bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dobson on the ozone
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Editor's Note: It is appropriate for the geophysical community this year to remember the work of G. M. B. Dobson, a pioneer in atmospheric ozone research, on the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1889. A recent resurgence of interest in depletion of stratospheric ozone and the role of chlorofluorocarbons has been sparked by the report of Farman et al. [1985], who found a steady decrease in the October mean total ozone concentrations over Antarctica since the 1970s, from ∼300 to ∼180 Dobson units (1 Dobson unit = 1 matm cm of ozone). A special session A07, entitled “Ozone Depletion in the Polar Stratosphere” will be held at the 1989 Spring AGU meeting in Baltimore, Md. The paragraph below from Dobson [1968] was brought to our attention by M. Nicolet, Brussels, Belgium.
Elemental cycling and fluxes off southern California
Authors: Jackson George A. , Azam Farooq , Carlucci Angelo F. , Eppley Richard W. , Williams Peter M. , Finney Bruce , Chih‐An Huh , Small Lawrence F. , Gorsline Donn S. , Hickey Barbara , Jahnke Richard A. , Kaplan Issac R. , Venkatesan M. I. , Landry Michael R. , Wong Kai M.
Published: October 2006

California Basin Study (CaBS) is a multi‐institutional, multidisciplinary project funded by the Ecological Sciences Division of the U.S. Department of Energy to study processes that control cycling and vertical transport of energy‐related materials off the southern California coast. This region is heavily used for such human activities as oil drilling and transport, shipping, electricity generation by nuclear and fossil fuel plants, and disposal of municipal sewage. CaBS emphasis has been on particle transport and transformation and has focused on the Santa Monica and San Pedro basins, immediately offshore of Los Angeles. Earlier work in the Southern California area has been summarized by Eppley [1986].
Water supply outlook
Authors: Bush Susan M.
Published: October 2006

Hydroiogic extremes in several areas of the country may be t h e fare this spring, according to Michael D. Hudlow, director of hydrology at the National Weather Service. Abovenormal precipitation/snowfall occurred across parts of the western U.S., a n d above‐normal precipitation occurred across most of t h e Mississippi Valley during the first 3 months of the 1989 water year (October–December 1988). Effects of the 1988 water year (October 1987–September 1988), one of the driest in over 50 years, still persist in terms of low reservoir storage.

Northern California, where the snowpack is below normal, may be facing its third consecutive dry year. Average reservoir storage is only 50%, and no river system will receive more than 75% of its normal runoff. NWS's meteorological outlook for March calls for above‐average rainfall for California and the northwest.
Rainfall Fields: Estimation, Analysis, and Prediction
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The problem of predicting rainfall and its characteristics has always been one of overriding concern for both hydrologists and meteorologists. Yet, for decades the two disciplines have pursued its solution using radically different techniques and communicating relatively little about recent advances in understanding rainfall processes, new technology, and improvements in predictive skill.

Meteorologists tend to publish in journals that deal almost exclusively with atmospheric processes, while hydrologists prefer media which focus on the Earth's surface and below. Meteorologists tend to concentrate on developing and improving numerical hydrodynamical models of the atmospheric processes that generate rainfall. Their approach is essentially to solve an initial value problem where the observed three‐dimensional state of the atmosphere is input to the model and the rainfall is one of the output parameters.
Reply to Graham
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

In the January 24, 1989, issue of Eos, the publication “Our Changing Planet,” issued with President Reagan's budget, was summarized. The document describes U.S. plans for global change research. Also noted in the Eos article was the establishment of a special AGU panel to review this document.

A letter from the President's Science Advisor, William R. Graham, Office of Science and Technology Policy, requesting AGU's comments, was published in the February 28 issue of Eos. The panel has now completed its work, and the Council has voted on the appropriate reply to Graham. The resulting letter from AGU President Don Anderson to Graham is below. Individual copies of the full panel report can be obtained by writing Judi Martin, Research Programs, AGU, 2000 Florida Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20009.
Committee on solid‐earth sciences
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Committee on the Solid‐Earth Sciences has been established by the National Research Council, under the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, to prepare the first major assessment of the state of our knowledge of the basic and applied solid‐Earth sciences.

The Board noted that “Three decades of extraordinary discoveries have stimulated the earth sciences to a level of activity never before achieved, but much still remains to be done if the momentum of discovery is to be maintained … Therefore, it is now timely and very important to formulate a far‐reaching plan and effective agenda for the basic and applied solid‐earth sciences.”
Front Range Report, Abstracts
Authors: Spence William
Published: October 2006

The second regional conference of the Front Range Branch, AGU, was attended by more than 80 professionals and some 20 outstanding high school students. The conference included 2 days of interdisciplinary talks, and lots of discussion, that primarily were keyed to geophysical studies of Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Other talks reported on nonregional, and sometimes global, studies being done by geophypsicists of the Front Range region.

Topics included tectonics of the Front Range and the Colorado Plateau, pollution of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers, and a supreme polluting event that caused the late‐Cretaceous extinctions. Other notable talks were on toxic cleanup, microburst (wind shear) detection at U.S. airports, and other meteorological studies. Several talks treated the audience to the excitement of new work and surprise discoveries. The meeting was multimedia, including the playing of two videos through a projection TV and the playing of a fascinating tape between an airport control tower and incoming pilots during a severe microburst event.
Solar‐terrestrial processes at SAMA, from balloon observations to a satellite project
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

By using balloon X ray and electric field measurements [Gonzalez et al., 1982; Pinto and Gonzalez, 1986”, it has been suggested [Gonzalez et al., 1987] that localized relativistic electron precipitation seems to occur at the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA) during the recovery phase of intense geomagnetic storms. Those measurements were obtained from balloons launched at Brazilian sites.

This type of precipitation seems to consist of narrow latitudinal bands, localized at low L values, where precipitation tends to be enhanced. Candidate processes to explain its origin are cyclotron resonances of inner‐belt relativistic electrons with plasmaspheric hiss [Gonzalez et al., 1987; Pinto and Gonzalez, 1988]. These waves have been shown to exist predominantly during the recovery phase of storms and to have density peaks at very low L values, off the equator [Tsurutani et al., 1975], right at the latitudes that correspond to the balloon measurements.
Committee on large‐scale experimentation
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles concerning the activities and the people concerned with committees of the Hydrology Section of AGU. The series is designed to keep the several thousand Hydrology Section members better informed about their section.

There is a broad consensus among hydrologists that further progress leading to a better understanding of some crucial hydrologic phenomena must be based on comprehensive experimentation at the mesoscales. The committee was established in order to promote and coordinate participation in this important activity and to make the membership aware of the obtained results and programs. Members of the committee have been actively involved in several experiments, which have taken place already or which are in the planning stage.
Global research on the Cretaceous
Authors: Ginsburg Robert N.
Published: October 2006

Cretaceous Resources, Events and Rhythms, a new international research effort on the global aspects of Cretaceous sedimentary geology, is underway. This Global Sedimentary Geology Project (GSGP) is organized by the Commission on Global Sedimentary Geology of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). The GSGP secretariat is at the University of Miami, Florida (Fisher Island, Miami Beach, FL 33139, tel. 305‐672‐1840, RNGINSBURG/KOSMOS).

Cretaceous time was selected for this pilot research project because Cretaceous sea levels and climates can provide a vision of Earth in its “greenhouse state,” because there is an established geochronology for the era's wide‐spread deposits, and because there are extensive resources of hydrocarbons, coal, bauxite and other minerals in Cretaceous rocks.
Antarctic Geoscience Initiative
Authors: Dalziel Ian W. D. , Zimmerman Herman B.
Published: October 2006

Antarctia has recently been described as a continent surrounded by advice. The advice stems from growing realization of the Antarctic's importance in many aspects of globalscale Earth science. This article outlines a U.S. and international initiative to move solid‐Earth scientists from an advisory role to one of acquiring new data bearing on the structure and evolution of the ice‐covered Antarctic lithosphere.

The initiative has marine, airborne, and terrestrial components; plans for all three are underway. Platforms exist for undertaking the work at sea and in the air, but land geophysical techniques need to be adapted to the Antarctic environment. An international workshop to plan modern over‐ice geoscience transects will be convened in Washington, D.C., July 19–22 in conjunction with the 28th International Geological Congress (IGC).
Data, the last word: Keep “Data” for data
Authors: Taylor Ronald C.
Published: October 2006

Marcia Neugebauer's letter (Eos, February 28, p. 129) is yet another reminder that we live in an age of declining literacy. As she correctly observes, the mistaken use of the word “data” for “numerical results” is now widespread, though her suggested solution may be misguided. I see no reason why those who are unable to use language properly should be rewarded with a special word unless it is intended to commemorate ignorance or enshrine slovenly habits o f thought in some novel way. Rather, I urge editors to sustain Neugebauer's preference for the use of existing language to clarify essential distinctions and I urge the rest of us to practice the good sense embodied in Jacque Barzun's essay, “On the Need of an Orderly Mind,” (by Willson Follett, in Modern American Usage, edited by Jacque Barzun, pp. 13–20, Hill and Wang, New York, 1966), or to adopt the trenchant advice of Schopenhauer in his essay “On Style,” in The Works of Schopenhauer, edited by Will Durant, pp. 507–521, Garden City Publishing Co., New York, 1928.
Fourth International Mars Conference
Authors: Jakosky Bruce M. , Kieffer Hugh H. , Snyder Conway W.
Published: October 2006

The Fourth International Conference on Mars was held January 10–13 in Tucson, Ariz. The major objectives were to summarize what is thought to be fairly well known about Mars at the beginning of a new era of spacecraft exploration and to focus discussion on areas of continuing uncertainty. A parallel objective was to provide a forum for discussion and stimulation that will facilitate concentration of the observations and analyses of upcoming missions. To this end, the themes of the conference were to summarize those aspects that are known with reasonable confidence, to identify the key points at which interpretations diverge, to discuss the implications of alternate interpretations, and to identify key future measurements.
Bromley appointed Science Advisor
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

President Bush has appointed D. Allan Bromley, a Yale nuclear physicist, as the White House science advisor. The position is now called Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, a possible indication of the larger role Bush has said the science advisor will have in domestic and foreign policy decisions.

Bromley is director of the Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale and has been on numerous government science panels, including the Physics Survey Committee and the Naval Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Committee of the International Council of Scientific Unions.
Outstanding student papers 1988 Fall Meeting
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

As a means of encouraging and recognizing student participation, AGU sections may select Outstanding Student Papers at AGU meetings. Three AGU sections chose to award Outstanding Student Papers at the 1988 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco.
How good are our best models? Jackknifing, bootstrapping, and earthquake depth
Authors: Tichelaar Bart W. , Ruff Larry J.
Published: October 2006

Many techniques have been developed to extract a model from data. In general, these techniques are based on minimization of the misfit between measured data and predicted “data.” The model is connected to the predicted “data” by a physical theory. To know how good the model is, one must evaluate model variance. Since the data variance, or alternatively the misfit, is generally nonzero, model variance is generally nonzero. In many cases, the model is a linear function of the data, and model variance can be estimated by formally mapping the data variance to model space [e.g., Menke, 1984].
Energetics and dynamics of solar activity
Authors: Van Hoven Gerard
Published: October 2006

The activity of the Sun occurs in the solar atmosphere and is driven and confined by the Sun's magnetic field. The plasma atmosphere comprises the cool (≲ 104K) and dense chromosphere, an intermediate transition region, and the hot (Tc ≳ 106K) and diffuse (nc 108 cm−3) corona; the solar atmosphere has been well observed from the ultraviolet through hard X rays, by the Skylab and Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft, among others. The atmospheric magnetic field has its source in the solar interior and is driven and energized by the global differential rotation and local turbulent motions at the visible photospheric surface; this field is mostly known from Zeeman‐effect and microwave measurements. The magnetic field lines return to the surface in active regions and are open in coronal holes that provide the source for the solar wind.
Diverse responses to global change
Authors: Bush Susan M.
Published: October 2006

Diversity describes the reaction to the very current issue of global warming, although most scientists and policymakers agree that there is a real threat to the world. Their message is an urgent, “We have to act now,” not 10 years from now when we are more certain that changes in climate result from human activity.

The National Academy of Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Sigma Xi held the 2‐day Forum on Global Change and Our Common Future, May 2 and 3 in Washington, D.C. It was a public meeting, with the aim of presenting the science of global change, its impact on society, and implications for public policy.
Geophysics benefits
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

An agreement signed May 6 between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. creates new opportunities for joint geophysical research programs. Dallas Peck, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, and Erich Bloch, director of the National Science Foundation signed two agreements for basic scientific research with the Soviets to establish links between between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Soviet Ministry of Geology and between the National Science Foundation and the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The USGS agreement also establishes a connection with the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

The Memoranda of Understanding are the first to be developed under the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Basic Scientific Research signed in January, by then Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. The agreements address cooperation in basic rather than applied science and establish a formal mechanism for access to research facilities and support involving NSF, universities, the Soviet Academy of Sciences, USGS, and the Soviet Ministry of Geology.
Beyond “data”
Authors: Chamberlain Joseph W.
Published: October 2006

I wish Marcia Neugebauer the best of luck as she assumes the job of Editor in Chief of Reviews of Geophysics. I hope she recovers her stolen word “data” (Eos, February 28, p. 129), but I don't hold much hope. She is doomed at the start by using as her authority, Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, which often seems to have been written by Humpty Dumpty, who insisted that a word could mean whatever the master chooses it to mean.

Old‐timers will recall the ruckus raised by purists when the Third first appeared in 1961. Take the word “data” (but not in Henny Youngman's “please” sense that Neugebauer finds deplorable): The Third already acknowledged that “data” is often used as a singular noun, and the recently issued Ninth Webster's Collegiate, which is the most recent version still based on the Third, goes the remaining distance and accepts this wide current usage as being correct. As far as Neugebauer's complaint is concerned, namely that “computer modelers … have started using ‘data’ for their products,” the Third gives as definition b(2), “detailed information of any kind.” You can't fight Humpty Dumpty.

I wish Marcia Neugebauer the best of luck as she assumes the job of Editor in Chief of Reviews of Geophysics. I hope she recovers her stolen word “data” (Eos, February 28, p. 129), but I don't hold much hope. She is doomed at the start by using as her authority, Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, which often seems to have been written by Humpty Dumpty, who insisted that a word could mean whatever the master chooses it to mean.

Old‐timers will recall the ruckus raised by purists when the Third first appeared in 1961. Take the word “data” (but not in Henny Youngman's “please” sense that Neugebauer finds deplorable): The Third already acknowledged that “data” is often used as a singular noun, and the recently issued Ninth Webster's Collegiate, which is the most recent version still based on the Third, goes the remaining distance and accepts this wide current usage as being correct. As far as Neugebauer's complaint is concerned, namely that “computer modelers … have started using ‘data’ for their products,” the Third gives as definition b(2), “detailed information of any kind.” You can't fight Humpty Dumpty.
NASA shuffle
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

Samuel W. Keller, an experienced official of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration with a background in engineering, has been named by NASA Administrator Richard Truly to succeed Noel Hinners as Associate Deputy Administrator of NASA, the agency's third‐highest position. Most of the duties of Hinners' other job as NASA Chief Scientist will fall to Lennard Fisk, head of the Office of Space Science arid Applications.

Keller's responsibilities will include management of NASA field centers, employees, renovating facilities, and other institutional matters. “‘Everything but the program’ is it's usually characterized,” Keller said of the job in an interview.
Ocean color: Availability of the global data set
Authors: Feldman Gene , Kuring Norman , Ng Carolyn , Esaias Wayne , McClain Chuck , Elrod Jane , Maynard Nancy , Endres Dan , Evans Robert , Brown Jim , Walsh Sue , Carle Mark , Podesta Guillermo
Published: October 2006

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration/ Goddard Space Flight Center's Nimbus Project Office, in collaboration with the NASA/GSFC Space Data and Computing Division, the NASA/GSFC Laboratory for Oceans and the University of Miami/Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, have undertaken to process all data acquired by the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) to Earth‐gridded geophysical values and to provide ready access to data products [Esaias et al., 1986].

An end‐to‐end data system utilizing recent advances in data base management and both digital and analog optical disc storage technologies has been developed to handle the processing, analysis, quality control, archiving and distribution of this data set. A more complete description of this system, which has been fully operational for the past 2 years, is in preparation. The entire Level‐1 data set (see Tables 1, 2) has been copied from magnetic tape to digital optical disc, and all data from the first 32 months (50% of the total scenes acquired, and covering the period November 1978 through June 1981) have been processed to Levels 2 and 3 and are now available for distribution. The remainder of the data set should be completed and released by fall 1989.
New ride on an old wave
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

A technique that applies inversion theory to tsunamis has led to a new branch of seismology and a tool for studying earthquakes that have left records on tide gauges but not on seismographs.

For many years seismic waves have been used to piece together the complex tectonic motions of faults that create earthquakes. Now a Japanese seismologist has shown that the same methodology can be applied to tsunamis (Japanese for harbor wave), the powerful, sometimes catastrophic ocean waves that can result from submarine earthquakes. The method is potentially important because it is independent of seismic analysis and can be used to look at past earthquakes for which no seismic data are available.
1989 Fleming Medal presented to Donald A. Gurnett
Authors: Helliwell R. A. , Gurnett D. A.
Published: October 2006

It is a great pleasure for me to present the citation for the 1989 Fleming Medal, awarded to Professor Donald A. Gurnett, a leader in the experimental study of waves in space plasmas. Don Gurnett's scientific findings are widely recognized, not only for their intrinsic value but for their use in new diagnostic techniques. For example, he has invented new methods for the measurements of the in situ concentrations of electrons and ions using various observed wave‐particle resonances. Such measurements, obtained with a plasma wave instrument (PWI), have become a necessary part of any comprehensive study of space plasmas, and are a direct result of Don's pioneering efforts.
Ocean sciences section starts new committee
Authors: Hickey Barbara
Published: October 2006

To maximize our ability to obtain recognition of Ocean Sciences Section members as Fellows of AGU while minimizing the associated workload, I have, in consultation with our executive committee, established an Ocean Sciences Fellows Committee chaired by the President‐Elect to oversee and assist in the nomination process.

The committee asks that anyone wanting to make a nomination send a one‐page proposal telling why an individual should be a Fellow. Proposals will be reviewed by the commitee, and a number equal to 1½ to 2 times our nomination quota will be chosen for full presentation. Committee members will then work with nominators to select and contact seconders, while the nominator provides the required curriculum vitae and publication list. The committee will assist in any manner possible to insure that the files that go forward are both timely and well documented.
View through ice
Authors: Molnia Bruce F. , Jones John E.
Published: October 2006

Field investigations of the Malaspina Glacier, Alaska (Figure 1), were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in late September 1988, to examine areas of the glacier's surface which had produced unusual backscatter responses (see cover and Figure 2) on X‐band side‐looking airborne radar (SLAR). SLAR imagery of the Malaspina Glacier was collected for the USGS by INTERATechnologies, Inc., in November 1986, as part of a systematic program to produce radar image mosaics of the Yakutat, Mt. Fairweather, Mt. Saint Elias, Icy Bay, and Bering Glacier 1° × 2° quadrangles. These data are the first digitally acquired, X‐band, high‐resolution, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) of coastal, south central Alaska and the Malaspina Glacier. The Xband SLAR operates at a frequency of 9.6 GHz with a wavelength of 3.2 cm. The only other previously available, nonproprietary, SAR imagery of the Malaspina Glacier is much lower‐resolution, L‐band, SEASAT SAR, obtained in 1978. SEASAT operated at a frequency of 1.3 GHz with a wavelength of 23.5 cm. The resolution of SEASAT is about 25 m, while the SLAR data have a resolution of about 10 m. The backscatter features observed on the X‐band SLAR imagery are only poorly discernible on SEASAT data.
The role of NASA in geodynamics research: Past and future
Authors: Flinn Edward A. , Baltuck Miriam
Published: October 2006

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is now in the early stages of development of a long‐term plan for its research activities in geophysics and geodynamics for the years beyond 1991. The purpose of this article is to make the scientific community aware of possibilities for NASA involvement in geophysics and geodynamics during this period, starting from the position we have reached after twenty years of involvement in space applications to geodesy and geodynamics.
1989 Spring Meeting of AGU and MSA
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The 1989 Spring Meeting of AGU was held jointly with the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) in Baltimore, Md., May 8–12, 1989. This was the first time that the MSA and AGU met together. Nearly 2700 people attended and about 1920 papers were presented. Overlapping at the same location was the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) Third Scientific Assembly, May 10–19, which AGU hosted.
The case for planetary sample return missions
Authors: Gooding James L. , Carr Michael H. , McKay Christopher P.
Published: October 2006

The essential role of planetary sample studies in exploration of the solar system has been well established “Drake et al., 1987”. As part of the larger pursuit of comparative planetology, samples of other rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars), planetary satellites, asteroids, and comets should reveal much about the materials and processes that formed Earth. In that context, Mars is an especially appealing sample target because of its distinctive, Earth‐like characteristics.

Here, we review the scientific objectives and justifications for collecting documented samples of Mars and returning them to Earth for laboratory study. A Mars sample‐return mission will be technologically challenging but represents the only way to acquire definitive knowledge about formation of the planet, its geologic and climatic history, and its potential as a haven of life.
SPR: The right name?
Authors: Tsurutani Bruce T.
Published: October 2006

Is the name “Solar Planetary Relationships” too vague and broad to adequately describe the type of work we do in our Section? For example, the prime “relationship” between the Sun and the planets is, of course, gravitational attraction. However, few in SPR regard orbital mechanics as a principal research thrust. We study the Sun and the planets, but the “relationship” aspect is limited to that affected by solar wind plasma and fields, energetic particles and solar photons.

I have the feeling that a more descriptive name could be beneficial, but to what should we change it? What title, if any, would be agreeable to everyone? The relevant section of the Journal of Geophysical Research has the title “Space Physics.” NASA's Office of Space Science has a a division with the same name. Some of us study plasma physics, so “Space Plasma Physics” might be a better title. However, those ? 30–40%l of us who are in the SA subsection are involved largely with the study of neutral and ion chemistry in the upper atmosphere/ionosphere. None of the above names are particularly relevant to this portion of our work. The term “aeronomy” (measurement of air), coined by Sidney Chapman, is used by many university departments and in the titles of international conferences. Thus a title such as “Space Physics and Aeronomy” is even better (but longer). However, there are “aeronomers” who do not like the label, either for themselves or for their laboratories. A more serious problem is that the term is not in most dictionaries (not in Webster's Third New International Unabridged English Dictionary, 1966), so the man on the street probably will not understand this at all (perhaps we should write to Websters to get this changed!).
Knauss cleared to Head NOAA
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

John Knauss, a physical oceanographer with years of experience in marine policy, was confirmed last week by the Senate as the next administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He succeeds William Evans, who had held the position, officially called Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmospheres, since the spring of 1988.

Knauss has been a professor at the Graduate School of Oceanography of the University of Rhode Island since 1962 and was Dean of the school from 1962–1987. He served concurrently as URI's Provost for Marine Affairs from 1969–1982.
Parameterization of small‐scale processes
Authors: Müller Peter , Holloway Greg
Published: October 2006

Oceanic general circulation models must parameterize the effect of subgrid‐scale motions and generally do so with diffusion terms. The following questions then arise:• do oceanic observations allow inferences about mixing and diffusion coefficients?—if so, • how do “observed” coefficients compare with those used in numerical models? • can mixing rates be predicted from an understanding of the processes involved? and finally • does it matter? Are the results of numerical models sensitive to the choice of the diffusion coefficients?
Digitizing the Florida Coast
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

High‐precision digitizing of Florida shorelines is complete for 18 coastal counties. Maps show ocean and lagoon shorelines, as well as the mainland shore, where barrier islands are present.

The new maps make up the Historical Florida Shoreline Atlas, commissioned by the Division of Beaches and Shores, Florida Department of Natural Resources. More than 70 sheets show successive shorelines, taken from various maps; about 85 sheets show bathymetry and changes of bathymetry (with time). Scale is 1:24,000. Lines are color coded to source maps and dates.
Potomac River
Authors: Konikow Leonard F.
Published: October 2006

The IAHS field trip Water Quality Issues on the Potomac River went to Washington, D.C., area May 14 to see the river and the Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant.

The Potomac River is the second largest tributary entering the Chesapeake Bay. It is under tidal influence below the fall line, a short distance upstream from Washington, D.C. Extensive cleanup activities have been underway for more than 10 years in an effort to improve the historically degraded water quality of the river. Among other things, the cleanup has led to a dramatic resurgence of aquatic plant growth during the past 5 years, which some view as a problem.
Acid groundwater
Authors: Lyons W. Berry , Hines Mark E. , Long David T. , Herczeg Andrew L.
Published: October 2006

A joint U.S.‐Australian workshop on acid groundwater systems was held March 7–11, 1989, at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Funding was provided by the International Division of the National Science Foundation and the Australian Department of Industry, Technology, and Commerce, and 11 U.S. and 6 Australian geoscientists attended.

Lake Tyrell, located in southeast Australia, is a focus for groundwater discharge within the Murray Basin. The lake and surrounding region has attracted considerable interest following the pioneering work of Macumber [1983], who recognized the importance of complex hydrological and geochemical processes there. The interest from several researchers culminated in a joint program among U.S. and Australian scientists from five institutions initiated in early 1987. This meeting was a n extension of the cooperative U.S./Australian research program at Lake Tyrell.
Science, space budget approved
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

The Senate is about to approve a budget for NASA, NSF, and other independent agencies that would restore some of the money cut by the House version from President Bush's request.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved recommendations of its Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies (VAHUDIA) subcommittee on $48.05 billion in discretionary spending for Fiscal Year 1990 on September 13. The full Senate could vote on the bill in the next few weeks. Differences between House and Senate versions of the bill will then be worked out by members of both houses in conference later in the year.
Budget Panel
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

President Don L. Anderson has set up a panel to review the federal budget as it applies to geophysics. The panel will propose a Union position on the federal budget, for Council approval.

In addition to reviewing individual budget items, the panel will consider student and educational support, items absent from the budget, and the balance among funded programs, for example, large versus small projects, or how much support is given to different disciplines. The panel was specifically charged with soliciting the views of other societies in formulating their recommendation.
AGU Awards
Authors: Kaula William M.
Published: October 2006

The Gulf Coast province provides an array of scientific dilemmas ranging from the origin of the gulf itself to the causes and effects of long‐lasting circulation of hot, deep waters throughout the thick sedimentary section. The nature of the underlying crust and superjacent sediments and their contained waters; the precise timing of rifting; depositional history and diagenesis of the sedimentary sequence; fluid dynamics; geochemistry; hydrocarbon generation and migration; thermal history, including unusually high thermal gradient; and the fluid pressure regime in the deep sedimentary section are too poorly understood to permit quantitative analysis of processes that are of enormous scientific and practical importance. The area centered on DeWitt and Victoria counties, Texas, on the southeastern extension of the San Marcos arch, is probably the best location for a deep borehole to investigate these important phenomena and problems. The arch extends southeastward from exposed Grenville‐age basement rocks of the Llano uplift and separates the deep South Texas and Houston embayment salt basins. Seaward of the Llano uplift, highly deformed and slightly metamorphosed rocks of the Ouachita‐Marathon orogen have been intersected beneath Cretaceous sediments. The inferred edge of continental crust underlies an extensive Lower Cretaceous reef trend southeast of known Ouachita orogen rocks. Rapid thickening of Tertiary and possibly of Cretaceous sediments southeast of the shelf edge, together with geophysical indications of a relatively shallow Moho, suggests that “transitional continental crust” underlies sediments basinward of the inferred edge of continental crust. This transitional crust, the ultimate objective for a proposed deep well, could be rifted Grenville basement, buried rocks of the Ouachita trend, an island arc related to the Ouachita trend, or exotic continental basement related to a proto‐South American continent. To achieve optimum results to guarantee adequate basement penetration, a borehole should be designed to penetrate a relatively thin succession of lower Mesozoic synrift, graben‐fill sediments seaward of the shelf edge. Because of expected high temperatures and pressures, new technologies will need to be developed to successfully drill and test the well.
Climate and drought
Authors: McNab Alan L.
Published: October 2006

Drought is a complex phenomenon that can be defined from several perspectives [Wilhite and Glantz, 1987]. The common characteristic and central idea of these perspectives is the straightforward notion of a water deficit. Complexity arises because of the need to specify the part of the hydrologic cycle experiencing the deficit and the associated time period. For example, a long‐term deficit in deep groundwater storage can occur simultaneously with a short‐term surplus of root zone soil water.

Figure 1 [Changnon, 1987] illustrates how the definitions of drought are related to specific components of the hydrologic cycle. The dashed lines indicate the delayed translation of two hypothetical precipitation deficits with respect to runoff, soil moisture, streamflow and groundwater. From this perspective, precipitation can be considered as the carrier of the drought signal, and hydrological processes are among the final indicators that reveal the presence of drought [Hare, 1987; Klemes, 1987].
Poker Flat improvements
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved on September 14 a $10.8 million upgrade to University of Alaska Fairbanks Poker Flat Research Range pending full House and Senate approval. The funding will provide for building design, scientific program planning, and initial road and foundation construction. Senator Ted Stevens (RAK) said, “It is an important recognition of the roles Poker Flat, the Geophysical Institute and this university play in the international science area,“ that the Senate approved the money in a time of budget pressure.

Poker Flat's facilities include rocket assembly and launching capabilities, telemetry receiving stations and ground‐based diagnostic systems needed for launch decisions for space, aeronomy and atmospheric science experiments.
Are earthquakes deterministic or chaotic?
Authors: Rundle John B. , Julian Bruce R. , Turcotte Donald L.
Published: October 2006

During the last decade, physicists and applied mathematicians have made substantial headway in understanding the dynamics of complex nonlinear systems. Progress has been possible due to the development of several new tools, including the renormalization group approach, phase portraits, and scaling methods (fractals). At the same time, mathematical geophysicists interested in earthquakes have begun to utilize these same concepts to generate models of faults and fractures.

In order to bring these scientific communities together, it was decided to convene the workshop, Physics of Earthquake Faults: Deterministic or Chaotic?, held February 12–15, at the Asilomar conference center near Monterey, Calif. Thirty‐six Earth scientists met with 15 physicists and applied mathematicians to discuss how recent advances in nonlinear systems might be applied to better understand earthquakes. Funding was provided by the Geodynamics Branch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy. Organizational and logistical support were provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Editor's 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 time and diligence contributed by these reviewers enhance the quality of AGU's journals. The editor's citation recognizes this special service to the Union, and the individuals who are listed below are to be commended for consistently providing constructive and thoughtful reviews.

This is the third of a three‐part series featuring the reviewers cited for excellence.
Confidence building
Authors: Roederer Juan G.
Published: October 2006

Many conferences are being held on confidence building in many countries. Usually they are organized and attended by political scientists and science policy specialists. A remarkable exception, in which the main brainstorming was done by “grass roots” geophysicists, nuclear physicists, engineers and ecologists, was a meeting in July at St. John's College in Santa Fe, N. Mex.

The aim of the conference Technology‐Based Confidence Building: Energy and Environment was to survey programs of international cooperation in pertinent areas of mutual concern to all nations and to identify new initiatives that could contribute to enhanced international stability, with emphasis on cooperation between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
COARE of TOGA: Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Research Program Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE)
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Despite significant progress in the TOGA program, a number of major hurdles remain before the primary scientific objective can be achieved: prediction of the variability of the coupled ocean‐atmosphere system on time scales of months to years. Foremost among the remaining problems is understanding the physics that maintains and perturbs the western Pacific warm pool. Even though it is believed that this is a “center of action” for the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation phenomenon in the ocean and atmosphere, simulation of airsea fluxes, sea surface temperature, and upper ocean structure of the Western Pacific warm pool has been an elusive goal.

Accordingly, COARE has been proposed as a major process study for the second half of the decade‐long TOGA program. The goals of TOGA/COARE are to describe and understand: the principal processes responsible for the coupling of ocean and atmosphere in the western Pacific warm pool system the principal atmospheric processes that organize convection in the warm pool region the oceanic response to combined buoyancy and wind stress forcing in the western Pacific warm pool region the multiple‐scale interactions that extend the oceanic and atmospheric influence of the western Pacific warm pool system to other regions and vice versa.
A view on EOS
Authors: Lucchitta Baerbel K.
Published: October 2006

I am replying to the recent solicitation to provide views on NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) to an AGU panel (Eos, October 3, p. 886). My view concerns Landsat.

A flashy EOS poster, recently distributed, features six images from space; three of these are from the Landsat satellite. Yet no Landsat‐type imaging system is contemplated for EOS. Imaging systems such as HIRIS and HRIS (high‐resolution imaging spectrometers) do not give the synoptic view of Landsat and are much too elaborate for simple but invaluable observations of many global‐ scale processes.
More on the mantle carbon flux
Authors: Tingle Tracy N.
Published: October 2006

I would like to continue the discussion of the mantle carbon flux featured in the January 3, 1989, issue of Eos, between B. Marty and D. Des Marais. Although the controversy over carbon recycling by subduction is not new, the current discussion suggests that the time has come to organize a special session for the AGU 1990 Spring Meeting to address this important issue. I will be taking the initiative to organize this session and would appreciate input on the appropriate format and focus.

My first of three points is that all of the isotopically light carbon (−20 to −30 ‰) liberated below 500°C in stepped‐heating carbon isotope measurements of basalts and mantle xenoliths is probably not contamination in most cases, as has been argued by Des Marais and others [Des Marais and Moore, 1984; Mattey et at., 1984]. Exley et al. [1987], in their study of basalts from Loihi seamount presented in their reply to Craig [1987], showed that a low‐temperature iso opically light component is observed even when special precautions are taken to avoid contamination. Mantle xenoliths and basalt are known to contain condensed carbonaceous films on crack surfaces and grain boundaries [Mathez and Delaney, 1981; Mathez, 1987]. It has been suggested that the isotopically light carbon is derived from these carbonaceous films [Nadeau et al, 1987] and that the films may be partly organic [Mathez, 1987; S. Nadeau et al., unpublished manuscript, 1989]. This hypothesis has been confirmed in our laboratories by thermal desorption combined with photoionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry of mantle‐derived olivine single crystals, xenoliths, and host basalt from San Carlos, Ariz., and Hualalai Volcano, Hawaii. A brief report of our results for San Carlos olivine crystals is given here.
JGOFS moves to the Pacific
Authors: Livingston Hugh D.
Published: October 2006

A process study in the equatorial Pacific Ocean for 1991‐1992 has been recommended as the next major field program of the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study. The study will be preceded by a planning workshop in spring 1990.

The equatorial study was selected at the September meeting of the U.S. JGOFS Committee at the University of Hawaii. The committee reviewed progress made since the issuance of the U.S. Pacific Planning report (U.S. JGOFS Planning Report No. 9) and the recommendations from the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) JGOFS Pacific Planning meeting, which was at the university two days earlier.
Quake briefings
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute will hold technical briefings on the October 17 Loma Prieta earthquake at six locations around the country.

Participants will be private‐practice, university, and government scientists and engineers who have investigated the earthquake.
Lancang—Gengma Earthquake: A Preliminary Report on the November 6, 1988, Event and Its Aftershocks
Authors: Chen Yuntai , Wu Francis T.
Published: October 2006

On November 6, 1988, two earthquakes with magnitude >7 occurred within 15 minutes in southwestern Yunnan Province, China, near the Burmese border. The aftershock series in the next six weeks included three earthquakes with magnitude >6.0. Rapid deployment of accelerographs enabled us to record a large number of aftershocks, including two Ms >6 events, at near‐source distances.

At 130314.5 UT on November 6 an earthquake with Ms = 7.6 (U.S. Geological Survey Ms = 7.3) occurred 40 km northwest of Lancang (Figure 1). Thirteen minutes later another large event with Ms = 7.2 (USGS Ms 6.4) occurred 60 km north‐northwest of the first shock. By December 20 more than 600 aftershocks with Ms >3 had occurred.
Seismicity of the interiors of plates in the Pacific Basin
Authors: Walker Daniel A.
Published: October 2006

Historical listings of instrumentally recorded earthquakes raise serious questions about the validity and usefulness of the long‐held presumption that the interiors of ocean plates are aseismic stable masses. Unusual distributions of epicenters within these regions may indicate stress patterns resulting from plate motions, or may indicate nascent subduction zones, ridge systems, or hot spots.

Data recorded on ocean‐bottom hydrophones and seismometers in an earlier investigation [Walker and McCreery, 1988] revealed 28 intraplate earthquakes in the deep interior of the Northwestern Pacific Basin that were unreported by the worldwide network of land‐based seismic stations. The data sources included drum recordings of hydrophones near Wake and Enewetok islands in operation for different time intervals from 1963 through 1969, tape recordings from a 9‐element 1500‐km‐long linear array of hydrophones in operation for 2 months in 1981, and tape recordings from September 1982 through 1985 of an 8‐element hydrophone array near Wake Island.