bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evolution and utilization of Magsat
Authors: Kane Martin F.
Published: October 2011

For a variety of reasons, some circumstantial, I have been acquainted with the development of the concept of satellite measurement of the terrestrial magnetic field since nearly its beginning. It was with more than usual interest therefore that I read the account by Langel, in the September 18 issue of EOS, of the developments that have led to the impending launch of Magsat. In reflecting on the article however, I feel that there are two omissions in Langel's account, which if not vital to an accurate picture of these developments, at least add a reality, particularly to that aspect of Magsat that is concerned with anomalies of crustal origin.

The first omission concerns the pre‐1970 activities, when the concept was in its earliest stages. It was during this period that a collaboration arose between Gordon Andreasen of the U.S. Geological Survey and Joseph Cain, then of NASA, presently with the U.S. Geological Survey. This collaboration led to the earliest attempts to isolate magnetic anomalies that have their origin in the earth's crust. Andreasen and Cain were joined by Isidore Zietz of the Survey, who drew on his own pioneering experiences in aeromagnetics to add valuable insights to the efforts. As with all attempts of this type, the earliest results met with varying degrees of scientific skepticism. I think that Andreasen, Cain, and Zietz deserve credit not only for their foresight but for their courage and perseverance, which in my opinion played a seminal role in the long series of events that have resulted in Magsat.
Drift results
Authors: Gadsden M.
Published: October 2011

I learn from EOS (February 12, 1980, p. 73) that continental drift has moved Aberdeen to England. This must have happened while I was away at the IUGG meeting in Canberra; tectonophysicists will be interested in a velocity of almost 100 mms−1 in the crust. Perhaps movement at a similar speed will put Rice University into Arizona, although I daren't hope my fellow Vice, Alex Dessler, will have to live in the Gadsden [P]urchase.
Problems for the academic fleet
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

With the changes in ocean science and global economics of the 1980's has come a set of serious problems for the academic fleet of research vessels. Over half the ships now operating in oceanographic research are over 10 years old. They are not fuel efficient, and some are worn out. Strong opinions abound as to the proper size of an ideal ship for the 1980's. Memories of the voyages of the famous sailing ship Atlantis, which was replaced by the modern research ship Atlantis II, built in 1963 (the Vema, built in 1923, is still operating), give way now to concepts of modern ocean science projects being undertaken by satellites, coastal research (including the coastal margins) being concentrated, and research of the oceans being done on land.
Earthquake Hazards Program passes House Committee
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Legislation that would reauthorize the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 has cleared the full House Science and Technology Committee with minor technical changes. The bill (H. R. 7013) is thus little changed from the form given it by the Science, Research, and Technology subcommitte (EOS, April 1). The subcommittee's markup increased funding for the program, slightly above the FY 1 980 level; exerted some push in planning for earthquake preparedness; and cleared up some questions about overlapping responsibilities of federal agencies.

So far, in its course toward passage, the legislation has moved smoothly. It was untouched by the shocks of the administration's revisions of the FY 1980 and FY 1981 budgets, and at a hearing before the Senate Science, Technology, and Space subcommittee, it received strong expressions of support. ‘We're sitting on a time bomb,’ said Harrison H. (Jack) Schmitt (RN. Mex.), ranking Republican committee member, adding that he thought adequate resources were not being allocated to the problem.
Deep test hole drilled near fault
Authors: Greathouse Lee
Published: October 2011

In an effort to answer troublesome questions about stresses on the San Andreas fault, a team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers is compiling data from in situ measurements in the deepest hole ever drilled, for scientific purposes, on or near the San Andreas fault.

Headed by Mark Zoback, the team recently finished drilling the 1‐km hole, made stress measurements, and left fault zone monitoring equipment (seismometer and water level recorder) in place. Located about 40 km south of Palmdale and 3.5 km from the fault, the hole is in a region of real concern to geologists —in the area of the swelling and deflating Palmdale Bulge and at the site of an 1857 earthquake that had an estimated Richter reading of 8.
Report from IUGG Assembly: “Mayaud” symposium on use of geophysical indices
Authors: Lincoln J. Virginia
Published: October 2011

This symposium was held by the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA), at the XVII IUGG General Assembly in Canberra, Australia, 1979, to honor P. N. Mayaud of the Institut de Physique du Globe, Paris. Mayaud was recognized for his long years of service toward the development and improvement of geomagnetic indices. Mayaud has now retired and will be sorely missed by his many colleagues around the world. However, he is leaving a legacy to his coworkers in the form of Deviation, Meaning, and Use of Geomagnetic Indices (Geophysical Monograph Series, vol 22), to be published by AGU in 1980.
Council and Executive Commitee Meeting highlights
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The AGU Council met on December 2, 1979, in San Francisco. The Executive Committee met that day and again on December 4. The principal decisions made at those meetings are reported here. Any member wanting a copy of these minutes may obtain one (in microfiche form) on request to the Executive Director. The records of all meetings and any other records of the Union are open to members for inspection at the offices of the Union in Washington.
Voyager pictures used to map Jovian moons
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A major step in accurately mapping Jupiter's four large moons has been completed by Merton E. Davies of Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California, and several colleagues. Using many of the 33,000 pictures of Jupiter and its Galilean satellites that were taken by Voyager 1 in March 1979 and Voyager 2 in July 1979, Davies and his colleagues have put together geodetic control networks that will be used internationally by astronomers and planetary scientists in the making and using of maps of the bodies. Geodetic control networks are used to compute geographic coordinates of features on the surface. They are also used to determine latitudes and longitudes for preparation of maps.
Report from the IUGG Assembly: IAGA session on mathematical and physical aspects of modeling the geomagnetic field and its secular variation
Authors: Leaton B. R.
Published: October 2011

The session covered three broad topics: (a) techniques and practical modeling of the present geomagnetic field and its recent secular change; (b) spectral analysis of several geomagnetic time series; and (c) studies relating to the earth's deep conductivity and motions at the core boundary.

Yukatake showed that higher‐frequency components remain after removal of trend and the solar cycle effect, and hence secular acceleration should be taken into account. In developing his simple method for evaluating models from scalar intensity data, James showed that, for an infinite series, two models may be derived, having an arbitrary potential difference. Barker demonstrated that the uniform spatial coverage expected of Magsat data will permit the compilation of models to a very high order and degree, computational problems being eased by appropriate partitioning, which includes a large measure of orthogonalization. He further reported on the joint U.S.A./U.K., 1 2th‐order main field model for 1980, derived from angular data only. The corresponding secular change model, using observatory repeat station service survey and satellite data, was reported by Malin, who also described the global morphology of the 1979 jerk.
Magsat to reenter soon
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Magsat satellite, successfully launched into a low‐altitude polar orbit on October 30, 1979, is expected to reenter the atmosphere in early June. The NASA satellite, designed to map the vector magnetic field near the earth, contains a cesium vapor scalar magnetometer of accuracy ±1 nT and three‐axis flux gate magnetometer of accuracy better than 3 nT (the earth's field at the surface ranges from 25,000 to 66,000 nT). The objectives of the mission are to provide a global vector survey of the main geopotential field and low‐altitude measurements of crustal anomalies (see ‘Near‐Earth Satellite Magnetic Field Measurements: A Prelude to Magsat,’ by R. A. Langel, EOS, 60, 38, 667–668, 1979).

The mission was initially expected to have a 5‐month lifetime before reentering the atmosphere, according to a prediction made shortly after launch (see the Figure). This prediction used an atmospheric model appropriate to an average daily solar flux value at 10.7 cm (2800 MHz) of 200 flux units (1 flux unit = 10−22Wm−2 Hz−1). Apogee and perigee heights, however, have declined more slowly than initially predicted, and the observed decay more closely fits a prediction based on 160 flux units. Thus a lifetime of approximately 7 months is now anticipated.
Another Moon for Jupiter
Authors: Greathouse Lee
Published: October 2011

Stephen P. Synnott of the Voyager Optical Navigation Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena has reported finding yet another moon of Jupiter—its 15th.

The new‐found satellite, provisionally called 1979 J2, is estimated to be about 70 to 80 km in diameter and to have an orbit that places it between satellites Amalthea and Io, at a distance of about 151,000 km above the planet's clouds. The satellite circles the planet in 16 hours, 16 minutes.
Report from the IUGG Assembly: IAGA session on pulsations
Authors: Southwood D. J.
Published: October 2011

Geomagnetic pulsations are small oscillatory changes in the earth's magnetic field. Their periods fall in the ULF (ultra low frequency) band and range from a second up to 600 seconds. First reported in the last century, significant progress in understanding the origin of these surprisingly sinusoidal signals only followed J. W. Dungey's suggestion, in the early 1950's, that they might be due to hydromagnetic waves in the earth's magnetosphere. The 1960's saw an accumulation of evidence, but in the 1970's the field blossomed.

A variety of factors were responsible. Most important was that theories of large‐scale structure of signals were developed just as the first arrays of magnetometers were measuring the north‐south signal structure along lines of longitude. Theory and experiment agreed probably better than theorists or experimenters had expected; thus began a healthy mix of collaboration between theorists and experimenters.
Readjustment of the national geodetic vertical datum
Authors: Lippold H. R.
Published: October 2011

New geodetic techniques and computer technology are providing scientists in the United States and other countries of North America with the precise tools needed to modernize the North American horizontal and vertical geodetic control networks—a web of geodetic survey monuments that spans the continent. When the project is completed in 1987, it will provide an improved base for mapping and engineering projects, crustal motion studies, inventories of natural resources, land parcel recordation, and the launch and recovery of space vehicles. In particular, the earth scientist will have available, in an instant, 100 years of historical geodetic data in computer‐readable form, supplying valuable information on crustal motion and earthquake prediction.

The National Ocean Survey (NOS) through one of its main line components, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), is responsible for the geodetic mission of the United States government. This task began on February 10, 1807, when the Congress enacted legislation proposed by President Jefferson to perform a ‘Survey of the Coast of the United States,’ thereby creating the first federal scientific agency. The first work performed was the measurement of two baselines and an 11‐station triangulation network in the vicinity of New York City during the period 1816–1818 [Powell, 1976], The first geodetic leveling survey was made during 1856 and 1857 by the U.S. Coast Survey (renamed the National Ocean Survey in 1970). This survey, directed by G. B. Vose, was in support of a detailed study of tides and currents in the vicinity of New York Bay and the Hudson River [Berry, 1976].
Frontier Session on Earth's Interior
Authors: Greathouse Lee
Published: October 2011

A relatively new dating technique that uses a radioisotope with an extremely long halt life has led some UCLA and Caltech researchers to picture the interior of the earth as of surprisingly simple structure. As they see it, the earth's mantle, which makes up about two thirds of the planet, is divided into two layers: an upper portion that supplies magma to the mid‐ocean ridges and other volcanic regions of the earth's surface and a lower layer that has remained untouched since the earth formed.

In a Frontier session at the AGU Spring Meeting in Toronto, Don DePaolo of UCLA presented current findings from work with neodymium 143, the decay product of samarium 147. Frontier sessions highlight research of general interest in new areas of exploration. Research with neodymium has occurred only in the past 6 years, DePaolo said, because the measurement techniques available before then were not sensitive enough.
Orbital flight test program extended
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

NASA has extended the date for completion of the first four space shuttle orbital flight tests to April 1982. The extension of the flight test program has made it necessary to reschedule the first operational flight of the Columbia (STS‐5) from March 1 982 to September 1 982.

The decision to extend the flight test program and reschedule STS‐5 is the result of several factors, the major one being the continuing engineering assessment and improvement of the thermal protection system.
Landsat 2 back in service
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

After a retirement of nearly 6 months, NASA's 5‐yearold Landsat 2 spacecraft is back in service.

The spacecraft, which was designed to study the earth's resources from space, was ‘revived’ following intensive efforts by NASA engineers to restore operations and through the development of a new ‘magnetics’ technique which helps keep the polar‐orbiting spacecraft stabilized.
Where is Magsat today?
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

As was reported would happen (EOS, May 27,1980) Magsat, the NASA and USGS satellite designed to measure the near‐earth geomagnetic field, has now returned to earth. Magsat today consists of the data collected as the satellite maintained its relatively low‐level orbit, i.e., perigee: 352 km; apogee: 578 km; period: min. The primary mission objectives of Magsat were (from APL Technical Digest, 1, 58–60, 1980) to (1) Obtain an accurate, up‐to‐date quantitative description of the earth's main magnetic field. Accuracy goals are 6Y rss in each component at the satellite altitude, which results in 20Y rss in each component at the earth's surface in its representation of the field from the earth's core at the time of the measurement;
Palmdale bulge still a puzzle
Authors: Greathouse Lee
Published: October 2011

We may never know if there was a Palmdale bulge. After reconsidering hundreds of kilometers of surveying data taken in southern California, researchers are still divided about the results.

At a presentation of findings, given during the AGU Spring Meeting, UCLA professor David Jackson reaffirmed his assessment that significant errors exist in the measuring techniques. Ross Stein of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found that errors were small, random, and had little effect on deflating the bulge. Bill Strange of the National Geodetic Survey discussed a source of error different from that which started the controversy, but said that correcting for it took much of the uplift out of the bulge.
AGU
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Today, newly elected section and union officers assume their roles as members of the Council. Each new section president‐elect will serve 2 years in that capacity, then 2 years as section president.
Earthquake program authorization increased
Authors: Greathouse Lee
Published: October 2011

House and Senate actions have substantially increased the funding potentially available for the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program in 1981. The Senate has passed a version of the legislation that would also extend authorization for 3 years, through 1983. The Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act was due for reauthorization this year (EOS, 61, April 1 and May 6).

The Senate version of the legislation adds about $3.5 million to the administration's request for FY 1981; the House version, about $ 7 million. Most of the increase in both bills is slated for use by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), the coordinating agency for the program. Fema is responsible for such actions as planning for public response to earthquake predict ions; making information available to and educating architects and engineers about incorporating seismic safety design in construction projects; and community planning for earthquake disasters.
Satellite accurate in tracking hurricanes
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite that is 22,300 miles out in space is locating Atlantic Ocean hurricanes with an average accuracy of about 17 nautical miles and is pinpointing their intensity within an average of 10 knots.

The spacecraft's ability to track hurricanes with such accuracy is described in a paper by Donald C. Gaby and others in the Monthly Weather Review. Since 1971, Gaby reported, estimates of the locations and maximum sustained wind speeds have been made for all tropical and subtropical hurricanes in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA's National Hurricane Center ‘best tracks’ data—compiled from satellite reports, reconnaissance aircraft, and other information sources—reveals that the average location difference was only about 17 nautical miles, with the average maximum sustained wind speeds about 7 knots. ‘Our ability to estimate accurately the maximum sustained winds is significantly better for storms of at least hurricane intensity (65 knots); that is, for those storms potentially most damaging,’ according to the report.
Volcanic ash could mask global CO2 effect
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

The volcanic ash th at Mount St. Helens spewed into the atmosphere could confound efforts to detect climatic effects of human pollution. The volcanic debris now circling earth could block out some sunlight, causing a slight cooling of the earth's surface that would mask the expected warming effects of increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and delay its detection for more than a decade, according to Kirby Hanson, director of the NOAA Geophysical Monitoring for Climatic Change program.

Measurements, some going back to 1958, have shown a 5% increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past two decades. Furthermore, the annual rate of increase is growing, and it is predicted that within 50 years the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could be double what it was before the Industrial Revolution. The temperature effect of that doubling, Hanson says, would be a net warming near the earth's surface of about 2° or 3°—averaged over the northern hemisphere.
Dolphins may sense Earth's magnetism
Authors: Greathouse Lee
Published: October 2011

Birds do it. Bees do it. Now, maybe, dolphins do it, too. In a paper presented at the AGU Spring Meeting in Toronto, Mike Fuller of the University of California, Santa Barbara, announced that he and co‐workers J. Dunn, also of UCSB, and John Zoeger, of Los Angeles Harbor College, had found magnetic material in the heads of dolphins. The finding opens the possibility that dolphins will join the growing list of animals that react to the earth's magnetic field, a list that includes pigeons, honeybees, and bacteria.

The researchers dissected the heads of five dolphins, which were supplied by the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History through a program in which animals that have died of natural causes are turned over to researchers. Tiny amounts of magnetic material were found in all but one of the dolphins; that one was too badly decomposed to dissect successfully, Fuller said.
Magsat reenters atmosphere
Authors: Mead G.
Published: October 2011

NASA's magnetic‐field‐mapping satellite, Magsat, reentered the atmosphere north of the Arctic Circle and burned up on reentry at 0720 UT, June 11, after a longer‐than‐expected (7 1/2‐month) lifetime (see ‘Magsat to Reenter Soon,’ EOS, 61, 475, May 27, 1980). The objectives of the mission were to provide a global vector survey of the main geopotential field and low‐altitude measurements of crustal anomalies. Data were obtained nearly up to the time of reentry. The Figure shows ‘quick‐look’ data from a 3000‐km‐long pass taken at 1940 UT on June 10, about 12 hours before reentry. The satellite was over the western Pacific, near the Mariana trench. The data were obtained at altitudes of 187 to 191 km, which is believed to be the lowest altitude at which magnetic field data have been obtained from a satellite. The quantity plotted is δB, i.e., the difference between the measured field magnitude and the field which is calculated from a 13th‐degree spherical harmonic model that is derived from Magsat data. The variations are probably due to crustal sources. If confirmed, the data will represent the highest resolution of crustal magnetic anomalies that has been achieved from satellite measurements.
James B. Macelwane Award: Citation and Acceptance of Lawrence Grossman
Authors: Wasserburg Gerald J.
Published: October 2011

It is a pleasure to present Lawrence Grossman for the Macelwane Award. This occasion is particularly auspicious since the AGU meeting is held here in Toronto, Canada, where Larry was born and raised. As a young man he worked in a mining company plant in northern Manitoba, fixing railroad ties and then doing copper analyses of drill cores in their assay office. On careful investigation I found that he also had some criminal connections with the nearby offices of the Ontario Provincial Police, which was located a short distance from here along the waterfront. Fortunately, this turned out to be on the legal side and not the seamy side. It appears that Larry had directed his natural investigative skills toward doing mineral and chemical analyses of soils scraped from the shoes of suspected criminals. Larry Grossman has not changed directions—just subjects. His investigative skills are now directed toward rocks and soils scraped from the sole of the early solar system. The solar nebula is a place for which scientific proofs are often circumstantial, there being few witnesses to the crimes of creation.
Report from the Spring AGU Meeting—Remote sensing: The NOSS system and ocean applications
Authors: Cornillon Peter , Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

The session was conceived as an introduction to the National Oceanic Satellite System (Noss), scheduled for launch in mid‐1986. The meeting was directed toward oceanographers with little experience in remote sensing but with an interest in its potential applications to their problems.

The first part of the session dealt with the four primary sensors under consideration: the colorimeter, discussed by F. Vukovich; the scatterometer, by V. Delnore; the Large‐Antenna Multifrequency Microwave Radiometer (Lammr), T. Schmugge; and the radar altimeter, J. Marsh. The speakers briefly discussed the heritage of the sensors, the variables measured, and the design as it now stands.
Midwestern rain enhancement study
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

The farmer's dream of calling down rain just when and where his crops need it may be taken a step closer to reality. A multiphase study, called Pace (Precipitation Augmentation for Crops Experiment), examines the possibility of applying the most advanced weather modification techniques. This summer in Illinois, the Water Survey Division of the Illinois Institute of Natural Resources has begun preliminary stages of the experiment.

The purpose of Pace is to learn whether midwestern weather can be beneficially modified and then, if so, to develop techniques for doing it. A little rain at the right times could not only increase the productivity of midwestern farmlands, it could also stabilize yields, which now vary greatly from year to year. ‘What we're trying to do is not so much to increase the total annual precipitation as to even it out over the growing season,’ explained Klaus Liedtke, acting director of NOAA's weather modification office, which is coordinating Pace. For most midwestern crops, chiefly corn and soybeans, the amount of precipitation in July and August is critical.
Foundation to build complex in Maryland
Authors: Greathouse Lee
Published: October 2011

The Renewable Natural Resources Foundation (RNRF), a consortium of nonprofit institutions of which AGU is a member, has received a grant of $1 million from the Max C. Fleischmann Foundation and, with the Society of American Foresters, a $1.2 million tax‐exempt loan from the First National Bank of Maryland for the construction of a new office building. RNRF will provide space for nonprofit scientific, educational, and professional societies that are concerned with protection, management, and environmentally sound use of renewable natural resources.

Construction of the new building is expected to begin early in the fall of 1980, and occupancy is expected about a year later. The building will be the first in a campuslike complex that will be erected on a 35‐acre tract of wooded land that was the Grosvenor estate in Bethesda, Maryland. The Grosvenor mansion, former family home of the late Gilbert H. Grosvenor of the National Geographic Society, will be preserved as part of the complex. Most of the land will remain in its natural state.
KEGS Executive Council Elected
Authors: Cavén Roger J.
Published: October 2011

The following individuals were elected for the 1980–1981 term at the May 13 meeting of the Canadian Exploration Geophysical Society (KEGS): president—Roger Barlow, Ontario Geological Survey, 77 Grenville Street, Room 708, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1 B3; vice president—Roger J. Caven, Union Miniere Exploration and Mining Corporation, Ltd., 1935 Leslie Street, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 2M3; secretary‐treasurer— Zbynek Dvorak, Dighem Limited, 49th floor, Toronto‐Dominion Centre, Toronto, Ontario M5K 1 E8.
Upstream particles and waves
Authors: Tsurutani Bruce T. , Rodriguez Paul
Published: October 2011

On the 15th and 16th of April 1980, about 50 scientists from eight countries, mostly those associated with the International Sun‐Earth Explorer (Isee) spacecraft, held a workshop at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on the ‘Particles and Waves Upstream from the Earth's Bow Shock.’ The existence of these particles and waves has been known for some 10 years, but it is only recently that their geophysical and astrophysical importance has become fully appreciated. This is partly a result of the development of improved observational techniques and partly due to a growing appreciation of the physical concepts involved. Furthermore, through a series of workshops the community of Isee scientists has developed a cooperative investigative approach which has proved to be essential to the creation of a synoptic picture that is amenable to detailed theoretical interpretation. Through these workshops they have attempted to bring together all the pieces of evidence necessary to form a coherent picture.
AIP journals
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

It is the policy of the American Institute of Physics to offer reduced‐rate subscriptions for its journals to individual members of affiliated societies. This offer is limited to one subscription per person to each journal. Following is a list of Institute‐owned journals, showing the member rates which are available to individuals who are members of AGU and the nonmember rates (for comparison) for 1981
Geological data bases combine
Authors: Greathouse Lee
Published: October 2011

In a move designed to eliminate overlap and increase coverage of scholarly publications, three major institutions have agreed to pool their resources in compiling a common geological bibliographic data base. The American Geological Institute (AGI), the Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres (BRGM), and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) will begin producing a joint bibliographic record in 1981, according to information furnished by AGI.

The associations will retain their present reference resources—AGI's GeoRef, BRGM's Geode, and the geology sections of CNRS's Pascal—but each will contain all citations in the joint data base. French and English will be the primary languages. Coverage will include all materials previous indexed by the individual reference services.
1980 Spring Meeting Report
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Approximately 2000 participants at the 1980 Spring Meeting in Toronto welcomed the opportunity to share ideas and interact with their colleagues in an environment described in the session chairs ‘reports as excellent meeting locale,… pleasant city,… a good convention, and … let's go to Toronto again.’ In addition to attending the sessions, wherein over 1500 abstracts (cumulative) were presented, attendees joined many friends and family members for an exciting evening at the Ontario Science Centre.
More on Mount St. Helens
Authors: McClelland Lindsay
Published: October 2011

Mount St. Helens Volcano, Cascade Range, Southern Washington, U.S.A. (46.20°N, 122.18°W). All times are local (GMT‐7 hours). The devastating May 18th eruption of Mount St. Helens was followed by explosions on May 25 and June 12 that were much smaller but produced substantial ashfalls over wide areas of Oregon and Washington. A series of explosions ejected tephra from Mount St. Helens during the evening of July 22, nearly 6 weeks after the June 12 activity. Eruption cloud heights were similar to those of May 25 and June 12, but ashfall thicknesses were significantly less.
Mars Orbiter mission ending
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

After circling Mars for more than 4 years—taking pictures and making measurements—NASA's Viking Orbiter 1 has almost reached the end of its mission.

The orbiter has used nearly all the attitude control gas that keeps its solar panels pointed to the sun and its antenna aimed at the earth. When the gas is exhausted controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, will send radio commands to the spacecraft, ordering it to cease operating, thus ending its long and productive mission. It was originally expected that the gas would be exhausted by July 23±1 week; however, as of August 1 the spacecraft was still in orbit. NASA plans to terminate the mission August 15, even if the orbiter is still functioning at that time. Meanwhile, on the surface of Mars, Viking Lander 1 is programed to operate unattended through 1990, perhaps to be extended to 1994.
NASA active in Mount St. Helens assessment
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

Ever since the May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been working closely with scientists from universities and government agencies to assess the impact of the explosive geologic event. Instrument‐laden NASA aircraft, balloons, and spacecraft all have contributed important data. Mount St. Helens is undoubtedly the best documented volcanic eruption in history.

Shortly after the eruption began, a high‐flying U‐2 aircraft from NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, was dispatched to sample the air within 185 km (100 miles) of the volcano. Back on the ground, scientists working with NASA's Aerosol Climatic Effects Program used the data that was collected on particulate matter to study the potential climatic effects of the ash blown into the upper reaches of the atmosphere by the violent explosion. Repeated U‐2 flights, days after the eruption, continued to track the volcanic dust cloud and to photograph the devastation wrought upon the mountain by its self‐destructive blast.
Oldest life‐forms may have made own food
Authors: Greathouse Lee
Published: October 2011

The oldest organisms yet discovered were probably far enough advanced along the evolutionary scale to have made their own sources of food energy, perhaps much like present‐day plants, according to one of the members of the team that studied the Australian microfossils. If so, the time of origin of life may have to be set substantially earlier than the 3.5‐billion‐year‐old fossils in order to account for simpler precursororganisms.

Mass spectroscopic analysis of organic carbon from rocks that contain fossils of the bacteria‐like microorganisms, discovered in the Warrawoona group of western Australia, revealed the same ratio of carbon 13 to carbon 12 that is characteristic of today's living organisms, Indiana University researcher John Hayes said. Hayes, along with doctoral student Kim W. Wedeking, conducted the analysis.
Session summary: 1980 AGU Spring Meeting: Upstream waves and particles
Authors: Ipavich F. M.
Published: October 2011

The region upstream of the earth's bow shock has been known for more than a decade to be rich in both wave and particle phenomena. This region of geospace has proven to be a natural laboratory for the study of particle acceleration mechanisms, wave‐particle interactions, and collisionless‐shock‐associated phenomena. Interest in upstream waves and particles has recently experienced an increase in popularity coincident with the arrival of data from new and sophisticated instruments carried by the three International Sun‐Earth Explorer (Isee) spacecraft.

The upstream ion population is now known to consist of at least two distinct components, the ‘reflected’ and ‘diffuse’ components. The reflected component is basically an ion beam that is moving upstream, away from the bow shock, with a typical speed that is approximately 2‐3 times the solar wind speed. The diffuse component is characterized by a much broader pitch angle distribution (roughly isotropic in the spacecraft frame) and an energy spectrum that extends to much higher energies (> 100 keV). The density in both populations is ∼0.1/ cm3 (∼1% of the solar wind density).
Maurice Ewing Medal: Citation and Acceptance of J. Tuzo Wilson
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

John Tuzo Wilson was born in Ottawa in 1908 and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1930 with a degree in physics and geology. He then went to Cambridge to earn a second Bachelor's degree in mathematics, physics, and geology before going to Princeton University in 1936, where he earned his doctorate in geology. While Tuzo was a student of Richard Field's at Princeton, he supplemented his income by driving over to Lehigh on weekends to do seismic computations for Maurice Ewing. Although they did not work together following this time, the work of each profoundly influenced the work of the other. Tuzo was fascinated by the various new discoveries that Ewing was making in the oceans, and Ewing was always very intrigued by the syntheses that Wilson was able to produce.
Flare build‐up study provides new data on solar flares
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

A flare build‐up study that was 2 years in planning has resulted in an accumulation of scientific data that solar scientists believe will provide them with the clearest knowledge of solar flares ever produced. The study was an intensive worldwide effort which involved experiments aboard NASA's orbiting Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft and a network of the world's most highly sophisticated and powerful ground observatories. It was coordinated by Paul Simon of the Observatoire de Paris, France, as part of the International Solar Maximum Year.
First shuttle launch scheduled
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

NASA has confirmed a decision made earlier this year to schedule the first space shuttle launch in March 1981. The announcement follows an intensive review, carried out over the past several weeks, of the space shuttle program. The decision to continue to drive toward a March launch was made even though the shuttle program received a potentially serious setback when fire damaged a shuttle engine during a test in Mississippi.

According to Robert A. Frosch, NASA Administrator, a separate study of the cause of the engine fire and its possible impact has already begun, but the engine study will not be allowed to impede the central effort to hold to the agreed‐upon launch schedule.
Toll‐free geological reference line
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Atoll‐free long‐distance telephone number (800/336‐4764) has been established by the American Geological Institute for its GeoRef geological bibliographic reference service. The number may be used by callers outside Virginia
Tsunami symposium held
Authors: Loomis Harold G.
Published: October 2011

A tsunami symposium was held December 6–7,1979, at the Australian Academy of Sciences, as part of the IUGG meeting in Canberra. Twenty‐one papers were given in three sessions which covered the full range of tsunami research.

The first session, chaired by Rogert Braddock (Australia), was about tsunami generation and propagation. The paper by Voyt, Lebeder, and Sebekin (USSR) reported a continuation of Soviet efforts to solve the generation problem, treating the complete earth‐ocean system together. The coupled dynamic equations are written, and by means of Laplace transforms in time and Fourier transforms in space an integral expression is found for the disturbance at the ocean surface. The rest of the papers in this session were primarily numerical. The paper by Shaw and Neu (U.S.) treated laterally uniform geometries where time‐harmonic standing‐wave forms are possible. Loomis (U.S.) and Murty (Canada) discussed an interpretation of tsunami forerunners as a portion of the tsunami in the deep ocean that is diffracted onto a shelf or island ridge. The paper by Hebenstreit, Bernard, and Vastano (U.S.) treated the time‐dependent wave problem for the Hawaiian Island chain. A guassian wave form was timestepped into the chain, and the energy as a function of frequency and shoreline location was stored. This was intended to show the frequencies that were trapped by various islands and the effect of direction of arrival on trapping. The paper by Farrar (U.S.) included turbulent mixing as a damping factor in the response of harbors to tsunamis. The paper by Melville (U.S.) was about the mach‐stem effect in which waves traveling obliquely to a coast have an additional amplification. The effect is essentially nonlinear, and the Boussinesq formulation is used. Tank experiments do not measure the effect as predicted, and it is suggested that the problem lies in an inconsistency in the formulation of the mathematical model.
DOE: Coal synffuels to dominate energy supply in 2000
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

Coal will be the leading source of energy in the United States by the year 2000, and it will be consumed primarily in the form of liquids and gases. Edward A. Frieman, director of energy research for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) offered these projections in a recent briefing to representatives of U.S. scientific and engineering societies.

Renewable forms of energy (solar, biomass, and hydroelectric) are expected to reach only half of the 20% share projected in recent years.
Report from IUGG Assembly: The IAGA Takao Tohmatsu Memorial Symposium: “Nonsolar ionization sources at low latitudes”
Authors: Meier R. R.
Published: October 2011

The morphology and dynamics of the tropical ionosphere are distinguished by the strong influence of the geometry of the magnetic field and the various sources of ionization. The emphasis in this symposium was on those ionization sources which are characteristic of the ionosphere at low latitudes.

An overview of the characteristic properties of the tropical ionosphere was given by J. C. G. Walker. It was followed by a review of nighttime photoionization sources by D. F. Strobel, C. B. Opal, and R. R. Meier. At midnight the principal source of photons in the E region is found to be stellar continuum in the 911–1026‐Å wavelength range, producing as much as 2.5 ions cm−3 s−1 at 110 km over the equator. The sidereal time dependence of starlight results in a seasonal modulation of the ionization rate of a factor of 4. Since the majority of hot stars are in the southern hemisphere, the ionization rate at southern mid‐latitudes can be a factor of 2 higher than at the equator. Resonantly scattered H and He airglow are also important sources in theE region. The radiative recombination continuum of O+ at 910 Å is a major F region photoionization source in the Appleton Anomaly.
Problems in the management of gravel‐bed rivers
Authors: Thorne Colin R. , Bathurst James C.
Published: October 2011

In the past, fluvial research has concentrated on rivers with sand beds. Only recently has more attention been focused on flow in gravel‐bed rivers. As a result, knowledge about fluvial and sedimentary processes in gravel‐bed rivers is limited. Fundamental knowledge of this type is essential to the management of such rivers. Similarly, growth in the use of deterministic modeling of rivers demands basic data on channel processes and characteristics.
Trouble ahead for scientific research: “Research excellence through the year 2000—An analysis
Authors: Wright Christopher , Bell Peter
Published: October 2011

Job openings for new faculty in science and engineering are declining, and the outlook is expected to get worse before it gets better. The National Science Foundation asked the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of this trend and its consequences, which resulted in the report, Research Excellence Through the Year 2000: The Importance of Maintaining a Flow of New Faculty into Academic Research (1979). This 136‐page report (with 100 pages of appendices) builds a case for a new kind of support for university science. In so doing, it inadvertently raises more questions than it answers about the fundamental changes likely to take place in the ways American science will develop in the future.
NASA begins solar terrestrial research support
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has chosen 13 university, government, and corporate research proposals to begin its $2.25 million ongoing Solar Terrestrial Theory Program (STTP). The 13 projects were among 51 submitted in response to NASA's July 6,1979, Space Science Notice.

NASA expects to add a few programs to the STTP group in the future and, every 3 years, will review the progress of those already chosen.
NASA to negotiate NOSS studies
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) has selected General Electric Company's Space Division, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Inc., Sunnyvale, California; RCA Astro‐Electronics, Government Systems Division, Princeton, New Jersey; and Rockwell International, Satellite Systems Division, Seal Beach, California, for negotiation of 9‐month, $750,000 fixed‐price alternate system definition studies for the National Oceanic Satellite System (Noss). Study proposals for this phase were also submitted by Hughes Space and Communications Group, El Segundo, California, and McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company, St. Louis, Missouri. These ‘Phase I’ studies will define the system that is to be developed, starting in FY 1981, subject to Congressional approval of the program. The President's budget for FY 1981 includes funds for ‘Phase II,’ actual hardware development of the Noss system. This budget is pending before the Congress.
New infrared telescope developed
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A 10x infrared telescope has been developed to detect 25‐mm diameter objects at a distance of 1600 m. The 5.5‐kg telescope, to be used with television‐compatible infrared thermal imaging systems, was developed by Inframetrics, Inc., of Bedford, Massachusetts.

A 30‐cm‐long telescope provides a 1.4° vertical by 1.8° horizontal field with a standard resolution element size of 8–12 μm and 3–5 μm. The near focus, says Inframetrics, is as close as 15 m.
North Dakota geological map
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The first comprehensive geologic map of North Dakota, delineating 36 types of surface and near‐surface rocks and sediments, has been published by the United States Geological Survey. Prepared by the North Dakota Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S.G.S., the map should be useful for the exploration of minerals, oil, gas, coal, and underground water and for land‐use planning.

The principal author is Lee Clayton, now at the Wisconsin Geological Survey, formerly at the University of North Dakota's geology department. He was assisted by John P. Bluemle, Clarence G. Carlson, and Stephen R. Moran, geologists with the North Dakota Geological Survey when the map was compiled.
16th Moon of Jupiter discovered
Authors: Bell Peter M.
Published: October 2011

Stephen P. Synnott, a Voyager project navigator at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who discovered a 15th moon of Jupiter last spring, has done it again. He discovered a 16th Jovian satellite while searching through photographs taken last year by Voyager spacecraft whose missions were to confirm the discovery of a 14th satellite. Synnott's newest discovery, tentatively numbered 1979 J3, is about 340 km in diameter. It circles the planet once in 7 hours, 4 minutes, 30 seconds, with an uncertainty of 3 to 5 seconds.

This latest discovery came from the same process in which he found the 15th satellite in March 1980. Synnott believed at that time that he had confirmed the earlier sighting of the 14th satellite because they had similar orbits and sizes.
Geophysicists
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Neil Humphrey, a graduate student in the Department of Geological Sciences, University of Washington was the recipient of an award by AGU to attend the Chapman Conference on Subsurface Water Contributions to Streamflow.
Second international symposium on problems related to the redefinition of North American vertical geodetic networks
Authors: Lachapelle Gérard
Published: October 2011

The Second International Symposium on Problems Related to the Redefinition of North American Vertical Geodetic Networks was held in Ottawa, Canada, from May 26 to May 30,1980. The symposium was sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Surveying and the Surveys and Mapping Branch (Department of Energy, Mines and Resources—Canada) and cosponsored by the International Association of Geodesy, U.S. National Geodetic Survey, Canadian Geophysical Union, American Geophysical Union, and Pan‐American Institute of Geography and History. The symposium was attended by 154 scientists from 21 countries.

T. J. Kukkamaki, keynote speaker, opened the meeting with his address on ‘Errors Affecting Leveling.’ He presented and discussed a list of such errors and dealt at some length with the related analyses and techniques used to minimize the effect of systematic errors. Kukkamaki's address set the tone of the symposium in which two entire sessions were devoted to leveling errors.