).
ATLAS Space Shuttle studies Earth's atmosphere and solar input
Authors: Miller Timothy L. , Smith Steven A. , Kaye Jack A.
Published: October 2006

A shuttle‐based component of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS), completed its second mission making detailed measurements of Earth's middle atmosphere and solar input in April 1993. ATLAS‐1 was successfully conducted in spring 1992. In addition to the standard payload, this mission carried instruments that studied the upper atmosphere, magnetosphere, space plasma physics, and ultraviolet astronomy.

The ATLAS‐1 mission obtained a large database on the middle and upper atmosphere, and access to much of the data is available through the investigator teams. The mission procured the first space‐based measurements of OH in the atmosphere; compared middle atmosphere trace species between 1985 and 1992; and tested critical ionization velocity theory.
Earthquake blitz
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

A USGS campaign to educate the public about earthquake hazards has been an overwhelming success, officials report. Since May 21, more than 15,000 calls have poured in from around the United States requesting free info on earthquake mitigation and emergency preparedness. The ABC World of Discovery Special, “Earthquakes: The Terrifying Truth,” which aired on the 21st, was set up in tandem with the toll‐free number, 1‐800‐TREMOR2.
Seismic reflection profiling to expand knowledge of U.K. shelf
Authors: England Richard
Published: October 2006

In 1993, two experiments in waters outside the United Kingdom used seismic reflection profiling to investigate the U.K.'s deep structure and adjacent areas of continental shelf.

The experiments were conducted by the British Institutions Reflection Profiling Syndicate (BIRPS), which was established in 1981. These experiments, covering portions of Denmark, Germany, and Ireland, reflect BIRPS' recently broadened mission—to conduct experiments over oceanic crust and overseas that contribute to an understanding of U.K. geology and problems related to deep crustal reflectivity.
Kunzig receives Sullivan Award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

AGU's 1994 Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, which recognizes reporting that makes geophysical material accessible and interesting to the general public, was awarded to Robert Kunzig for his article, “Between Home and the Abyss,” published in the December 1993 issue of Discover. The cash award and a plaque were presented to Kunzig by Ocean Sciences Section President Curt Collins during the Honors Banquet at AGU's Spring Meeting in Baltimore, Md.

Kunzig's article was a first‐person account of the perils of an ocean dive aboard the deep‐sea submersible Alvin. While gathering background information for a popular account of modem oceanography, Kunzig participated in a cruise in August 1992 aboard the research vessel Atlantis II, operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Memorial Scholarship Fund established
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Chester Jelesnianski, an internationally recognized expert in the field of hurricane storm surge modeling and prediction, died January 20. In keeping with his and and his family's wishes, “The Dr. Chester Peter Jelesnianski Memorial Scholarship Fund” is being established to further his work.

Jelesnianski's dedication to his work was so great that even during his final days in the hospital he was still working at his PC on storm surge research.
Horton Research Grants awarded
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

David Lapen, of Queen's University, and Julia Boike, of the Alfred Wegener Institut for Polar and Marine Research, were chosen to receive Horton Research Grants by a committee of the Hydrology Section. The $10,000 research grant is awarded to Ph.D. students in field of hydrology and water resources policy. Lapen and Boike were presented with the certificate and the first installment of the award at the 1994 Spring Meeting. In December, they will give progress reports to the president of the Hydrology Section and receive the second installment of their grants.
Solar wind mechanism suggested for weather and climate change
Authors: Tinsley Brian A.
Published: October 2006

It was suggested by Sir William Herschel about 200 years ago that changes in the growing season for wheat in England could be related to the 11‐year sunspot cycle. He speculated that there was a change in the luminosity of the Sun that was correlated with the sunspot variation, and that it affected precipitation and the winds. As discussed recently in Eos by Lean and Rind [1994], the luminosity of the Sun does vary on the 11‐year cycle, but only by about one part in 103, which is too small to explain such a change in the weather.

Lean and Rind argue that on the 200‐year (Maunder) timescale a larger change, by up to 2.5 parts in 103, is plausible. This would then provide for about a 0.46°C change in global mean temperature, and could account for as much as half of the cooling usually associated with the coldest part of the little ice age.
Imaging crustal uplift, emersion, and subsidence at the Vema Fracture Zone
Authors: Bonatti E. , Ligi M. , Gasperini L. , Carrara G. , Vera E.
Published: October 2006

Vertical movements of lithospheric slivers due to slow‐slip, long‐offset transform tectonics may cause major topographic anomalies such as the rough topography of the equatorial Atlantic, where a number of long offset transforms are clustered. These vertical motions even may have caused the intermittent emersion and sinking of islands throughout the evolution of the equatorial Atlantic.

We studied a transform‐related topographic anomaly observed at the Vema Fracture Zone in the Atlantic at 11°N in the form of a transverse ridge (Figure 1). We used multichannel seismic reflection surveys to image the morphology, thickness, and internal structure of the carbonate platform capping the crest of the transverse ridge. We found that the Vema transverse ridge is actually an uplifted sliver of oceanic crust and—about 3 m.y.a.—its summit was above sea level.
Project to build a new world launched
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

What does it take to build a new world? More than 1 million North American students and teachers, 1600 plastic triangular panels, 2430 aluminum struts, several troops of the Girl Scouts, 4‐H programs, the National Science Foundation, scientists, engineers, and about $3 million from private sources, among others.

Unfortunately, it's not really possible to build a new Earth and to solve global climate change issues. However, the collaborative “Building a New World” project, introduced last week, is an attempt to create the largest, most accurate high‐resolution model of the Earth ever built and to educate students about changing global phenomena with an experimental, hands‐on curriculum.
Experiment probes elevated ozone levels over the tropical south Atlantic Ocean
Authors: Fishman Jack
Published: October 2006

Until late 1992, the atmosphere off the west coast of southern Africa was one of the least studied regions of the planet. From a meteorological point of view, the area is devoid of any interesting weather features, including tropical storm formation and monsoonal circulations. It is dominated by a vast center of subtropical high pressure that inhibits the formation of any convective activity.

However, from an atmospheric chemistry point of view, an interesting feature was discovered in 1990 when satellite data revealed a region of enhanced tropospheric ozone off southern Africa's west coast that was at least as large as the smog plumes emanating from North America, Europe, and Asia [Fishman et al., 1990; Figure 1]. While the Northern Hemisphere high tropospheric ozone concentrations were most pronounced in the summer, the feature in the southern subtropics was highest during austral spring.
Joint Arctic Expedition under way to study climate change
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

When it comes to keeping cool this summer, some geophysicists are beating the odds. About 70 U.S. and Canadian scientists are exploring the Arctic Ocean to better understand the role that it plays in global climate change.

While the Arctic affects the global climate in myriad ways, it ranks as the world's least studied ocean. Few data are available for an area of the Arctic that is comparable in size to the continental United States. To attempt to fill this data gap, the 55‐day expedition, officially known as the U.S./Canada 1994 Arctic Ocean Section, set sail in late July, after 4 years of planning by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, and U.S. Geological Survey, and the Canadian departments of Fisheries and Oceans, Indian and Northern Affairs, and Environment Canada.
Creationism and science: An impossible union?
Authors: Mims Forrest M.
Published: October 2006

Eos reported on June 28, 1994, that the AGU Council has reaffirmed for the second time a statement on “Creationism” first adopted in December 1981. The brief statement opposes “…all efforts to require or promote the teaching of creationism or any other religious tenets as science.” The statement offers no definition of creationism.

The AGU Council's rejection of “creationism” and “religious tenets as science” may be fashionable by today's standards but the rejection of any role for God in science is a comparatively recent development. Many great scientists of the past believed in and even wrote about their faith in a creator God. I know many scientists today who believe in God. Several years ago I lost an assignment to write a column for Scientific American after the editor learned that I am an evangelical Christian who rejects abortion and much of Darwinism. After my dismissal received widespread publicity in the national media, I received calls and letters of support from scientists in many fields, including medicine, biology, and paleontology, who believe as I do.
GRL Editor Geller pushes clarity and foreign review
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

In his 3‐year term as an editor of Geophysical Research Letters, which he began earlier this year, Robert J. Geller of Tokyo University is working with authors to ensure that AGU's interdisciplinary rapid‐publication journal both meets high professional standards and serves its readers.

Geller, a seismologist, has been a faculty member at Tokyo University since 1984. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Caltech in 1973 and 1977, respectively.
Old and new ideas visited for comet and asteroid hazard mitigation strategies
Authors: Wakefield J.
Published: October 2006

Early findings from the observations of Comet Shoemaker‐Levy's collision with Jupiter may mean scientists will need to rethink leading comet and asteroid hazard mitigation strategies. And it looks like they will have the opportunity to do so now that Congress has directed NASA, with the help of the Defense Department, to reinitiate work in this area.

Although Congress had commissioned other studies before Shoemaker‐Levy was even discovered, such as the 1992 Spaceguard Survey, mitigation strategies never made it through the funding process.
The Great Flood of summer 1993: Mississippi River discharge studied
Authors: Walker Nan D. , Rouse Lawrence J. , Fargion Giulietta S. , Biggs Douglas C.
Published: October 2006

In the summer of 1993, the Mississippi River basin in the midwestern United States experienced anomalously high rainfall. Record flooding resulted from an abnormally persistent atmospheric weather pattern consisting of a quasi‐stationary jet stream positioned over the central part of the nation, where moist, unstable air flowing north from the Gulf of Mexico converged with unseasonably cool, dry air moving south from Canada. In concert with the persistent weather pattern over the United States, highly anomalous circulation patterns were observed over much of the Northern Hemisphere [Richards, 1994]. The rainfall anomalies over the central United States produced abnormally high river discharges along the Louisiana coastline from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers during July and August, traditionally months of low river discharge. Some of the river water discharged into the northern Gulf of Mexico reached the Straits of Florida by September 1993 [Lee et al., 1994].
Thompson receives 1994 Bowen award
Authors: Green David H. , Thompson Alan Bruce
Published: October 2006

At the Spring Meeting in Baltimore, May 23, 1994, Alan Bruce Thompson of the Eidgenossiche Technische Hochschule, Zurich, received the 1994 N. L. Bowen Award of the Volcanology, Geochemsitry, and Petrology section, which is given for a single outstanding contribution to volcanology, geochemistry, or petrology made during the preceding 5 years. The award was presented by David H. Green of the Research School of Earth Sciences. The citation and response are given here.
Conference explores mechanical involvement of fluids in faulting
Authors: Hickman Stephen , Sibson Richard , Bruhn Ronald
Published: October 2006

A growing body of evidence suggests that fluids are intimately linked to a variety of faulting processes. These include the long‐term structural and compositional evolution of fault zones; fault creep; and the nucleation, propagation, arrest, and recurrence of earthquake ruptures. Besides the widely recognized physical role of fluid pressures in controlling the strength of crustal fault zones, it is also apparent that fluids can exert mechanical influence through a variety of chemical effects.

To address these issues, a “Red‐Book” Conference on the Mechanical Effects of Fluids in Faulting was sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey under the auspices of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program at Fish Camp, Calif., from June 6–10, 1993. The coconvenors were Steve Hickman, Rick Sibson, and Ron Bruhn.
New updates made to paleomagnetic databases
Authors: McElhinny Michael W. , Lock Jo
Published: October 2006

Version 2.3 of the Global Paleomagnetic Database at March 1994 is now available either as ORACLE Export files or for use with Microsoft ACCESS Version 1.1 (or 2.0) under Windows. The Database for Poles (GPMDB) contains an expanded data set for China and has been completely cross‐checked against the Canadian database for the Laurentian Shield. Several duplicate entries were eliminated (where authors have published the same data in two different journals), and many corrections were made to previous entries.

However, Version 2.3 now incorporates the Global Paleointensity Database (PALINT) compiled by H. Tanaka and M. Kono. This database includes all published pre‐archeomagnetic paleointensity results for geological time. The following data sets are now available from World Data Center A in Boulder, Colo. Contact Susan McLean, World Data Center A, National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA, 325 Broadway E/GC1, Boulder CO 80303‐3328; tel. 303497‐6478; fax 303‐497‐6513.
Let there be SI!
Authors: Wunderlich Walter O.
Published: October 2006

The Omnibus Trade and Competitive Act of 1988 (P.L. 100418) declares the International System of Units, abbreviated, SI, the preferred measurement system in the United States. This act marks the third attempt since 1866 to promote the metric system in the United States. While metric conversion for the general public still remains entirely voluntary, some voluntary aspects were removed for federal agencies. Federal construction has had to use metric units since the end of fiscal year 1992. Various engineering and scientific associations now give the SI preference over the inch‐pound system, relegating the inch‐pound units into parentheses. The handwriting is on the wall for their total disappearance.
Looking at gender distribution among AGU Fellows
Authors: Druffel Ellen R. M.
Published: October 2006

The purpose of this report is to inform AGU members as to gender equity within the AGU Fellows. The study addresses the following questions: is there equity between men and women in the distribution of Fellows within AGU?, and are there differences based on gender among the various age groups within the Fellows?

The raw data were provided by Jeanne Glover and Janet Eager at AGU. As some AGU members are listed without a gender or age, they were eliminated from the numbers in this study; this constituted only 3% of the AGU members. Every effort was made to determine the missing age and/or gender of Fellows.
NSF receives good news from Congress
Authors: Jones Richard M.
Published: October 2006

Last week, the House passed the final National Science Foundation (NSF) funding bill more than doubling the President's budget increase for the agency for fiscal year 1995.

NSF's total budget will increase by 13.8% to nearly $3.4 million. However, 5.4% was allocated for research and related activities, which was below the President's request.
Drilled cores divulge history of continental and oceanic paleoclimate
Authors:   Leg 155 Shipboard Scientific Party
Published: October 2006

Ocean Drilling Program Leg 155 recently drilled 34 holes at 17 sites on the Amazon deep‐sea fan, recovering 4000 m of sediment sequences that contain a 250,000‐year record of climate change, sea level fluctuation, and fan growth. Study of the foraminiferal, isotopic, and paleomagnetic data obtained will allow an unprecedented level of time resolution for paleoclimate studies and for correlation between different fan environments.

Deep‐sea fans are the thickest accumulations of sediment on modern continental margins and are particularly sensitive to land climate, sea level change, and tectonic activity in the source area. The Amazon River, which transports 10% of the world's fluvial sediment, has supplied sediment to the fan since the Miocene. The current high sea level stand prevents the Amazon River sediment from crossing the shelf, but during lower sea level the river crossed the emerged continental shelf and discharged sediment directly to the fan.
Imaging Earth's seismic response at long periods
Authors: Shearer Peter M.
Published: October 2006

At long periods, seismic waves generated by different earthquakes can be used to construct a single global image of Earth's response to seismic energy. This image (Figure 1) plots the expected ground motion at a point on Earth's surface as a function of time and distance to the earthquake. The various streaks on the plot represent different types of seismic waves, each of which travels at a different speed and arrives at a different time.

Stacking—a process that averages and combines seismograms from a number of different source‐receiver locations—was used to create the image from thousands of individual records. The result is a direct view of the average wave field that can be used both as a teaching tool for illustrating the properties of the wave field and as a guide to further study.
Solar influences on global change get their day in the sun
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Many doomsayers—including some of the world's best and brightest astrophysicists—maintain that the Sun will someday burn up the Earth and bring an end to life as we know it. Even if this prophecy were to come true, the Earth wouldn't become uninhabitable for more than a billion years, according to current estimates. A much more immediate problem that we could face is the effects the Sun may have on global climate change.

A recent report by the National Research Council (NRC) delved into this very issue, as a result of its being identified as one of seven primary science elements by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Some of the report's authors hope that the findings (box) may help develop a strategy for coordinating climate change research in the United States.
NOAA budget figures in
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Congress has appropriated roughly $1.83 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for fiscal year 1995, which comes in just under the President's request of about $ 1.96 billion for the agency.

Finalized last month, the conference agreement includes $259 million or about $21 million more than requested for oceanic and atmospheric research. The conferees allocated $78 million for the Climate and Global Change program, including $7 million for the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program. About $26.8 million of the remaining climate change funds are for research on the role oceans play in climate.
Setting the record straight on OH measurements
Authors:   The CIRRES 1A Experiment Team, Phillips Lab/Geophysics Directorate
Published: October 2006

In the article “ATLAS Space Shuttle Studies Earth's Atmosphere and Solar Input,” by Timothy L. Miller, Steven A. Smith, and Jack. A. Kaye [Eos, July 19, 1994], the authors state that “The mission procured the first spacebased measurements of OH in the atmosphere.” This was in reference to the ATLAS‐1 mission that flew in the spring of 1992.

We wish to correct this statement. CIRRIS 1A measured the vibrational and rotational spectral distribution of OH in the infrared onboard STS‐39, April 29–30,1991. The results of these measurements have been published [Smith et al., 1992; Dodd et al., 1993]. In fact, our organization, Optical Environment, Phillips Laboratory/Geophysics Directorate, has measured the 2.7 pm OH emission in the upper atmosphere for over 20 years.
Remote sensibility
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

U.S. remote sensing programs should make improved data managementa priority, according to a new reportissued by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). Scientists will need storage andcomputer systems that can process at exceptional speeds the massive amount of data that satellite remote sensing systems will generate this decade, OTA reports. Part of the problem is that federal data analysis and management has often been underfunded. Congress might want to look over agency's shoulders to be sure plans for data management are adequate in future remote sensing budgets, OTA recommends. Already agencies involved with remote sensing, such as NASA, have recognized the critical importance of data management.
Fault finding in Utah puts longstanding theories on the line
Authors: Wakefield J.
Published: October 2006

Imagine that the very fault zone a body of geological theory sprang from turns out not to exist. Besides raising some eyebrows and perhaps some ire, such a finding may well challenge the reigning paradigm that defines a whole class of normal faults, where the upper block moves downward with respect to the lower block.

Well, that's exactly what a duo of geologists from Columbia University's Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory claim about a fault in the Sevier Desert in west‐central Utah: It frankly doesn't exist, say Mark Anders and Nicholas Christie‐Blick.
Scientists share breakthroughs in karst systems research
Authors: Herman Janet S.
Published: October 2006

An international symposium on Breakthroughs in Karst Geomicrobiology and Redox Geochemistry held in Colorado Springs in February 1994 allowed scientists to cross traditional disciplinary boundaries to discuss the role of microorganisms in karst processes. Through 3 days of oral, poster, and field sessions, the 110 participants explored the mechanisms of the complex interactive biological, chemical, and physical processes acting in karst, a landscape dominated by soluble carbonate rocks and underlain by dissolution features such as caves.

The meeting was organized by the Karst Waters Institute with funding from the National Science Foundation and in cooperation with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Baltica‐Siberia connection challenges traditional tectonics notions
Authors: Torsvik T. H. , Roberts D. , Sturt B. A.
Published: October 2006

Despite the large amount of paleomagnetic, paleoclimatic, biogeographic, and tectonic data available, uncertainty still surrounds the paleotectonic evolution of Siberia and its proximity to other continents during the Ordovician to Silurian periods. Much of this uncertainty arises from the fact that paleomagnetic data cannot be adequately assessed.

However, recent Ordovician‐Early Silurian paleomagnetic poles from the southern Siberian Platform (Lena River) show that Siberia was geographically inverted at low southerly latitudes during the Early Ordovician (Figure 1a). The Siberian plate then drifted slowly northward and across the equator at an average paleolatitudinal velocity of ˜5–8 cm yr−1. During Late Ordovician‐Early Silurian time, its velocity increased northward.
[Comment on “Old and new ideas visited for comet and asteroid hazard mitigation strategies” by J. Wakefield] Clarifying a few points about impact mitigation strategies
Authors: Morrison David
Published: October 2006

The article on impact mitigation studies [Eos, August 30, 1994] raises some interesting points about the hazard of asteroid and comet impacts but betrays a major misunderstanding of the mitigation strategies under study. It refers repeatedly to Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or “Star Wars” systems and tries to discuss their merits without giving the reader any hint of what these mysterious new technologies are or how they may relate to mitigation of impacts. In fact, detecting, intercepting, and deflecting a kilometer‐scale asteroid or comet at ranges from the Earth of tens of millions of kilometers has little in common with the missile detection and defense systems developed as part of the SDI program, no more than you would use a rifle to shoot down an Inter‐Continental Ballistic Missile. The one example mentioned, the Air Force GEODSS system of wide‐field telescopes, was not a part of SDI. In addition, the article seriously overstates the current discovery rate of kilometer‐scale near Earth asteroids, which are currently found at a rate of several per year, not several per month (the several per month refers to all near Earth asteroids found, most of which are less than 1 km in diameter).
Project images crust, collects seismic data in world's largest borehole
Authors: Smythe D. K. , Smithson S. B. , Humphreys C. , Gillen C. , Kristoffersen Y. , Karaev N. A. , Garipov V. Z. , Pavlenkova N. I.
Published: October 2006

An anomaly in our understanding of upper continental crustal structure is caused by conflicting observations from structural geologists and reflection seismologists. Near‐surface structure in metamorphic terrain is frequently steeply dipping or vertical, but seismic reflection images display flat‐lying reflectors below depths of a few kilometers. The seismic image of the topmost 2–3 km is usually blank. How can this be, when seismic reflections are supposed to represent primary geological structure?

Seismic measurements in and around a deep borehole could solve this dilemma. Surface seismic observations and physical samples collected from the hole by wireline logging, particularly by vertical seismic profiles (VSPs), could then be compared.
NSF's right to privacy
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

A U.S. District Court judge in the District of Columbia has upheld the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) right to withhold the names of peer reviewers who evaluate specific grant proposals. The practice was challenged for the first time in Wanda and Robert Henke vs. U.S. Department of Commerce and NSF. The judge ruled in August that under an exemption in the Federal Privacy Act, NSF indeed has the right to protect the identities of sources of information used to determine qualifications for federal grants. The precedent‐setting case centered on whether federal grants are in fact “federal contracts.” The Henkes claimed that federal grants are not federal contracts and should not be protected by the exemption. The Henkes sued the federal agencies after they were declined a $197,000 grant for fiscal year 1993 to study the efficacy of a device that tests soil stability in areas prone to earthquakes. NSF views the verdict as a victory for protecting the quality of scientific research. Without the right to privacy in the review process, says NSF general counsel Mathew Powell, “we don't believe reviewers would be as candid with their comments.”
Workshop tackles oceanic thermohaline circulation
Authors: Ghil Michael , McWilliams James
Published: October 2006

A workshop on oceanic thermohaline circulation (THC), its variability, and its role in the Earth's climate system drew 50 THC modeling researchers from Europe, North America, and the Far East to the Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics of the University of California at Los Angeles in October 1993. The participants compared views and identified directions for future work into this topic which, has generated a great deal of interest lately.

The thermohaline circulation (THC) is forced by horizontal buoyancy contrasts at the ocean surface as a result of fluxes of heat and fresh water exchanged with the overlying atmosphere, sea ice, or the adjacent land through river runoff. THC refers to circulations at large spatial scales (1000 km) and buoyancy forcing that induces gravitational instability and convective overturning over an appreciable vertical interval (300 m), in some regions within the span of circulation. The THC is a major component of the climate system because it laterally transfers substantial amounts of heat, water, and chemical tracers, and contributes greatly to the system's variability.
Paleointensity database provides new resource
Authors: Tanaka Hidefumi , Kono Masaru
Published: October 2006

A global paleointensity database constructed from all published data based on volcanic rocks in geological time older than 0.03 Ma is now available and ready for use. It can be obtained from the authors as text files on a 3.5″ diskette in MS‐DOS or Macintosh format or via e‐mail. It includes not only major parameters, but also minor details that can be used to assess data quality. Each datum consists of reference, latitude and longitude of the site, age and its error, experimental method, site identification, site mean paleointensity and its error, number of samples, virtual dipole moment (VDM), polarity, inclination, and declination. The database contains a total of 1123 flow mean data retrieved from 83 original papers, which were published before or during 1991.