bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Heterogeneous porous media in hydrology
Authors: Ababou Rachid
Published: October 2006

In natural geologic formations, flow and transport‐related processes are perturbed by multidimensional and anisotropic material heterogeneities of diverse sizes, shapes, and origins (bedding, layering, inclusions, fractures, grains, for example). Heterogeneity tends to disperse and mix transported quantities and may initiate new transfer mechanisms not seen in ideally homogeneous porous media. Effective properties such as conductivity and dispersivity may not be simple averages of locally measured quantities.

The special session, “Effective Constitutive Laws for Heterogeneous Porous Media,” convened at AGU's 1992 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, addressed these issue. Over forty‐five contributions, both oral and poster, covering a broad range of physical phenomena were presented. The common theme was the macroscale characterization and modeling of flow and flow‐related processes in geologic media that are heterogeneous at various scales (from grain size or fracture aperture, up to regional scales). The processes analyzed in the session included coupled hydro‐mechanical processes; Darcy‐type flow in the saturated, unsaturated, or two‐phase regimes; tracer transport, dilution, and dispersion. These processes were studied for either continuous (porous) or discontinuous (fractured) media.
1992 Fall Meeting is largest ever
Authors: Furlong Kevin P.
Published: October 2006

The 1992 AGU Fall Meeting, which was held in San Francisco from December 7 to 11, continued the pattern of Fall Meeting growth and was the largest AGU meeting held to date. For the first time in several years, the meeting was held under one roof in the Civic Auditorium and Brooks Hall. Approximately 4571 papers (oral and poster) were presented and more than 6200 geophysicists registered for the meeting—an increase of 11% in paper presentations and 12% in registrations.

Holding the meeting under one roof has been an objective for some time. This year, through judicious use of space and a more effective organization of poster sessions, it was achieved.
1993 CEDAR Meeting planned
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The 1993 Annual Coupling, Energetics and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) meeting will be held from June 21 to June 26, in Boulder, Colo. Both workshops and tutorials will be featured.

A Data Analysis School at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is being organized by Jeffrey Forbes for June 26. It will emphasize the analysis of time series data with gaps and will give each speaker the same data set to look at the different analysis techniques. Several topics to be discussed are digital signal processing, spectral methods, Fourier techniques, fast Fourier transforms, periodograms, nonstationary time series (such as 2‐day waves), wavelets, and curve fitting.
WHOI establishes new fellowships
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has received a $400,000 challenge grant from the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation, Inc., to create WHOI's first‐ever endowed postdoctoral scholarships. The grant is to be matched by funds raised by WHOI from other donors, with a combined amount totaling $1,200,000. The Doherty Postdoctoral Scholarships will be given to individuals in various disciplines of oceanography, applied physics, and ocean engineering in their first and/or second postdoctoral year.

WHOI currently offers postdoctoral appointments for 1 year, but an 18‐month appointment is under consideration. “One year is not sufficient for new scientists to prove themselves in the competition for federal funds,” said John Farrington, associate director for education and dean of graduate studies. “Increasingly, scientists need 1 year to get their science up and running, and another year to master federal proposals. Providing 18 months of postdoctoral support is critical to recruiting young scientists in the field of oceanography,” he said.
Natural resources awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

In 1992 the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation established the nation's first awards to honor interdisciplinary achievements in the renewable natural resources fields. RNRF invites nominations for the 1993 Outstanding Achievement and Sustained Achievement awards. June 1 is the deadline for both.

The Outstanding Achievement Award recognizes a project, publication, piece of legislation, or similar concrete accomplishment that occurred during the 3 years prior to nomination for the award.
Fall Meeting Subsurface Hydrology Highlights
Authors: Bales Roger
Published: October 2006

As has become the norm in recent years, subsurface hydrology sessions took place every day of AGU's Fall 1992 Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Sessions were organized around various approaches to groundwater modeling, hydrogeology field studies, hydrochemical investigations, vadose‐zone studies, and measurement methods. Session chairs contributed the following highlights.

A well‐attended special session looked at the “History of Groundwater Hydrology in the Nuclear Era.” F. L. Parker, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., reviewed early developments in U.S. radioactive‐waste disposal and offered the provocative viewpoint that a disposal program is characterized by a high degree of inflexibility. W. W. Dudley of the U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colo., summarized the hydrological studies that have been such an important component of the nuclear explosion program at the Nevada Test Site. Two papers presented results of investigations in connection with the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site, where military waste is to be stored in salt.
Automating the exchange of earthquake information
Authors: Kradolfer Urs
Published: October 2006

Do you regularly receive requests for data that are archived at your institution? Do you sometimes have to wait too long for a response to a request for data? Have you ever doubted the quality of an automatic earthquake location calculated by a computer? If you answer “yes” to one of these questions, you might be interested in what the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) has done to resolve these problems.
IDEAL Symposium on the East African Lakes
Authors: Johnson T. C. , Kelts K. , Lehman J. T. , Wuest A.
Published: October 2006

A vast array of interdisciplinary problems presented by the African Great Lakes were highlighted at the International Symposium on the Limnology, Climatology and Paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes, organized by the International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL) February 17–21 in Jinja, Uganda. Approximately 125 scientists attended from North America, Europe, Africa, and New Zealand. Jinja is located on the northern shore of Lake Victoria at the head‐waters of the Nile and is the site of the host institution for the symposium, the Uganda Freshwater Fisheries Research Organization (UFFRO). The conveners of the symposium were Tom Johnson of Duke University, George Kitaka of UNESCO‐ROSTA, and Eric Odada of the University of Nairobi.
Scientific papers: A new paradigm
Authors: Reid George C.
Published: October 2006

The problem of how to organize and write a scientific paper is a very basic one for most of us. A scientific paper is, after all, the only tangible product of a research scientist and, like all products, will be a failure if not marketed properly to reach its potential buyers. I think that a lack of attention to this “marketing and sales” aspect of research is a serious fault in our community, by which I mean those of us who publish in AGU journals.

The potential audience for a scientific paper can be divided roughly into three distinct categories. The first group is usually rather small in number, consisting of fellow scientists working in a very closely related field, and to whom the details of the work are of major importance. The second group is also fellow scientists, but their interest is less sharply focused, and they are concerned with the broad outlines of the work and essential results. The third group is the sponsors and the people who actually pay for the work, whose interest in the details is minimal and they, sadly enough, are often concerned only with the fact that a paper has been published rather than its content.
VGP highlights of Spring Meeting
Authors: Morse S. A.
Published: October 2006

Two special events of interest to Union and VGP section members will take place on Tuesday afternoon, May 25, during AGU's Spring Meeting in Baltimore.

R. A. Daly Lecture: Every section of AGU has an established “Bowie Lecture” named after a distinguished scientist associated with the work of the section. These lectures are delivered by special invitation during the annual AGU Spring or Fall meetings and are highlighted in the program. The VGP lecture is named for Reginald A. Daly, but it has never been given. Its inauguration at this year's Spring Meeting celebrates the distinguished career of this famous Harvard professor and author of the seminal Igneous Rocks and the Depths of the Earth (1914, 1933). Most fittingly, the inaugural lecture will be given by David Walker of Columbia University's Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory after a day‐long Union session on discontinuities in the mantle. Dave's lecture, “Errors in Earth Evolution,” will start at 4:45 P.M. We can expect to hear an original and provocative talk that features exciting, new data.
An IAVCEI commentary on the Galeras Tragedy
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) views the Decade Volcanos Project as an integral part of its efforts, outlined in full by Barberi et al. “1990”, during the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). The project is only one of several proposed IAVCEI activities for the IDNDR. The IAVCEI Executive Committee wishes to express its sadness and regret that the lives of colleagues were lost during the Galeras eruption in pursuit of the goals of the Decade Volcanos Project.

Significant advances have been made in recent years in monitoring restless volcanos and in predicting, in a general sense, new periods of eruption. The behavior of magma beneath volcanos can be monitored by a wide range of techniques, and there have been some notable successes in predicting the timing of explosive outbursts, for example, at Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines in June 1991. However, the recent tragedies at Unzen (Japan, 1991), Galeras (Columbia, 1993), and most recently, Mayon (Philippines, 1993), bring into sharp focus the hazardous and unpredictable nature of active volcanos. These events illustrate that scientists still have much to learn before they develop a clear understanding of how volcanos work and how volcanic eruptions can be predicted accurately—particularly single, sharp, explosive events such as that on Galeras January 14.
Arctic climate variations studied
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Reconstructing Arctic climate variations over the past 150,000, 20,000, and 2000 years and understanding the interactions of these variations with the global climate system are the major goals of Paleoclimates of Arctic Lakes and Estuaries (PALE), a National Science Foundation‐sponsored initiative within Arctic System Sciences (ARCSS). Research is based on a circum‐Arctic gridwork of sites analyzed for multiple paleoclimatic indicators that are calibrated with modern data and placed in a fine‐resolution temporal framework. Large‐scale controls over Arctic climate variations and feedbacks to the global system will be evaluated through sensitivity tests and simulation experiments with general circulation models.
Ocean acoustics program underway
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

A major international project using undersea acoustics to directly measure ocean climate has been funded with a $35 million research contract procured by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego.

Scripps scientists are the leading investigators in the 30‐month Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) project, which is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The project will be led by Walter Munk, a professor of geophysics at Scripps. Eleven institutions and eight nations—Australia, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Taiwan, and the United States—are involved in the project.
Inge Lehmann (1888–1993)
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann died on February 21 at the age of 105. In 1971, she was awarded AGU's William Bowie Medal, given for outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and unselfish cooperation in research. She was also an AGU Fellow.

Lehmann's career began in 1925 in Copenhagen, where she was responsible for the establishment of a large seismic network with stations in several locations. She became chief of the Seismological Department of the Royal Danish Geodetic Institute in 1928, and held the position until her retirement in 1952. For 25 years, she was the only Danish seismologist.
NSF section remains in competitiveness bill
Authors: Lang Valerie
Published: October 2006

The House Space, Science and Technology Committee held mark‐ups to consider amendments to HR820, the National Competitiveness Act of 1993 on April 21 and 22. Subtitle B to the bill lays out a role for the National Science Foundation that is perceived by some Earth scientists as shifting the agency's mission from supporting basic research to manufacturing technology and competitiveness (see Eos, April 13). During the mark‐up, Roscoe Bartlett (R‐Md.) introduced an amendment to strike the entire NSF section, saying that “manufacturing is not a proper function of basic research institutions.” He also mentioned that President Clinton did not have any money in his budget for this initiative.
AGU members elected to Academy
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Six AGU members are among the sixty new members and fifteen foreign associates elected on April 27 to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

AGU members elected were AGU Past‐President G. Brent Dalrymple of USGS, Menlo Park, Calif.; Donald J . DePaolo, University of California, Berkeley; Ho‐Kwang (David) Mao, Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C.; Mario J . Molina, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; and Alexandra Navrotsky, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. Elected as foreign associates were Nikolai V. Sobolev, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, and Friedrich H. Busse, University of Bayreuth, Germany.
Electronic GP information
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Section's Executive Committee is instituting an e‐mail list of active GP members. Only those members who would like to receive informal information about current topics, events, or happenings in geomagnetism and paleomagnetism will be on the list. The e‐mail list promises to be well‐used as we have already received requests for inclusion from several geomagnetists and paleomagnetists.

If you wish to be included, send your name, address, and e‐mail address to Sue Beske‐Diehl, Secretary—GP Section of AGU, Dept. of Geological Engineering, Geology, Geophysics, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townshend Dr., Houghton, MI 49931—1295; fax 906‐487‐3371; e‐mail sbeske‐d@mtu.edu.
1992 Editors' Citations: Excellence in refereeing
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The reviewers whose photographs appear below have been cited by editors of AGU's journals for excellence in refereeing. The editor's citation recognizes this special service to the Union, and the individuals listed below are to be commended for consistently providing constructive and thoughtful reviews. They were recognized at the Spring Meeting in Baltimore, Md.

Reviewers cited who do not appear here will be recognized in next week's Eos.
Scientists study active volcanos
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

To gain a better understanding of the volcanic process, which may lead to the ability to predict eruptions and ultimately save lives, volcanologists need to study active volcanos. In spite of the risk involved, research at these volcanos gives valuable information to understanding what takes place before, during, and after a volcanic eruption, said Stan Williams, Arizona State University, Tempe. He added that “volcanos produce a crisis and volcanologists hope to intervene.”

Williams, a survivor of the January 14 Galeras eruption in Colombia that killed six volcanologists, was taking samples when the volcano exploded with no warning. He knew that the volcano had the potential to erupt because of high levels of volcanic gases. After another eruption in March, scientists began to see a pattern in the long‐period seismic waves that preceded the eruptions. Although they cannot yet predict exactly when the next eruption will occur, Williams said Galeras is about to erupt again and that volcanologists are able to forecast the probability of an eruption within a time frame.
San Andreas drilling sites selected
Authors: Ellsworth Bill , Zoback Mark
Published: October 2006

A new initiative for drilling and coring directly into the San Andreas fault at depths up to 10 km is being proposed by an international team of scientists led by Mark Zoback, Stanford University; Steve Hickman and Bill Ellsworth, U.S. Geological Survey; and Lee Younker, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. In addition to exhuming samples of fault rock and fluids from seismogenic depths, the hole will be used to make a wide range of geophysical measurements within the fault zone and to monitor the fault zone over time.

Four areas along the San Andreas have been selected as candidates for deep drilling: the Mojave segment of the San Andreas between Leona Valley and Big Pine, the Carrizo Plain, the San Francisco Peninsula between Los Altos and Daly City, and the Northern Gabilan Range between the Cienga winery and Melendy Ranch. These sites were chosen from an initial list compiled at the International Fault Zone Drilling Workshop held in Asilomar, Calif., in December 1992 and at meetings held this winter and spring in Menlo Park, Calif.
Wallace receives Macelwane medal
Authors: Dickinson William R. , Wallace Terry
Published: October 2006

The James B. Macelwane Medal for significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by a young scientist of outstanding ability was presented to Terry Wallace at the 1992 AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony on December 9, 1992. The meeting was held in San Francisco. The award citation, delivered by William Dickinson, as well as Wallace's response, are presented here.
Droessler receives Smith Medal
Authors: Malone Thomas , Droessler Earl G.
Published: October 2006

The Waldo E. Smith Medal for extraordinary service to geophysics was presented to Earl G. Droessler at the 1992 AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony on December 9, 1992. The meeting was held in San Francisco. The award citation, delivered by Thomas Malone, as well as Droessler's response, are presented here.

“With consummate wisdom, unfettered imagination, boundless enthusiasm, and gentle persuasion, Earl Droessler has been one of the prime movers in the elevation of geophysics to prominence in the scientific community during the second half of the 20th century. His contributions began [when he was] a key figure in the Geophysics Section of the Office of Naval Research in the 1940s, when ONR was pioneering in establishing productive links between the federal government and the university community.
Braginsky receives Fleming Medal
Authors: Roberts Paul H. , Braginsky Stanislav I.
Published: October 2006

Stanislav I. Braginsky was awarded the John Adam Fleming Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held in San Francisco in December 1992. The Fleming Medal recognizes original research and technical leadership in geomagnetism, atmospheric electricity, aeronomy, and related sciences. The award citation, presented by Paul Roberts, as well as Braginsky's response, are presented here.
Union and section officer nominations for 1994–1996
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The nominees listed below are those of the Union and Section nominating committees and have been approved by the AGU Council.

Additional nominations may be made by membership petition. There are no age, nationality, or residence restrictions. All members except Associates are eligible to serve as officers. Petitions should be sent to the General Secretary, American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Avenue N.W., Washington, DC 20009. They must be received no later than July 19, 1993. Each petition must be accompanied by a letter from the proposed candidate agreeing to be a candidate and to serve if elected.
A personal memoir of Inge Lehmann (1888–1993)
Authors: Simon Ruth
Published: October 2006

On February 21, the world lost a pioneering woman scientist and I lost a treasured friend.

I met Inge Lehmann in the 1950s when she came to Lamont to work on her “Lg” paper. We immediately became friends despite the large difference in our ages. Her quiet dignity, her interest in everything scientific and feminine, her desire to learn all she could about our lives in and out of the observatory astounded me. Inge was shy, almost painfully so. Dr. Ewing arranged for Inge to stay in the guest house where she could do her work and have assistance as needed. One of my most pleasant duties to make her feel at home was to take her on weekly trips to the supermarket. She prepared her own meals in her guest house quarters. I shopped for my own family at the same time, leaving my provisions in the car until it was time to go home after work. Inge kept ice cream and frozen food in her small freezer for me.
Numerical modeling for underground nuclear test monitoring
Authors: Taylor Steven R. , Kamm James R.
Published: October 2006

The symposium for Numerical Modeling for Underground Nuclear Test Monitoring was held March 23–25 in Durango, Colo. Funded by the DOE Office of Arms Control and Nonproliferation (OACN) and hosted by the Source Region Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the meetings's purpose was to discuss the state‐of‐the‐art in numerical simulations of nuclear explosion phenomenology with applications to test‐ban monitoring. In particular, we wished to focus on the uniqueness of model fits to data, the measurement and characterization of material response models, advanced modeling techniques, and applications of modeling to monitoring problems.

The concept for the meeting arose through discussions with Marv Denny, who was on assignment at Department of Energy Headquarters from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). In these conversations, the following question was discussed: how are numerical modeling techniques being used to understand the effects of explosion‐ source phenomenology on test‐ban treaty monitoring? Numerical studies are becoming increasingly important in the evaluation of capabilities for proliferation monitoring; this trend has accelerated with the curtailment of the nuclear testing program. During these discussions, the issue of the uniqueness and limitations of numerical models arose. It was decided to address these questions by convening a group of experts to present and discuss the problems associated with modeling of close‐in data from explosions.
Ice core yields unique climate archive
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

On June 29, after 5 years of drilling through the Greenland ice sheet, National Science Foundation‐sponsored researchers extracted the world's deepest ice core, reaching 3052 feet, and they are about to hit rock bottom. The 5.2‐inch‐diameter core through the summit of the ice sheet, along with a European core completed last year 30 km away, is furnishing the longest, most detailed record available of the Northern Hemisphere's climate, reaching back about 250,000 years. Together, the cores are altering ideas about the very nature of the Earth's climate system.

The cores reveal a climate whose dynamism has startled researchers. “The biggest surprise so far is that climate changes much more rapidly and frequently than we ever believed before,” said Paul Mayewski, chief scientist for NSF's Greenland Ice Sheet Project. Patterns of climate stored in the ice show that climate changed substantially every few thousand years, until the end of the last ice age.
Mars Observer to enter Mars orbit
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

The Mars Observer is scheduled to enter the planet's orbit on August 24, 1 month ahead of the original arrival date. Launched on September 25, 1992, the Observer is the first U.S. spacecraft to visit Mars since Viking 2 in 1976, marking the next step in exploration of the planet. The Mars Observer mission will study the geology, geophysics, and climate of Mars.

The spacecraft underwent a power boost to arrive earlier than planned in order to gain more observing time before the solar conjunction, said Donald Savage of NASA's Washington, D.C., news office. Overall, the spacecraft fared well during its 11‐month journey, he said, noting that there were some periodic software problems, but nothing that damaged the mission.
Hurricane season prediction updated
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

As he has done for about the last 10 years, William Gray of Colorado State University in Fort Collins has forecast this year's tropical cyclone activity for the Atlantic basin, based on meteorological data for June and July. Updating his June 4 and November 24 predictions, which called for more intense activity, Gray has predicted a generally average hurricane season, compared with hurricane activity over the last 4 decades. Hurricane Emily, which brushed North Carolina's Outer Banks on August 31, is the first of six Atlantic Basin hurricanes predicted by Gray.
60% of NSF funds directed to strategic research
Authors: Bush Susan
Published: October 2006

“Not less than 60% of the agency's annual program research activities should be strategic in nature.”—Senate Report 103‐37

An important component of the annual appropriations process is the committee report accompanying a bill. Last week, Barbara Mikulski's (D‐Md.) Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies submitted a report outlining its recommendations for the National Science Foundation. If implemented, the recommendations set forth in this report would have a very important bearing on the future of NSF. This language, while not having the force of law, is “the next best thing,” and is ignored only at peril.—Richard Jones, American Institute of Physics
AGU's position on fencing of federal funds by Congress
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The following is AGU's position statement on fencing of federal funds by Congress, adopted by the Executive Council in December 1989.
Antarctic mass balance and sea level change
Authors: Bentley Charles R.
Published: October 2006

The Antarctic ice, remote as it is, has the potential to affect coastal communities and habitats around the world, because any change in its mass will directly affect mean sea level. Despite all the study of the ice sheet in the last several decades, however, it is still uncertain whether the ice sheet is growing, shrinking, or unchanging in mass. The most recent studies are contradictory—glaciological evidence from the continent suggests that the ice sheet is slowly growing, oceanographic evidence around the continent suggests that it is shrinking, and indirect satellite evidence relating to changes in mass distribution over the surface of the globe suggests that changes of either sign must be small.

The glaciological evidence has most recently been summarized by Bentley and Giovinetto [1991]. By analyzing all available measurements on the rate of snow accumulation on the ice sheet (the mass input) and the mass flux across the boundary between the land‐based and floating margins of the ice sheet (the mass output), they came to the conclusion that there is a net gain of about 200 Gt yr−1, that is, a sea‐level lowering of about 0.5 mm yr−1. The data cover the large drainage systems that encompass the vast interior plateaus where the mass input rates are small. Much less is known about more limited coastal systems characterized by higher specific mass input rates. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that these smaller regions could be losing mass rapidly enough to make up for the mass gain over the majority of the continent.
Comet on a collision course with Jupiter
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided the most detailed look yet at the comet hurtling toward a July 1994 collision with Jupiter.

The Hubble's high‐resolution images show that approximately twenty objects make up comet P/Shoemaker‐Levy 9, giving it the appearance of a string of pearls, and that these objects are much smaller than originally estimated from observations with ground‐based telescopes. Measuring the size of the nuclei is very difficult because each nucleus is surrounded by a haze of dust, called a coma. The Hubble telescope provides improved contrast between the nuclei and their comae, thereby allowing a better estimate of the sizes. Some astronomers think the comet is really an asteroid from the asteroid belt between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars.
Project to map parts of South Pacific
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Suva‐based South Pacific Geoscience Commission is undertaking a seabed mapping project covering the exclusive economic zones of Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Tuvalu.

The survey is being carried out by the French oceanographic ship L'Atlanta. When the project is completed next year, the commission will have accurate maps of the seafloor covering an area of nearly 750,000 km2 for the first time.
Outstanding student paper
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

“Imaging Mid‐Ocean Ridges in the Southern Oceans with Satellite Altimeters,” presented by Christopher Small, was named Outstanding Student Paper of the Geodesy Section at the AGU Spring Meeting last May in Baltimore, Md.

Small recently received his Ph.D. from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.
Outstanding student paper award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Mark Simons was the recipient of the Planetology Section Outstanding Student Paper Award at the AGU Spring Meeting in Baltimore, Md., last May, for his paper “Geoidto‐Topography Ratios on Venus: A Global Perspective.”

Simons is a Ph.D. student in the Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary sciences department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. in geophysics and space physics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Major glacier surge continues
Authors: Molnia Bruce F.
Published: October 2006

The 1993 surge of Bering Glacier (first reported in Eos, July 20, p. 321) continues, with more than half of its ∼5175 km2 surface area displaying a variety of surge‐generated features, including deeply crevassed bulges and pressure ridges, extensional fractures with intricate patterns of intersecting and sinuous crevasses, tear faults, ephemeral lakes, grabens, and a myriad of other stress‐generated features. The area affected by the surge continues to expand and has increased from about 150 km2 in early June, to ≥1000 km2 on July 28, to ≥2500 km2 on October 5.

Surging is defined as periodic, very rapid movements of large quantities of ice within a glacier, alternating with much longer periods of near stagnation. Surging is frequently accompanied by major advances of the glacier's terminus. The surge of Bering Glacier began between mid March and late May and did not reach the terminus until late August. During the period after the expanding surge reached the central part of the glacier's terminus and September 10, part of the terminus advanced more than 1500 m into Vitus Lake, the ice‐marginal lake surrounding much of the terminus, advancing at a velocity approaching 100 m/day.
Russian volcano erupts with little warning
Authors: Mockler Susan Bucci
Published: October 2006

With little advance seismic warning, the Kamchatka Peninsula's Mt. Bezymianny erupted on the afternoon of October 20. Preliminary estimates indicate that this is the largest eruption of the volcano since 1956. There are a few seismic stations in the area, but the ongoing activity at nearby Klyuchevskoy and Sheveluch volcanos masked the Bezymianny precursor (and initial eruptive) activity, said Thomas P. Miller of the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). Located at 56°04′N, 160°43′E, in east‐central Kamchatka, Russia, Bezymianny is a 9500‐foot‐high stratovolcano breached to the east with a large active dome in the summit crater.

Observers from the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), led by Vladimir Kirianov, notified AVO that Bezymianny was generally obscured by heavy ashfall, with ash plumes extending up to about 8–15 km above sea level on October 23–24. The ash layer measured more than 1 cm at the Apahonchich seismic station (15 km northeast of the volcano) and 0.5 cm at the Gorno‐Topolovo meteorological station (30 km southeast of the volcano). As of November 10, the volcano had yet to be observed at close range because of much volcanic ash, bad weather conditions, and lack of funding, said Miller. A helicopter, with a volcanologist from the Russian Institute of Volcanic Geology and Geochemistry onboard, is scheduled to fly into the area as soon as weather permits. More information on the size and status of activity will be available then, said Miller.
A. E. “Ted” Ringwood (1930–1993)
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Alfred E. (“Ted”) Ringwood died on November 12 at age 63. In 1974, he was awarded AGU's William Bowie Medal, given for outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research. In his citation for the Bowie Medal, Francis R. Boyd said that Ringwood's “personal approach in Earth sciences has been to blend petrological, geophysical, geochemical, and cosmological data into detailed models of the mantle, the Earth as a whole, and the Moon.” These models stimulated and organized the thinking of many Earth scientists, Boyd noted. Ringwood was the 1993 Hess Medalist, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in research in the constitution and evolution of Earth and sister planets.
Rockefeller describes new era in science and technology policy
Authors: Mockler Susan Bucci
Published: October 2006

The federal science and technology policy of today is being developed in a new historical context, said Jay Rockefeller (D‐W.Va.), chairman of the Senate's Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space. According to Rockefeller, changes in policy are being shaped by three “phenomena”—the end of the Cold War, concern about our international economic competitiveness, and a new president willing to join Congress in responding to new challenges.

Addressing the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C., on October 7, Rockefeller said that the nation's security took precedence during the Cold War, and economic competitiveness was placed on a back burner. The nation now faces a deficit in that area, he said. Congress has begun a push for a redirection of federal science and technology, and the administration is moving in the same direction. “We should not be surprised to see the Clinton Administration and the Congress questioning old rationales for agency funding,” said Rockefeller.
Cuts to science spending spared
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Federal science funding was one area spared further cuts over the next 5 years when the House rejected the Penny‐Kasich Deficit Plan by a vote of 219‐213 on November 22. Known for its two House cosponsors Timothy Penny (D‐Minn.) and John Kasich (R‐Ohio), the plan called for additional cuts of $103 billion in federal spending over 5 years. The proposal was an amendment to HR3400, Clinton's spending‐reduction bill, which would cut federal spending by over $11 billion in the next 5 years. HR3400 was passed by the House during the same vote.

In addition to savings from President Clinton's plan to reduce the federal work force by 252,000, the Penny‐Kasich amendment offered ninety proposals to cut federal spending. One of the major policy changes called for was the merging of the Departments of Energy and Commerce, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy into a new Department of Science. This consolidation, said the plan's sponsors, “could result in $1 billion of reduced spending due to administrative consolidation and elimination of programmatic duplication.”
Senate subcommittee examines NASA's identity crisis
Authors: Leath Audrey T.
Published: October 2006

With the Cold War fading into history, economic competitiveness becoming the watchwords of the decade, and the space race against the Russians turning into probable cooperation, NASA is struggling to redefine its role. On November 16, the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space invited NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, Martin Marietta CEO Norman Augustine, and Robert Frosch of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government to offer their thoughts on NASA's plans, priorities, and budgetary difficulties.

Augustine, who chaired the Committee on the Future of the U.S. Space Program in 1990, posed two questions: What does America want its space program to be, and can the country afford to pay for the program it wants? He stated bluntly that if the answers were incompatible, “we are unlikely to have a satisfactory program.”
Renewable Natural Resources Foundation awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Renewable Natural Resources Foundation has announced that Marion Clawson is the recipient of its 1993 Sustained Achievement Award. The Foundation also announced the winner of its 1993 Outstanding Achievement Award, the Illinois Rivers Project.

The RNRF was established in 1972 to foster cooperation among professional, scientific, and educational organizations that focus on renewable natural resources. AGU is one of the eighteen RNRF member organizations.
Oxygen loss in biosphere 2
Authors: Severinghaus Jeffrey P. , Broecker Wallace S. , Dempster William F. , MacCallum Taber , Wahlen Martin
Published: October 2006

Oxygen concentrations have dropped sharply in the air of “Biosphere 2,” an enclosed experimental ecosystem located in southern Arizona. Biosphere 2 is a 3.15‐acre airtight structure roofed in glass and underlain by an impermeable liner. It houses an artificial ecosystem containing soil, air, water, flora, and fauna and was built primarily as an apparatus for the experimental investigation of biogeochemical cycles, whole ecosystems, and life‐support systems for space habitation [see Nelson et al., 1993].

O2 in Biosphere 2 decreased during the first 16 months of closure from the ambient 21% to 14%, enough to cause health problems in the human occupants. We present evidence that the O2 loss is caused by microbial respiration of the excessive amount of organic matter incorporated into the experiment's soils and furthermore, that the respired CO2 is reacting with the structure's concrete to form calcium carbonate.
Solar variability: Implications for global change
Authors: Lean Judith , Rind David
Published: October 2006

U.S. global change research is guided by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which was conceived to establish the scientific understanding and the basis for national and international policymaking related to natural and human‐induced changesin the global Earth system. Initially, the US—GCRP focused on the anthropogenic forcing of climate by increasing “greenhouse” gases CO2, CH4, NO2, and chlorofluorocarbons; tropospheric aerosols, primarily SO4; and albedo changes, such as those associated with deforestation. Two elements were subsequently added in recognition that the feedbacks from the anthropogenic forcings would be superimposed on natural climate variations, particularly those associated with forcing by volcanic emissions and solar variability. Solar influences were listed as the seventh interdisciplinary science element of the USGCRP and defined as “the investigation of how changes in the near‐space and the upper atmosphere that are induced by variability in solar output influence the Earth's environment.”
CDs with satellite images available
Authors: Flament P. , Bernstein R.
Published: October 2006

Images from the GMS‐4 geostationary satellite operated by Japan are now available on a pair of CD‐ROMs in the form of compressed PostScript files. At ~140°E, the GMS‐4 is optimally placed to observe the western Pacific. Its Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer scans the Earth hourly at 1.25‐km resolution in the visible and 5.0‐km in the thermal infrared.

The telemetry from the GMS‐4 was captured in Hawaii during the TOGA Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Experiment from November 1992 to March 1993. The CD images will be useful in finding relationships between events in a survey or a time series and the general weather patterns in the vicinity of sampling platforms. Quantities that can be estimated include reflected short wave and outgoing long wave radiations, tropospheric winds, surface roughness, and rainfall. Since the images have been remapped to a common geographic grid, temporal statistics should be especially easy to construct.
Study of recent tsunamis sheds light on earthquakes
Authors: Satake Kenji
Published: October 2006

In the space of one year, three major destructive tsunamis, or seismic sea waves, devastated coastal regions of Nicaragua (September 2, 1992), Flores Island, Indonesia (December 12, 1992), and Hokkaido, Japan (July 12, 1993). The maximum run‐up heights of each of these tsunamis were more than 10 m, and a total of about 1500 people were killed. Field surveys were made for these tsunamis and reported in Eos [Satake et al., 1993; Yeh et al., 1993; Hokkaido Tsunami Survey Team, 1993]. The survey teams, typically consisting of scientists and engineers from various fields, documented the behavior of the tsunamis in detail. Tsunami survey data are used for various types of research, ranging from coastal behavior of tsunamis to past and future earthquakes.
Progress made in studying variations of Earth's gravity
Authors: Nerem R. S.
Published: October 2006

Recent advances are shedding new light on the causes of variations in the Earth's gravitational field. In particular, the atmosphere is now known to be a major player generating those variations. Governed by Newton's gravitational law, temporal variations of the Earth's gravitational field are caused by a variety of complex phenomena including luni‐solar tides, atmospheric and oceanic mass redistribution, variations in groundwater storage and snow cover/ice thickness, earthquakes, post‐glacial rebound in the Earth's mantle, long‐term mantle convection and core activities, and other geophysical phenomena. Understanding these variations can aid in the analysis and monitoring of global climatic and geophysical change, Earth's rotation, and sea level change.
1993 in review: Science policy developments
Authors: Jones Richard M. , Mockler Susan Bucci
Published: October 2006

Looking back over 1993, here are some of the major policy developments affecting the geophysical sciences community:

JANUARY: John Gibbons confirmed as Office of Science and Technology Policy director and President Clinton's science advisor… Walter Massey resigns as National Science Foundation director… Hazel O'Leary becomes Department of Energy secretary … House Science, Space and Technology Committee is reorganized, reducing its six subcommittees to five… NSF's Division of Polar Programs elevated to the Office of Polar Programs, now a part of the Office of the Director… Bruce Babbitt confirmed as Secretary of the Interior.
Is the AGU headquarters bond issue really a boon?
Authors: Von Herzen R. P.
Published: October 2006

In these somewhat difficult economic times and uncertain future, it is satisfying to know that AGU was able to secure a reasonable interest rate on its bond float to finance its new headquarters (see Eos, October 19, 1993). However, Burke's view that this interest rate leads to savings that can be applied to other AGU programs represents a limited view of this substantial financial commitment of AGU, in my opinion. For example, the borrowing of $11 million by issuing bonds at 5.98% interest rate represents an indebtedness to AGU over 30 years of nearly $20 million, or more than $600 ($20/year) for each of the 30,000 or so members (only approximately, since the issued bonds probably have varying interest rates and maturity periods). The yearly rate of this indebtedness is about the same as our present dues; will these have to be increased to pay for the new headquarters? I am also rather surprised to read that the AGU Council authorized an interest rate on the bonds up to 9', substantially higher than present bond interest rates.
Kerr receives New AGU Journalism Award
Authors: Ellsworth William , Kerr Richard
Published: October 2006

Richard Kerr was presented with the Sustained Achievement Award in Science Journalism on December 6, 1993, at the AGU Fall Meeting in Baltimore. The award was presented by Ralph Cicerone and the citation was delivered by William Ellsworth.
National Science Foundation
Authors: White M. Catherine
Published: October 2006

Considering the current budget crunch, NSF will see a large increase in fiscal year 1995. Its budget request is $3.2 billion, an increase of 6% over the 1994 level of $3.0 billion. The increase reflects the administration's emphasis on science and technology.

This total includes $2.3 billion for Research and Related Activities, an increase of 8.3% over the 1995 level. These funds focus on strengthening the nation's scientific, mathematics, and engineering research enterprise. One of these activities, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which is funded by several federal agencies, will receive an increase of 46.2% from NSF, raising NSF%s 1995 contribution to this project to $207 million. The program received only $141.9 million from NSF in 1994. NSF's contribution to the High Performance Computing and Communications initiative, another multiagency program, increases by 25.4%, raising its contribution to $328 million.
NSF's mission is broad
Authors: Williams Luther S.
Published: October 2006

The December 21, 1993, issue of Eos contains a Forum article written by Mark Chandler and Mark Hopper in which they “hope that NSF is careful not to break down the barriers at the entrance to science education while, at the same time, adding to or ignoring barriers that sit at the entrance to scientific careers in research and development.” The authors went on to express the opinion that “If more young people enter into scientific disciplines and there is not a corresponding increase in funding and/or job opportunities, very few of the new scientists will be capable of maintaining their careers once educated.”

I appreciate their comments, because they give me the opportunity to address the role colleges and universities and science education must play in our nation's future development.
Water visibility record robust after 3 centuries
Authors: de Wolf P. , Cadée G. C.
Published: October 2006

Gieskes et al.1 encountered very clear water on October 13, 1986, in a coastal polynya in the eastern Weddell Sea; they recorded a Secchi disc visibility of 79 m at 14.45 UT at 71°23.63'S, 15°02.52'W. They claimed to have “shattered” the “world record” of Berman et al.2 of 53 m in the Mediterranean Sea. They postulated that Secchi disk values in distilled water would be close to 80 m, suggesting that their observation would be the ultimate record. We wish to comment on the record and on maximum Secchi disk values that are possible.
NSF to fund special Northridge earthquake study
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Northridge earthquake of January 17, 1994, had a serious impact on southern California and the nation. H.R. 3759 makes available a $15 million emergency supplemental appropriation to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to study the earthquake.

The appropriation is intended to increase the scientific understanding of earthquakes and to assess and make recommendations for improving seismic safety throughout the nation based on lessons learned from this disaster.