bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Accessing northern California earthquake data via Internet
Authors: Romanowicz Barbara , Neuhauser Douglas , Bogaert Barbara , Oppenheimer David
Published: October 2006

The Northern California Earthquake Data Center (NCEDC) provides easy access to central and northern California digital earthquake data. It is located at the University of California, Berkeley, and is operated jointly with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, Calif., and funded by the University of California and the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program. It has been accessible to users in the scientific community through Internet since mid‐1992.

The data center provides an on‐line archive for parametric and waveform data from two regional networks: the Northern California Seismic Network (NCSN) operated by the USGS and the Berkeley Digital Seismic Network (BDSN) operated by the Seismographic Station at the University of California, Berkeley.
Loma Prieta damage largely attributed to enhanced ground shaking
Authors: Holzer Thomas L.
Published: October 2006

Earthquake hazards are commonly treated independently by Earth scientists, yet when a large earthquake occurs, property losses are seldom totaled separately for each earthquake hazard. Four years after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake rolled through northern California, a quantitative answer to the following question is not yet available: How much damage was caused by ground shaking, liquefaction, landslides, tectonic ground rupture, or tsunami?

Although the consequences of one earthquake do not necessarily follow for others, an answer to this question will help guide public policy and set research priorities. The cost effectiveness of earthquake hazard mitigation can be improved when the relative significance of earthquake hazards is known because it enables public agencies to concentrate mitigation efforts on the most portentous hazards.
Changing of guard at AGU
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The 1994–1996 AGU Council members assumed their leadership roles July 1. To get up to speed with their new offices, the Council elect attended a Leadership Conference at AGU headquarters in Washington, D.C., June 10–12. The primary focus for the conference was to exchange information that helps Council members contribute effectively during their term. At the conference, the new AGU Council also began to address future directions with a number of the key committees, who were represented there. The participants tackled issues, such as how to ensure the usefulness and vitality of AGU programs; how to maintain the appropriate level of financial return; how to adapt AGU's leadership in the face of changes in scientific emphases, growth of membership and programs, and the expansion of AGU internationally; how to continue to take advantage of and develop information technology resources; and how to educate policy makers and the general public on the importance of science in dealing with societal issues.
Cosmic crash may keep some geophysicists smiling for years
Authors: Wakefield J.
Published: October 2006

By reputation, scientists from chemists to geophysicists to astrophysicists are generally a serious crowd. But last week's explosive and fiery 6‐day collision between Jupiter and the 20‐some nuclei of periodic comet Shoemaker‐Levy 9 has left them downright giddy. And it appears that this celestial event is one astronomical party that will be remembered for hundreds if not thousands of years by scientists from all walks.

While the world will have to wait for some time to know which comet and planet impact and origin theories will withstand the test of this kamikaze comet, planetologists and the like do have some initial impressions of the “gee‐whiz cut” of data from spacecraft and ground‐based observatories around the world. For starters, they know the comet went out with a bang.
In Brief
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Pacific predictions What's a reliable way to predict the size of maize harvests in southern Africa—and about a year in advance? Pacific Ocean temperatures, according to Earth scientists at Columbia University's Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory. In the July 21 issue of Nature, the Earth science researchers report an “astonishing” link between the periodic shifts of tropical Pacific surface water temperatures known as El Niño/Southern Oscillations (ENSO) and Zimbabwe's maize crop yield. In the future, forecasts based on the ENSO can provide early warning of pending dangerous fluctuations in southern Africa's harvests, where maize yields have varied from 2.4 tons per hectare in 1986 to 0.4 tons in 1992. To be sure, lead authors Mark A. Cane and Gidon Eshel say, the ENSO cycle will continue, and there will times of drought in southern Africa. Predictions for next year should be available in September. What's more, Cane says, the model may be used to predict crop yields in other parts of the world, as “ENSO directly affects the climate of more than half the planet.”
NASA is examining many options
Authors: Butler Dixon M.
Published: October 2006

The Office of Mission to Planet Earth (OMTPE) at NASA greatly appreciates the opportunity to comment on this topic.

NASA is currently working to accommodate the reductions in EOS cost runout explicit in the President's Fiscal Year 1995 submission to the Congress. Initially, NASA planned to accommodate most of this reduction through delays in data acquisition by various flight elements of EOS. Now, we are engaged in an examination of a range of options which include significant relaxation in some EOSDIS requirements. Within this exercise, one potential option for savings, which has been assessed from a management and budget (but not scientific) standpoint, is the consolidation of the three DAACs indicated into the remaining six DAACs of EOSDIS. The identified savings, after allowing for a continuation of all the DAAC's functions and an orderly transition in data holdings, is $55 million over the 5‐year period of FY 1996 to FY2000. This is just one of numerous options under consideration, and no decisions have yet been made.
Workshop yields new insight into volcanism at Deccan Traps, India
Authors: Singh R. N. , Gupta K. R.
Published: October 2006

Deccan volcanism, often referred to as the Deccan Traps, is the latest tholeiitic continental flood basaltic episode in the Indian region. The Deccan Traps cover area of about 0.5 million km2 on land (Figure 1) and in offshore regions extending east and west. The episode's large volume and time of origin—close to the K‐T boundary—have attracted the attention of geoscientists worldwide. It is generally believed that the magmatic activity was triggered by Reunion hot spot when the Western passive margin of India was being formed.
Looking back at the early years of Pc 1 pulsation research
Authors: Mursula Kalevi , Kangas Jorma , Kultima Johannes
Published: October 2006

Geomagnetic pulsations—the groundbased signals of magnetospheric hydromagnetic waves—have been studied for well over 100 years. Some of the first observations were reported in 1861 by B. Stewart, who studied the recordings of the great magnetic storm of 1859. In Helsinki in the 1840s, J. J. Nervander observed magnetic “undulations” of constant period of about 30 s in his declination variometer.

At the turn of the century, more sensitive magnetic instruments and faster registration systems were developed and the basis was laid for the systematic classification of long period pulsations, which are now called Pc 3‐Pc 5 and Pi 2 pulsations.
Study of solar irradiance variations holds key to climate questions
Authors: Foukal Peter
Published: October 2006

This article is part of a series in Eos that investigates issues in space physics and aeronomy.

In 1838, the French physicist Claude Pouillet published the first measurement of the Sun's total light and heat input to the Earth. He described his new instrument—the pyrheliometer—and the corrections he made for attenuation of solar light in the Parisian atmosphere. Similar measurements were carried out by the English astronomer Sir John Herschel, working at about the same time at the Cape of Good Hope.
Drilling unearths “Fire and Ice” at Southeast Greenland Margin
Authors:   Leg 152 Shipboard Party
Published: October 2006

Leg 152 of the Ocean Drilling Program, part of an ongoing campaign of continental margin drilling, investigated the southeast Greenland volcanic rifted margin (Figure 1) in October and November 1993. Drilling at six sites across the continental shelf and into the adjacent Irminger Basin provided a wealth of information about the tectonic and volcanic development of this margin, including the first penetration through the volcanic cover into underlying continental crust.

Sediments recovered during the first deep drilling at the southeast Greenland margin give a detailed chronology of oceanographic and climatological events in the North Atlantic, including the surprising discovery that glaciation began in southeast Greenland as long ago as 7 Ma, far earlier than previously thought. This glaciation was preceded by an influx of cold, North Atlantic Deep Water into the Irminger Basin.
Satellite anomalies linked to electron increase in the magnetosphere
Authors: Baker D. N. , Kanekal S. , Blake J. B. , Klecker B. , Rostoker G.
Published: October 2006

On January 20, 1994, at 1443 UT, the momentum wheel control circuitry of the Intelsat K spacecraft at geostationary orbit suffered an operational anomaly causing a loss of attitude control. The system was switched to the backup circuitry, and control was reestablished. The same day, at 1735 UT, the Anik E‐l spacecraft, also at geostationary orbit, suffered the same kind of operational anomaly in the momentum wheel control circuitry [Rostoker, 1994].

According to newspaper accounts the next day, Telesat Canada operators struggled for 8 hours to regain control of the Anik E‐1 satellite. They were able to finally switch to the backup momentum wheel controller and resume reasonably normal operations.
Kingma awarded Mineral and Rock Physics Award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Mineral and Rock Physics Award was presented to Kathleen J. Kingma at the 1993 AGU Fall Meeting. The annual award, given by the AGU Committee on Mineral and Rock Physics, recognizes an undergraduate or graduate student who exhibits unusual promise, as indicated by a letter of support and a published work.

Kingma received the award for her work in the area of pressure‐induced amorphization of minerals. In this work, she combined in situ high‐pressure diamond‐anvil cell techniques with high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy of quenched material to investigate the microstructural effects associated with these pressure‐induced transitions in quartz. The letters of nomination attributed her success to the way in which “she combines extraordinary abilities in the laboratory, where she is a tireless and meticulous worker, with a thorough knowledge of mineralogy.”
‘Fire and Ice’ Mission looks promising
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

A future joint U.S.‐Russian “Fire and Ice” mission to the Sun and Pluto is looking “very interesting and very feasible,” according to a joint technical review team on space science that met last week at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Although a concrete plan does not exist, the joint team is evaluating the possibility of sending two probes to explore the Sun and another two probes to fly by Pluto. As in the Ulysses mission to the Sun's poles, Jupiter would be used as a gravitational slingshot to position the probes into appropriate orbits. Each country would develop and monitor one craft in each pair of missions, but reigning technologies would be shared. For instance, the probes would be launched at the same time with the Russian proton rocket, according to Miriam Forman, a NASA cosmic and heliospheric scientist.
Mission employs Synthetic Aperture Radar to study global environment
Authors: Evans D. L.
Published: October 2006

Science data acquired by the first of at least two spaceborne imaging radar‐C, X‐band synthetic aperture radar (SIR‐C/X‐SAR) flights are being used by the international science community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The unique perspective of space and the multiparameter capabilities of SIR‐C/X‐SAR allow exploration of the planet in a way that has never before been possible. The first SIR‐C/X‐SAR mission provided a synoptic view of changes on a short temporal scale and a baseline from which longer‐term changes can be assessed in the future. The data acquired, in conjunction with aircraft and ground studies, will help to validate algorithms used to produce maps of vegetation type, biomass, and stand conditions; snow, soil, and vegetation moisture; and the distribution of wetlands.
Ulysses sees some solar surprises
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Ulysses will reach its maximum latitude this week, as the European Space Agency spacecraft continues its pass over the Sun's south polar region. The craft will climb to 80.2°south of the Sun's equator September 13.

Analyses of some surprising data from its trek across the mid‐latitudes have already expanded the frontier of knowledge about the nature of the Sun's corona and solar wind near the poles and have increased excitement in the science community about this first‐ever polar exploration.
Ocean drilling program sets 1995 objectives
Authors: Collins Bill
Published: October 2006

In April, the Ocean Drilling Program Planning Committee finalized objectives for seven legs of drilling in areas ranging from the equatorial Atlantic to the Arctic Ocean. Specific objectives include characterizing the nature of tectonism at transform and collisional margin settings, Arctic glaciation, and gas hydrates.

To investigate ridge crest hydrothermal systems, which play a fundamental role in transferring a large fraction of the heat from the Earth's interior to the surface, Leg 158 is planned for September 28 to November 23, 1994, at the TAG hydrothermal mound at 26°N on the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge. The drilling leg will characterize the fluid flow, geochemical fluxes, and associated alteration and mineralization of an active hydrothermal system on a slow‐spreading ridge.
Publications, peer review, and the young scientist
Authors: Kellett R. L.
Published: October 2006

As scientists and communicators, we all make our living through the expression of our ideas and the results of our scientific research. This expression takes many forms, but, most notably, published articles lie at the heart of our endeavors. I would like to present my opinions on some problems that I, as a young scientist, see in our profession.

Several years ago, two wonderful letters appeared in Geology discussing the problems of honorary coauthorship [Zen, 1988, Means, 1988]. Honorary coauthorship is a by‐product of the system set up to fund scientific research. More generally, the problem is the need to publish a great number of articles in order to survive.
Pacific toy spill fuels ocean current pathways research
Authors: Ebbesmeyer Curtis C. , Ingraham W. James
Published: October 2006

While a container vessel was crossing the North Pacific Ocean along the great circle route from Hong Kong to Tacoma, Wash., severe storm conditions were encountered near the International Date Line on January 10,1992. At44.7°N, 178.1°E, twelve 12.2‐m containers were washed overboard, one of which held about 29,000 plastic bathtub toy animals (Figure 1). Some of the steel cargo containers may have been torn open by the vessel's stays as they fell overboard or may have been ruptured by collisions with other containers.

Ten months after the spill, plastic toys began showing up on beaches near Sitka, Alaska. According to computer simulations the toys drifted toward the southeast Alaska coast, past both the site where about 61,000 Nike shoes spilled from a boat in 1990 and Ocean Weather Station Papa, where many drift bottles have been released.
Carbon dioxide maker
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

“The world's lakes are sources, rather than sinks, for atmospheric CO2,” George W. Kling of the University of Michigan reports in the September 9 issue of Science. On the basis of data from an assortment of more than 1800 lakes, the Michigan biologist and his colleagues found that nearly 90% of all lakes had carbon dioxide concentrations that were on average threefold greater than those of the surrounding atmosphere. Traditionally, many scientists have believed that lakes soak up atmospheric CO2—not pump it back into the atmosphere. This finding may indicate that land plants and soils play an important role in regulating lake ecosystems, Kling says, though the precise mechanism for the carbon transfer remains unknown.
National space academy proposal stalled in committee
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

A U.S. National Space Academy will likely remain a creature of the future—a cornerstone only of societies like that depicted in Star Trek's Next Generation.

That was the word from the House sub‐committee on space last week, which stymied a bill to establish a National Space Academy as a NASA initiative. The bill probably won't be revived again this year, according to its sponsor, Rep. James Traficant (D‐Ohio).
Time to reset the great count
Authors: Volk Tyler
Published: October 2006

I have come to a similar conclusion as Emiliani [1994] in one main point: that marking time from the event of Christ's birth has no significance for many of the world's cultures; indeed, the ubiquitous spread of the common era count is a common error [Volk, 1995]. Thus perhaps Agnew [1994], who believes that “Emiliani is the only person who has trouble with our calendar,” should talk to some Buddhists or Muslims.

Agnew, however, does damage Emiliani's proposed solution (to start a new great count at the beginning of the Holocene by establishing the birth of Christ at the year 10,000), which Agnew points out is too arbitrary. And, I might add, Emiliani's suggestion continues the essential cultural error—Christ's birth is now merely offset by a power of ten. This was also noted by Schaffer [1994].
Thermoelasticity of perovskite: An emerging consensus
Authors: Jeanloz Raymond , Hemley Russell J.
Published: October 2006

The current status of how well the thermoelastic properties of (Mg,Fe)SiO3 perovskite are known was addressed at a Special Session and Panel Discussion during the Fall 1993 AGU Meeting. Interest in the topic stems from the fact that silicate perovskite is the predominant mineral phase of the Earth's lower mantle, a region comprising over 60 (atomic) percent of the planet. Consequently, the properties of silicate perovskite largely control the evolution and state of the planetary interior.

The view emerging from the discussion was that after 10 years of intense study, the thermal and elastic properties of silicate perovskite are finally coming into focus. Indeed, the bulk modulus of (Mg,Fe)Si03 perovskite is now among the best determined of any mineral's. In addition, this is perhaps the only material for which the thermal expansion coefficient has been directly measured at lower‐mantle conditions of pressure and temperature. A number of other properties of silicate perovskites—some of which were discussed peripherally in the Special Session—are the subject of ongoing research and remain to be established. In contrast, there seems to be a growing consensus regarding several key thermoelastic properties that are vital for understanding the Earth's deep interior.
Experiment explores the dynamics of ocean mixing
Authors: Moum J. N. , Caldwell D. R.
Published: October 2006

In its experimental phase, the Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) amassed a wealth of data about the processes that maintain and perturb the western Pacific warm pool, which is believed to be a center of action for the El Nino‐Southern Oscillation phenomenon. The COARE data are now being analyzed by five major working groups. The results from this component of the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Program will make possible a much better understanding of the variability of the coupled ocean‐atmosphere systems on time‐scales of months to years.

To clarify the role of the mixing of heat and salt in the warm pool and its contributions to the ENSO mechanism, the Ocean Mixing Working Group is assessing the mechanisms for and the magnitude of vertical mixing between the upper ocean and the cooler, more saline, deep ocean. The group's work will also reveal the impact of episodic atmospheric events on the upper ocean's heat budget as well as their influence on sea surface temperature (SST) variations in the western Pacific Ocean. In particular, the group will map the spatial and temporal variation of the barrier layer and determine the processes by which it is modified and maintained.
Scientists conduct largest coastal experiment on record
Authors: Wakefield Julie
Published: October 2006

Duck, N.C.—Something out of the ordinary has been happening near this quiet, resort town on the Outer Banks. More than 100 coastal scientists, students, and technicians have descended on the Army Corps of Engineer's Waterways Experiment Station primarily to study movement of sediment in the surf zone. In fact, a large percentage of the U.S. near‐shore research community has flooded the Duck area to execute the largest coastal experiment ever undertaken. The researchers have brought with them more than 80 computers and an array of exotic gadgets to carry out “DUCK94,” an unprecedented project that has been three years in the making.
Science hiring and societal needs?
Authors: Klein George D.
Published: October 2006

As a 28‐year AGU member, I would like to share some perspectives on the recent Forum articles by Stephen T. Nelson and Jonathan E. Snow [Eos, June 28 and August 23] about employment for young Ph.D.s. Their concerns are legitimate, but not necessarily new. As survivors of the first “Nixon” recession in 1959–1960, my contemporaries and I could have written similar statements when completing a doctorate, but somehow we made our way.

However, times are definitely different now, and the difficulties Nelson and Snow described are real. So where does the problem lie? Is it just the lack of interest of senior members of AGU or is the problem beyond that perception?
International project seeks volunteer teachers
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

AGU is looking for a few good scientists. The task? To volunteer to teach atmospheric chemistry in areas around the world where new baseline monitoring stations are being developed.

Under the auspices of the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW), a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) program, AGU is recruiting an international team of lecturers to help establish atmospheric chemistry programs at universities and training centers in developing countries. GAW, an integral part of the World Climate Programme, plays a key role in determining whether the composition of the atmosphere is changing, and, if so, how, where and in what ways. GAW's primary focus is on atmospheric chemistry so the Watch is working with several international programs to foster indigenous capacity building in atmospheric chemistry in developing countries.
Hot and cold
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Stability doesn't always foster security. So say scientists in regard to the climate. Although the climate has been relatively stable since the last ice age, scientists have been unable to predict what may be in store for this interglacial period. Analyses of two recent sets of ice‐core data from Greenland yielded conflicting results. One suggested that climate instability characterized the last interglacial period; the other failed to corroborate such climate fluctuations. But new weather records based on pollen data indicate that climate fluctuations were likely commonplace in the last interglacial period. Accordingly, scientists cannot assume that this interglacial period will be stable, report Brian Huntley and his colleagues at the Environment Research Center, University of Durham, UK, in last week's Nature. The team analyzed pollen in sediments from 150,000 years ago to reconstruct temperature records for the last interglacial period. Because different species of plants thrive at different temperatures, the records can be deciphered.
Experiment investigates magma in the mantle beneath mid‐ocean ridges
Authors: Forsyth Donald W. , Chave Alan D.
Published: October 2006

Observations of oceanic ridges from the Mantle Electromagnetic and Tomography Experiment (MELT), the largest coordinated marine geophysical field program ever attempted, promise to distinguish between two competing models of magma generation. Funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the Ridge Interdisciplinary Global Experiments (RIDGE) program, the experiment will increase current understanding of where melt is formed and how it is transported to the ridge crest to form a new crust of seafloor.

The lack of direct, subsurface observations of the melt production region has led to the development of two classes of models that describe the nature of upwelling and melting beneath spreading centers (Figure 1). In passive flow models, viscous drag from the separating plates induces a broad zone of upwelling, with melt produced over a region that may be 100 km or more across. From this melt area, the magma migrates horizontally to a narrow zone at the ridge axis. In models of dynamic flow, in contrast, the buoyancy from retained melt within the mantle matrix, depletion of the mantle, and lower viscosity within the upwelling zone combine to focus upwelling and melting into a narrow zone perhaps only a few kilometers across. In dynamic models, melt transport is primarily vertical, without the horizontal component required by passive models.
New Moon findings will shine at Fall Meeting
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

NASA's and the Defense Department's darling, the Clementine mission, continues to yield exciting revelations about the Moon—the latest of which will be unveiled at AGU's Fall Meeting in San Francisco, December 5–9. A dozen planetology sessions will focus on the early fruits of Clementine's mapping expedition.

Before the Clementine mission, scientists had limited knowledge about the lunar crust and about how it may be compensated. But now they may have some answers. For starters, the internal structure and thermal history of the Moon are more complex than scientists previously believed, according to Maria Zuber of Johns Hopkins University, who will present a new analysis of Clementine data at the meeting.
In Brief: Dust on Mars
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Somewhat like a scene described in a Ray Bradbury science fiction novel, a global dust storm swept across Mars in 1994, according to a new analysis of radio telescope measurements taken in Arizona and Spain of the Martian atmosphere. Although scientists don't fully understand these storms, which happen every few years, they suspect the storms are triggered when sand‐sized particles skip across a very fine layer of dust on the planet's surface. Eventually, the dust swirls over the entire planet, turning the dark blue sky to bright red and blotting out the Sun for months. A similar storm occurred on Mars in 1992, but generally such storms have been occurring less frequently since the 1970s, ground‐based observations reveal. Between January and July of 1994, temperatures on Mars soared up to 100°F above prestorm levels, which is “a definite sign” of a global dust storm, says Todd Clancy, a researcher from the University of Colorado at Boulder. When tiny dust particles are stirred and suspended above the Mars surface, they absorb incoming sunlight and warm the entire atmosphere, explains Clancy, who presented a paper on the Martian dust storm at the American Astronomical Society annual Division for Planetary Science Meeting.
Computing in the geosciences kindles interdisciplinary discussion
Authors: King S. D. , Yuen D. A.
Published: October 2006

Researchers from different backgrounds met to share information about large‐scale numerical simulations in mantle convection, algorithmic developments, scientific visualization, data‐processing, and seismic wave propagation at a special session devoted to high‐performance computing in geosciences at the 1994 AGU Spring Meeting. The session sparked discussions between diverse segments of the community and is very timely in view of the high‐performance computing activities recently sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and NASA.

As S. Balachandar pointed out, there are three main issues for high‐performance computing: efficient and accurate computations, data compression and storage, and interpretation and post‐processing of large data sets. The first issue naturally comes to mind when the phrase “high‐performance computing” is heard, but data compression and postprocessing present equally important challenges. Storing output from a three‐dimensional computation that has 256 nodes along each side with four variables at each node—be it for mantle convection, ocean or atmospheric circulation, or seismic wave modeling—for 5000 time steps requires 2.6 Terrabytes of storage. While computers and algorithms to consider such a grid may exist, storing the results of such a computation are not feasible given the current networking and disk storage infrastructure.
Angelopoulos receives Scarf Award
Authors: Lee Martin
Published: October 2006

AGU's third annual F.L. Scarf Award has been awarded to Vassilis Angelopoulos for his Ph.D. thesis, “Transport Phenomena in the Earth's Plasma Sheet,” which he completed at the University of California, Los Angeles, under the supervision of Charles Kennel. As part of the award, Angelopoulos will give an invited talk on a related topic at the upcoming AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

The award was established to honor Fred L. Scarf, a pioneer and leader in solar‐planetary research. The award is given by the Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) section for outstanding dissertation research that contributes directly to solar‐planetary science. The major criterion for the award is the impact or potential impact of the research on the field of solar‐planetary studies. The awardee receives $1000 and is invited to deliver a paper at one of the following year's AGU meetings.
Abandoned SSC Site can provide underground facility for geoscience research
Authors: Wang Herbert F. , Myer Larry R. , Witherspoon Paul A. , Nelson Priscilla P. , Logan John M. , Dutton Alan R. , Younker Leland W.
Published: October 2006

By the time Congress terminated the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) project in October 1993, the Department of Energy and the state of Texas had sunk $2 billion into the project. Now closure and remediation of the disturbed surface and subsurface lands are underway with a budget of $22 million, according to a recent agreement between the DOE and Texas. Rather than chalking up the creation of the large, expensive hole in the ground to failure, however, some are hailing the site as an excellent test‐bed for geoenvironmental and geotechnical research (Figure 1). They hope to use the site's tunnel, exploratory shaft, and test wells to identify new and improved methods for investigating subsurface fluid flow and transport processes, to characterize physical properties of weak and fractured rock through geophysics and geomechanical testing, and to test model predictions through large‐scale experiments conducted underground.
Research cruise yields new details of Macquarie ridge complex
Authors: Coffin Millard F. , Karner Garry D. , Faley David A.
Published: October 2006

During a 44‐day expedition on board the Australian vessel Rig Seismic, scientists collected new information on the morphology of the Macquarie Ridge Complex (MRC), located at the boundary between the Pacific and Australian plates. In the joint venture, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and Australian Geological Survey Organization (AGSO), investigators from the two countries studied deformation in the area along the MRC, which includes the site of the largest earthquake of the 1980s (May 23, 1989, Mω=8.2).

The researchers acquired ∼160,000 km2 of HAWAII MR1 (HIG acoustic wide‐angle imaging instrument, mapping researcher 1) side‐scan sonar/bathymetry images and ∼7000 km of 8‐channel seismic reflection data (Figure 1). In addition, three ∼400‐km gravity transects of the MRC were completed across the morphologic ridge and trench system. The transects were augmented by 96‐channel seismic reflection imaging across the morphologic ridge and trench system. Gravity and magnetic data were collected during the entire survey.
Comment on “Antarctic drill extracts new core for climate studies”
Authors: Waddington E. D. , Grootes P. M. , Denton G. H. , Drewry D. J.
Published: October 2006

The March 15 issue of Eos reported completion of a new ice core drilled to bedrock in Antarctica (Antarctic drill extracts new core for climate studies, Eos, 75(11), 129). A paleoclimate record over a large part of the last ice age—possibly 60,000 years or longer—is expected from the site, identified in the article as McMurdo Dome.

We wish to clarify two points. First, the 200,000 year paleoclimate record reported in the March 15 story is incorrect. Second, we wish to forestall future confusion in the literature in regard to the name McMurdo Dome used in the Eos article. On the basis of an airborne radio‐echo sounding survey, Drewry [1980] first recognized the existence of an ice dome of approximately 30×80 km on the East Antarctic Plateau west of the Dry Valleys. Because the dome is the source of Taylor Glacier in Taylor Valley, he called the feature Taylor Dome. However, in the absence of an official name, the variant, McMurdo Dome, was also used in the literature [Denton et al., 1989], and for operations and field planning within the U.S. Antarctic Program.
Solar activity and geomagnetic storms: The corpuscular hypothesis
Authors: Cliver E. W.
Published: October 2006

An earlier article published in the December 6, 1994, issue of Eos traced the history of solar‐terrestrial relations from 1852, when Sabine discovered that the 11‐year sunspot and geomagnetic activity cycles waxed and waned in unison, to the early 1890s. The narrative here picks up in 1892, a year of fomentation that led to the development of the corpuscular hypothesis by Maunder, Birkeland, Chapman, Ferraro, and others.

Magnetism was “in the air” in 1892. This seminal year for solar activity saw several remarkable developments, not all of which were positive or bore immediate fruit, but each provided stimulus and a basis for subsequent progress.
Red sprites and blue jets: High‐altitude optical emissions linked to lightning
Authors: Sentman D. D. , Wescott E. M.
Published: October 2006

Two newly discovered classes of high‐altitude atmospheric flashes excited by lightning suggest that the electrical interactions between the lower atmosphere and the upper atmosphere and ionosphere are greater than previously thought. These optical emissions, known as red sprites and blue jets, occur between the tops of some thunderstorms and the ionosphere. Although scattered sightings of these fleeting emissions had been reported for more than a century, it wasn't until about 5 years ago that their existence was first documented.
Mystery ship detected in SAR image
Authors: Liu A. K. , Peng C. Y. , Chang Y.‐S.
Published: October 2006

Ships and their wakes can often be detected in the high‐resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery provided by satellites. Image processing techniques can be used to enhance extremely weak ship wake patterns, but occasionally, the ship in the SAR image remains invisible. In the SAR image below (Figure 1), two trailing, dark, turbulent wakes are seen. In addition to the dark, turbulent wakes, one side of a ship's Kelvin wake can sometimes be seen as a bright line. One of the ships is seen as a bright spot caused by backscattering at the end of the trail above A in Figure 1. The other ship remains hidden, however.
What a baby
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event that stretched from 1990 until the middle of last year was not just the longest observed in 130 years of record‐keeping. It was probably a once‐in‐two‐thousand‐years event, according to two scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). It was, perhaps, a harbinger of global climate change in progress.

Using records from Darwin, Australia and from Tahiti, Kevin Trenberth and Timothy Hoar of NCAR's Climate and Global Dynamics Division found that from December 1989 to May 1995, pressures averaged 0.94 millibars above the 100‐year average (1882–1981). Using those same records, the researchers developed a statistical model of El Niño and simulated seasonal fluctuations over the course of a million years.
Drilling probes Mediterranean climate and oceanography
Authors:   ODP Legs 160 and 161 Shipboard Scientific Party
Published: October 2006

Marine sediments are an important repository of information on climatic change, and retrieving sediment sequences from climate‐sensitive areas is an important aspect of paleoclimate research. In the spring of 1995, over 7000 m of sediments that reach back more than 5 million years to the Miocene/Pliocene boundary were recovered in the Mediterranean by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Legs 160 and 161. Because the Mediterranean is a semi‐enclosed, land‐locked basin with restricted, open‐ocean water exchange, the composition of these sediments is especially sensitive to climate change, and environmental signals are preserved in great detail.
Geophysical science in the 1996 budget
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

President Clinton released on February 6 his fiscal year 1996 budget for $1.6 million. In light of the prevailing move toward a leaner government, science and technology seemed to fare relatively well with a $72.9 billion slice of the pie, which would essentially keep spending at current levels barring inflation.

Director of the office of Science and Technology Policy Jack Gibbons commented that the budget—which amounts to a real cut of about 3%—“reflects the President's commitment to investing in science and technology and education.”
Earth's plasmasphere awaits rediscovery
Authors: Carpenter D. L.
Published: October 2006

The plasmasphere is a high‐density, toruslike inner magnetospheric region whose configuration and dynamics are highly sensitive to disturbance activity in the solar‐terrestrial environment. Although many space scientists consider the plasmasphere to be a phenomenon of modest geophysical importance, one that has long been relatively well measured and understood, I disagree. The dynamic plasmasphere remains a theater of discovery as well as an arena for problem solving. It is geophysically important and offers many exciting and largely unmet challenges to both the experimenter and the theorist.
Radiative flux opens new window on climate research
Authors: Pinker R. T. , Laszlo I. , Whitlock C. H. , Charlock T. P.
Published: October 2006

For several decades, global satellites observations have been made of the rate at which electromagnetic energy (radiative flux) is emerging from the top of the atmosphere of our planet in the spectral range of about 0.2–50.0 μn. At the same time, models have been developed to infer the radiative flux at the surface from the values observed by the satellites at the upper boundary. The balance of incoming and outgoing radiative flux (radiation budget) at both boundaries, determines the net gain or loss of the radiative energy within an atmospheric column. This information can be used for improving our understanding of atmospheric dynamics, namely, motions responsible for our weather.
Wavelet analysis provides a new tool for studying Earth's rotation
Authors: Chao Benjamin Fong , Naito Isao
Published: October 2006

The solid Earth's rotation varies slightly with time due to geophysical processes that involve motions and redistributions of mass occurring on or within the Earth, as dictated by the conservation of angular momentum. In particular, these variations Δ LOD) in the atmosphere in terms of the axial atmospheric anglar momentum (AAM) are the primary cause for nontidal length‐of‐day variations on timescales of several days to several years [e.g., Rosen, 1993]. Here Δ LOD is a convenient measure of Earth's rotational speed relative to the uniform time kept by atomic clocks.
International effort helps decipher mysteries of paleoclimate from Antarctic ice cores
Authors:   Vostok Project Members
Published: October 2006

Ice cores drilled at Vostok Station, Antarctica, and studied over the past 10 years by Russia, France, and the United States (Figure 1) are providing a wealth of information about past climate and environmental changes over more than a full glacial‐interglacial cycle. The ice cores show that East Antarctica was colder and drier during glacial periods than during the Holocene and that large‐scale atmospheric circulation was more vigorous during glacial times. They also support evidence from deep‐sea sediment studies favoring orbital forcing of Pleistocene climate, reveal direct correlations of carbon dioxide and methane concentrations with temperature, and indicate how the accumulation of trace compounds have changed through time.
Neptune's nemesis
Authors: Hammel Heidi ,   NASA
Published: October 2006

Radical. That's the word on the changes Neptune has undergone since 1989, according to Heidi Hammel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Recent images from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal that a new spot has emerged in the northern hemisphere of this aquamarine‐colored gaseous planet(see photo inset). The new spot, believed to be a huge storm system, is a near mirror‐image of a previous spot in the southern hemisphere, which was discovered by Voyager 2 in a 1989 fly‐by. Last June, Hubble images revealed that this first great dark spot had disappeared.
Promises kept?
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

As if scientists haven't heard enough bad news on the fiscal year 1996 budget, Senate and House Republicans led by Pete V. Domenici (R‐N.M.) and John Kasich (R‐Ohio), respectively, released their plans last week to balance the federal budget by the year 2002, as promised. To save about $960 billion from current spending levels, the Senate plan would eliminate, among other federal programs, the Commerce Department, trim $6.7 billion from the Science, Space and Technogology budget, which includes NASA, Department of Energy research programs, and National Science Foundation (NSF), reduce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expenditures, and get rid of the National Biological Service.
WMO summit on exchange of weather data may yield to status quo
Authors: Wakefield Julie
Published: October 2006

A stalemate may seal the stormy debate over the free exchange of weather data at the upcoming Congress of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that begins May 26 in Geneva, U.S. officials say. The central conflict is how to maintain open access for academics while allowing government and industry players to have commercialism.

European nations are pushing for a vote on a proposal to develop a two‐tiered system for the exchange of international meteorological data. The first‐tier data—to include mainly synoptic‐scale information—would be freely exchanged internationally; distribution of the second‐tier data would be regulated by guidelines established by WMO.
Scholer begins 1995”1997 tenure at GRL
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Manfred Scholer of the Max‐Planck‐Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik has been named European Regional Editor of Geophysical Research Letters to serve with Vincent Courtillot. He brings to this GRL editorship valuable experience as an associate editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research—Space Physics from 1986 to 1988. He received a citation for excellence in reviewing of JGR in 1991.

Scholer's breadth of knowledge in space physics is wide; his research area ranges from solar physics, heliospheric physics, and galactic cosmic ray physics to the study of the magnetosphere and ionosphere. Other research interests include spacecraft data analysis, theory, and numerical modeling, particularly numerical modeling of space physics processes. He served as coinvestigator on the ISEE‐1, ISEE‐3 (ICE), and the SAMPEX missions, and is currently the coinvestigator on the Cluster and SOHO missions.
Career Planning Workshop offers advice on landing a job
Authors: Fiske Peter S.
Published: October 2006

As part of a continuing program on career planning and job hunting skills for geoscientists, AGU sponsored a career workshop at the Fall 1994 meeting in San Francisco. Over 100 attended the 2‐hour seminar led by Peter Fiske, a post‐doc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Al Levin, assistant director of graduate counseling and programs at Stanford University's Career Planning and Placement Center. The purpose of the seminar was to help Ph.D.s identify the transferable skills they possess and to outline the basic steps in making the often difficult transition to a new career outside of research science. According to Fiske and Levin, scientists tend to start their career change by searching for specific jobs and organizations they think might be a good match for their technical training and tend to assume that a technical position is the only good match for them. In fact, research‐trained scientists possess a number of transferable skills that are valued in a wide variety of work environments, such as good communication, organizational, and team work skills, and independence.
Meeting zeros in on past global change in western North America
Authors: Anderson Roger Y. , Dunbar Robert B.
Published: October 2006

A major effort is under way to reconstruct past changes in climate in western North America to address uncertainties in predicting physical and biologic responses to climate change at societal timescales. Sixty scientists from an array of disciplines recently met in Albuquerque to explore the reconstruction and modeling methods that can maximize the scientific return of this effort. Paleoclimate transects are one strategy for organizing climate‐related research.

Past Global Changes (PAGES), a core projectof the International Geosphere‐Biosphere Program, is using several paleoclimate transects which will eventually comprise a global network of paleoclimatological sites. PEP‐I—which this article discusses—is comprised of North and South America, PEP‐II covers Australia and Asia, and PEP‐III includes Africa and Europe.
Smith accepts JGR‐Oceans editorship
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Walker O. Smith, Jr. has accepted the title of biological oceanography editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research—Oceans, serving a term of 1995–1998. Smith received his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1976 and is currently professor and associate director of the Graduate Program in Ecology at the University of Tennessee.

As a graduate student, Smith worked in a study of coastal upwelling ecosystems, and from that training learned the value of collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches to oceanographic problems.
Hough becomes Eos Seismology Section Editor
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Susan E. Hough of the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena has been named the Seismology Editor of Eos for a term extending through 1997. She succeeds Peter Malin of Duke University.