bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Section's e‐mail list keeps members informed
Authors: Tauxe Lisa
Published: October 2006

For years the geomagnetic/paleomagnetic community has used an e‐mail list as an important means of communication. It was started by Sue Beske‐Diehl and turned over to AGU management 3 years ago. Submissions to the list (gpmag@agu.org) are sent to ltauxe@wizard.ucsd.edu, who reviews them for suitability and sends them out to the recipients of the e‐mail list. The recipients are distributed among two separate lists. The first is drawn from those identified as GP section members in the online membership directory at AGU and the second is a private list maintained by Lisa Tauxe. Anyone can be added to the latter on request (ltauxe@ucsd.edu).
Ozone layer is on slow road to recovery new science assessment indicates
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

The good news, according to a new report about ozone depletion, is that the ozone layer will recover in 50 years—if parties to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer fully adhere to the treaty, and if other conditions that could affect the atmosphere remain stable.

The “Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 1998,” a report prepared by the scientific assessment panel of the Montreal Protocol, states, “The stratospheric abundance of halogenated ozone‐depleting substances is expected to return to its pre‐1980 (that is, “unperturbed”) level of 2 ppb chlorine equivalent by about 2050 assuming full compliance with the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments and Adjustments.”
Joseph W. Berg, Jr. (1920–1997)
Authors: Kisslinger Carl
Published: October 2006

Joe Berg was a geophysicist who traveled many paths to make important contributions to the advancement of his science. Many of us remember him best as the man who, for more than 20 years, saw to it that the National Academy of Sciences‐National Research Council fulfilled its mandate to guide the support and development of the geological sciences in the United States. Before coming to the academy in 1966, he had established himself as a university professor of geophysics and a productive researcher in seismology. And if Joe were to have a coat‐of‐arms, it would combine a violin and a golden retriever—two of his passions.
AGU Council reaffirms position statement against the teaching of creationism as science
Authors: Folger Peter
Published: October 2006

During this year's AGU Spring Meeting in Boston, held May 25‐29, the AGU Council reaffirmed its opposition to the teaching of creationism as a scientific theory. By unanimous vote, the Council agreed with a recommendation from AGU's Committee on Public Affairs (COPA) to renew the statement that was first adopted in December 1981. The reaffirmed statement is as follows:

"The Council of the American Geophysical Union notes with concern the continuing efforts by creationists for administrative, legislative, and juridical actions designed to require or promote the teaching of creationism as a scientific theory. "The American Geophysical Union is opposed to all efforts to require or promote the teaching of creationism or any other religious tenets as science.
Introduction to Geostatistics: Applications in Hydrogeology
Authors: Ritzi Robert W.
Published: October 2006

Our efforts to understand the physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in groundwater flow, contaminant transport, and site remediation are made challenging by the limited access we have to the subsurface environment in which they occur. While some recent research projects have collected data that are relatively high in temporal and spatial resolution, at the sites of many environmental investigations the resolution of the data is limited. For this reason, geostatistics has been integrated with hydrogeology to provide methods for quantifying uncertainty where estimation, interpolation, and extrapolation of hydrogeologic attributes are required between and beyond data locations. Hydrogeologic attributes generally do not vary in a maximally disordered fashion but have both random and structured qualities, both of which can be represented by geostatistical models.
Substorm research moves toward a unifying framework
Authors: Kan J. R. , Baumjohann W. , Coroniti F. V. , Birn J. , Vasyliunas V. M. , Kennel C. F. , Lui A. T. Y. , Lyons L. R. , Kamide Y. , Baker D. N. , Hesse M. , Akasofu S. ‐I.
Published: October 2006

The magnetosphere is the region of space that contains the geomagnetic field confined by the solar wind, which is the plasma flowing from the Sun at high speeds. Figure 1 depicts the structure of the magnetosphere. The magnetotail consists of open field lines in the tail lobe and closed field lines in the plasma sheet. As shown in Figure 1, open field lines are connected with the interplanetary magnetic field so that one end of the open field line is on Earth while the other end of the field line is in the solar wind. For the closed field line, both ends are anchored on Earth.
Outstanding student paper awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Seismology Section presented the following outstanding student paper awards at the AGU 1997 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, on last December.

Matthew J. Fouch presented a paper entitled “Shear Wave Splitting, Continental Roots, and Patterns of Asthenospheric Flow.” Matt received a B.A. in geology from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., in 1993, and an Sc.M. in geophysics from Brown University in Providence, R.I., in 1996. He currently is completing a Ph.D. in geophysics at Brown under the supervision of Karen M. Fischer. In previous research at Brown, Matt examined seismic anisotropy and mantle flow in the southern Kuril, Japanese, Izu‐Bonin, and Mariana subduction zones through modeling of observed shear wave splitting. More recently, his research has focused on constraining the structure and deformation of the sub‐continental mantle using a combination of seismic observations and numerical methods. In this work, Matt has developed numerical models of predicted shear wave splitting from asthenospheric flow around a continental root. Using these models, he has estimated the possible lithospheric and asthenospheric contributions to seismic anisotropy for eastern North America.
Economic Value of Weather and Climate Forecasts
Authors: Yohe Gary W.
Published: October 2006

Researchers who ponder the value of information work in the world of integrated assessment. They study the creation of scientific knowledge from models and data and view the processing and analysis of knowledge through the creation and distribution of information. They understand that the value of this information is derived fundamentally from how it is used. Therefore, such researchers must investigate how and where individuals (and the institutions and systems that individuals create) uncover information that they find credible and how and why those same individuals, institutions, and systems discard information that they find incredible. The essays presented in Economic Value of Weather and Climate Forecasts are a perfect example of how practicing researchers confront this integration process in an area in which just about everyone has an opinion—the weather.
Graphical user interface developed for interactive ray tracing
Authors: Loss Jeremy , ten Brink Uri S. , Pecher Ingo A.
Published: October 2006

A graphical user interface (GUI) called RayGUI has been developed to perform seismic ray tracing with the rayinvr program [Zelt and Smith, 1992] on UNIX workstations. RayGUI enables the user to graphically edit a subsurface velocity model and change ray‐tracing parameters. Ray‐tracing is performed by invoking rayinvr, a widely used package for two‐dimensional forward modeling of seismic rays in an isotropic medium.

The medium consists of distinct layers with velocity values defined at their tops and bases. Velocities can vary laterally along a given layer. Observed and calculated traveltimes are displayed for comparison to test the velocity model. The inversion features of rayinvr can be invoked after minor editing of the RayGUI output. The package also contains a conversion routine to read velocity models from the MacRay ray‐tracing program [Luetgert, 1992].
All that is labeled data is not gold
Authors: Schmidt Gavin
Published: October 2006

Most of us are quite comfortable with the idea of evolution in the animal kingdom or in climate, by which small departures from the norm can spread and eventually change the entire picture. We are not as ready to accept a similar evolution in classical data sets, the gold standard of climatology.

Recently, I have been using a small subset of the data generated by the GEOSECS (Geochemical Ocean Sections) program (1973–1974), in particular, the ocean profiles of oxygen‐18 and deuterium measured by Harmon Craig at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. Until recently, I was secure in the knowledge that the data I was using, gathered from the National Climate Data Center repository, were complete and unadulterated. Earlier this year, while presenting my results and using these data for comparison, a member of the audience wondered why I was not using the complete data set. Confused, I defended myself vigorously. Later, it appeared that although I had correctly presented the published data, there was an underground version of unpublished data that was known only to a small circle of initiates. My hosts were kind enough to include me among the cognoscenti and it was at this point that things started to become interesting.
Geophysicists
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

Anyone who has examined core or petrophysical logs from well bores has wondered at the rhythmic successions of sedimentary fades and has puzzled at their sudden disruption or reappearance. Such wonderment is no doubt shared by those who have stood at a quarry face gazing up at the intricate hierarchy of depositional patterns and the varied textures of sediments. A fortunate few have even slogged along a mine drift and observed at close hand the perplexing relationship between the geological fabric of a rock mass and occurrences of groundwater inflow. Happily, the heterogeneity of geological materials is now widely recognized and efforts over the last 20 years have been concerned with its incorporation into models of fluid flow and solute transport in the subsurface. These research efforts are, at least in part, driven by acute societal concerns over the contamination of groundwater resources and proposed plans for the disposal of nuclear and other toxic wastes in the subsurface.
World's coral reefs said to be at high risk
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

More than one‐quarter of the world's coral reefs are at high risk and another one‐third are at medium risk because of threats caused by human activities, according to a new report that may be the first systematic and data‐driven global assessment of coral reefs.

The report, “Reefs at Risk: A Map‐Based Indicator of Threats to the World's Coral Reefs,” indicates that these threats place much of the world's marine biodiversity at risk, because coral reefs are highly productive, species‐rich habitats that are home to more than one quarter of all known marine fish species.
Sessions on history of space and geophysics spark interest
Authors: Schröder Wilfried
Published: October 2006

Three sessions at international conferences were held in 1997 to discuss the history of space and geophysics and its different disciplines. The first session was held during the Assembly of the German Geophysical Society in March in Potsdam, Germany. Topics included the theory of relativity and gravitation in geophysics; work by Albert Abraham Michelson, Leon Foucault, and Ernst Mach; work by Hermann von Helmholtz; and the physical application and geophysical evidence of Werner Heisenberg's research. Also included were discussions relevant to the history of geophysics, aeronomy, meteor astronomy, and geodetical research, including developments in instrumentation during the last few decades.
Kenneth O. Emery (1914–1998)
Authors: Williams Albert J. , Ross David A.
Published: October 2006

Kenneth O. Emery, former scientist emeritus at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and one of the best known and most respected leaders in marine geology, died at age 83 on April 12, 1998. K. O., as he preferred to be called, influenced most aspects of marine geology, both in the United States and in many foreign countries. K. O. was a generalist in the true sense of the word, and his dedication to science and his colleagues continued until just days before his death. He was a teacher, friend, and mentor to many scientists around the world.
Hydrology Section Executive Committee Discusses Activities
Authors: Bencala Ken
Published: October 2006

The Hydrology Section Executive Committee met on May 27,1998, at the AGU Spring Meeting in Boston, Mass., to report on the section's activities and provide a forum for the discussion of issues related to the development of hydrologic science.

Among the most visible Section activities are the Spring and Fall Meetings. Participation of Hydrology Section members continues to grow at the Spring Meeting. At this year's Spring Meeting, over 700 hydrology abstracts were presented, approximately double the participation of only 2 years ago.
Senate hearing reviews Alaska refuge oil reserves
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

To some conservationists concerned about wildlife habitat and wilderness beauty, the “1002 area” of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is “sacrosanct.” Adam Kolton of the Alaska Wilderness League says, “Drilling the Arctic refuge would be as shortsighted as damming the Grand Canyon for hydroelectric power or raiding Yellowstone for geothermal power.”

But others say this 1.5 million acre coastal plain region of ANWR—named for the section in the 1980 Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act that deferred a decision about the future management of the area—holds significant, economically recoverable oil deposits, and that three‐dimensional seismic testing and subsequent oil extraction can be accomplished with little environmental damage to the region.
Tatsundo Yamamoto (1956–1998)
Authors: Tsuruda Koichiro
Published: October 2006

Tatsundo Yamamoto, a former professor at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and a leading figure in the Japanese space science community, passed away on February 20,1998, due to lymph cancer. He was only 41 years old.

Yamamoto was born in Tokyo on April 10, 1956. He obtained his B.A. in 1979 and his Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Tokyo in 1984. In 1992, after spending 6 years as an assistant professor in the Geophysics Department of the Faculty of Science at the University of Tokyo, he moved to ISAS as an associate professor in the Space Plasma Division. He was promoted to full professor in 1996.
Community plans for future of ocean biogeochemical research
Authors: Murray James W. , Paffenhofer Gustav‐Adolf
Published: October 2006

Members of the biogeochemical research community are taking steps to keep their work thriving in the next millennium. Since 1984, major questions in ocean biogeochemical research have been studied in a concerted manner in the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) program. This effort as well as the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics program (GOED) is part of the U.S. Global Change Research Plan (USGCRP). The JGOFS Science Plan established two goals: to determine and understand on a global scale the processes controlling the time‐varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic elements in the ocean, and to develop the capability to predict on a global scale the response of oceanic biogeochemical processes to anthropogenic perturbations, particularly those related to climate change.
Know thy journals
Authors: Kabala Z. J.
Published: October 2006

How do hydrology and water resources journals compare to each other? This question, as noted by McDonnell [1997], is frequently asked by reappointment, tenure, and promotion committees as well as by researchers and graduate students who wonder where to submit their papers. Although the quality of a journal clearly rests with the articles that it publishes, not vice versa, the quality of one's work is often judged in terms of the quality of the journal in which it is published. Therefore, ignoring the journal rankings may be costly regardless of whether or not we deplore the obsession of our society with rankings. What constitutes then a prudent journal choice? Should it be based on the elusive reputation of a journal, its selectivity, its most recent impact factor (defined in the electronic supplement to this article), or other statistics?
On converting potential temperature to altitude in the middle atmosphere
Authors: Knox John A.
Published: October 2006

In a recent “Rule‐of‐Thumb” feature, Crutzen and Freie [1997] provide an extremely simple, memorable, and apparently accurate conversion between potential temperature (θ, in Kelvins) and altitude (z, in km) for the stratosphere: θ/25 = z (1). Since potential temperature and altitude are nonlinearly related in general, how is this simple linear conversion derived? Why is it so accurate? Is it valid for the entire stratosphere? If not, is there a more general conversion formula which reduces to (1) for certain conditions? The point of this short article is to clarify the answers to these questions, using nothing more than fundamental concepts in meteorology and calculus.
World Ocean Circulation Experiment generates wealth of data
Authors: Chapman Piers
Published: October 2006

Deployment this summer of a series of U.S. profiling floats in the tropical and sub‐tropical North Atlantic Ocean essentially ended the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) field program, bringing to a close 8½ years of international effort. In January 1990, the German research vessel Meteor left Punta Arenas, Chile, on WOCE's first cruise. Since then, scientists from more than 20 countries have amassed a wealth of data that is now becoming available to oceanographers, meteorologists, and other climate investigators.

Previous global oceanographic programs included the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (GEOSECS) expeditions in the 1970s and research during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957–1958. WOCE, however, is the first to include extensive observations from both in situ platforms and satellites. It is also much larger than previous global studies. For example, in the final tally, WOCE will have collected about 9000 deep hydrographic stations, almost three times the number taken during IGY and a factor of about 20 higher than those taken during GEOSECS (Figure 1).
Some electronics companies see business opportunities in cutting greenhouse gas emissions
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

During the doldrums of the Washington, D.C., summer in late July and early August, the debate about whether the United States should sign the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and what the price tag might be, continued unabated.

The Clinton Administration and several private groups issued policy papers, and the U.S. House Committee on Small Business held its third oversight hearing on the issue.
Six New Paleomagnetic Databases released
Authors: McElhinny Michael W.
Published: October 2006

The annual update of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA)‐sponsored paleomagnetic databases has now been completed. The databases are available as files for use with Access 2.0 (for Windows 3.1) or Access 97 (for Windows 95) as described by McElhinny and Lock “ 1996”. The new package (Version 3.3 of the databases) now includes six databases as follows: Global Paleomagnetic Database (gpmdb2. mdb orgpmdb97.mdb); Magnetostratigraphy Database (magst2.mdb or magst97.mdb); Paleointensity Database (pint2.mdb orpint97.mdb); Polarity Transitions Database (trans2.mdb or trans97.mdb); Secular Variations Database (secvr2.mdb or secvr97.mdb); and Paleosecular Variation from Lavas Database (psvrl2.mdb or psvrl97.mdb).
Substorm Conference in Japan highlights the importance of new ISTP data
Authors: Rostoker Gordon , Kamide Yohsuke , Kokubun Susumu
Published: October 2006

“Substorm” is the term used to designate a period of enhanced energy input into the magnetosphere from the solar wind. For over 2 decades it has been generally accepted that energy enters through the merging of the interplanetary magnetic field with the frontside Earth's field lines. Transport of magnetic flux into the Earth's magnetic tail follows, and reconnection of the tail field lines across the tail neutral sheet along a “neutral line” with ensuing Earthward magnetic flux transport back to near‐Earth regions. The return of magnetic flux from the tail was understood to occur in impulsive bursts and these were thought to be associated with the violent bursts of auroral and electromagnetic activity that defined the substorm expansive phase.
[Comment on “The Paradigm: Thomas Kuhn and the Trojan horse”] Comment: The finer points of mythology and science
Authors: East Ajax L.
Published: October 2006

In his recent write‐up [Eos, February 3, 1998, p. 62], Dev L. Advocate makes an interesting case comparing aspects of scientific revolutions to the Trojan War. He comments “no one it seems has read Kuhn's book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.…” It would seem that few have read Homer's Iliad or are aware of subsequent events outlined in the now lost Nostoi. Advocate's short description of the Trojan War leaves a great deal to be desired. Western literature has its deepest (temporal) roots in the writings ascribed to Homer. Based on the English translation of Richmond Lattimore, I raise questions on two points.
[Comment on “The Paradigm: Thomas Kuhn and the Trojan horse”] Comment: The finer points of mythology and science; Reply: Ajax, Hector, and Pandarus
Authors: Advocate Dev L.
Published: October 2006

Kingsley Amis once (or perhaps twice) observed, “If you can't annoy somebody with what you write I think there is little point in writing.” Ajax L. East gives some very sound advice: “always verify your references.” This quote is not quite right and is taken out of context. Dr. Routh, when asked for some advice by a young man, replied, “I think, sir, since you care for the advice of an old man sir, you will find it a very good practice always to verify your references, sir.” This advice was offered thoughtfully and not gratuitously, out of the blue, or whatever color cyberspace is. So, it is good to verify your references. Ironically, in my account of the Trojan War, I did not refer to Homer, or the Iliad, and certainly not to an English translation or the long lost Nostoi. My sources were more eclectic and original, not that I have anything against Homer or Lattimore. Students of the Trojan War must distinguish between myth, legend, history, archeology, metaphor, parable, allegory, and geophysics. Homer, of course, takes liberties. Chieftains ride up to battle in chariots, dismount, and exchange quite long speeches before engaging in gruesome hand‐to‐hand combat.
Science behind the scenes during Fossett's recent around‐the‐world ballooning effort
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

“In my mind, there's no question. If you eliminate that one temporary setback, he completes the global,” Bob Rice said on August 17, exhausted after having slept little during the previous 8 ½ days of intensive weather forecasting and emotional roller coaster riding.

As chief meteorologist for the Solo Spirit balloon trip, Rice helped to navigate 54‐yearold balloonist and businessman Steve Fossett on his fourth attempt to circle the globe nonstop. During that effort, which began at 23:30 UTC on August 7 from Mendoza, Argentina, Fossett had floated 24,460 km—63% of the way around the world longitudinally–surpassing his previous world distance record of 16,674 km set in January 1997. His “roziere” balloon, a combination of gas and hot air, had risen or descended to avoid violent weather systems and winds that would blow him in the wrong direction, and to catch air currents that would push his vessel along. With the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and Australia behind him, only the wide Pacific Ocean lay in Fossett's path.
In brief
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Species‐rich Caribbean island called a “mini‐Galapagos” From 1865 until 1899, the Navassa Phosphate Company of Baltimore, Maryland, mined about 800,000 tons of guano from the 2‐square mile Navassa Island. Since then, the rugged and uninhabited island, located 40 miles west of Haiti and administered by the Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), has attracted few visitors. Ham radio operators sometimes stop by to send messages from the out‐of‐the‐way locale, and on occasion, a scientist drops by.

From July 23 to August 5, research by 14 scientists on the largest‐ever scientific expedition to the island—sponsored by the Center for Marine Conservation (CMC), DOI, and Henry Luce Foundation—yielded what could result in the discovery of several hundred previously undocumented terrestrial species, after samples are sorted and studied.
Workshop considers biotic impacts of extratropical climate variability in the Pacific
Authors: Holloway Greg , Muller Peter
Published: October 2006

Fisheries collapse in the Pacific Northwest. Fisheries resurge in Alaska. Such headlines reflect changes in the Pacific biosphere, occurring at all trophic levels from plankton through seabirds and at all scales from a few kilometers of patchiness to nearly synchronous changes across distances of 10,000 km. Are the large‐scale, Pacific‐wide changes in the biosphere a response to changes in the physical ocean environment, itself linked to large‐scale, ocean‐atmosphere changes? Plankton biologists, fisheries researchers, marine mammals and birds specialists, physical oceanographers, statisticians, and climate dynamicists tackled this question at the 10th [Aha Huliko]a Hawaiian Winter Workshop.
NASA launches hurricane study
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

With hurricane season brewing in the Atlantic Ocean, two specially equipped NASA aircraft are taking to the skies to collect high‐altitude information about Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms. The Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX) mission, scheduled for August and September, hopes to yield high‐resolution spatial and temperature information on hurricane structure, dynamics, and motion that will help to better understand and improve groundbased predictions of hurricanes.

Results from the mission may increase warning time—saving lives and property— and decrease the size of evacuation areas— saving money—while giving scientists a better understanding of these dramatic weather phenomena. In addition, the results will help to validate existing measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission of hurricanes and tropical storms and to develop algorithms for future Earth science missions.
Measurement of ozone, UVB radiation is a concern over Latin America
Authors: Kaye Jack A. , Canziani Pablo , Kirchhoff Volker W. J. H. , Proffitt Michael , Wilcox Bradford
Published: October 2006

A clear recognition of the unique role that Latin America plays in the global environment was one of several major themes to emerge at a recent workshop on distributions of ozone and UVB radiation over Latin America. The region covers a very broad latitude range and has a major influence on the atmospheric circulation of the southern hemisphere. The Andes Mountains, which cover a latitudinal range of more than 60° and are from 2 o 7 km in altitude, are unique not o nly because they force gravity waves, but also because of the opportunity they provide for satellite instruments to differentiate between columns of air over high mountains and nearby sea level. Appreciable emissions of trace gases and particles from both natural and human activity in Latin America have important effects on both regional and global scales.
Outstanding student paper awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Atmospheric Sciences Section presented the following outstanding student paper awards at the AGU 1997 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, last December.

James Corbett presented a poster on “Nitrogen and Sulfur Emissions From Oceangoing Ships.” James is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa. He has been awarded a M.S. degree in EPP and recently completed the M.S. requirements in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He graduated in 1985 with a degree in marine engineering technology from the California Maritime Academy and holds a California Professional Engineering License (Mechanical). He joined the doctoral program in engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in August 1995. In 1997, he was selected for a U.S. EPA STAR Fellowship. His research focuses on international maritime transportation and pollution issues, particularly air emissions from ship propulsion. James has developed the first global geographic characterization of air emissions from international maritime transport. As recently published in Science (Corbett and Fischbeck, 1997), his work estimates the global annual nitrogen and sulfur emissions from ships to be 3.08 terragrams (Tg) N and 4.24 Tg S, respectively.
Workshop assesses 1997”1998 El Niño from Pacific climate perspectives
Authors: Dettinger Michael , Redmond Kelly
Published: October 2006

As the 1997–1998 El Niño was drawing towards its apparent end, researchers from various disciplines at the 15th Pacific Climate (PACLIM) Workshop recognized several significant features of this El Niño. First, a confident and credible long‐term climate forecast was issued well in advance of the event, and, more importantly, it was taken seriously by the public. Second, the recent El Niño was remarkable in its magnitude and duration. Third, although globally costs and damages were attributable to the El Niño, in the western United States, costs were counterbalanced by positive effects such as the relatively mild winter and adequate precipitation for the arid West.

Several speakers reported that the long‐range cool‐season forecasts for North America were of unprecedented skill and usefulness. In a keynote address to the workshop, Martin Hoerling of the NOAA/Climate Diagnostic Center showed, with a judicious blend of historical analyses and climate‐simulation experiments, that much of this success is attributable to the unusual magnitude of the tropical forcings during this El Niño, a magnitude that was large enough to overcome much of the uncertainty that historically has been typical of the extratropical outcomes of weaker El Niños.
Lunar Prospector finds more water on Moon
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

The Moon's north and south poles may contain about 6 billion metric tons of water ice, say scientists studying data from NASA's Lunar Prospector mission.

An initial estimate in March suggested a total of 300 million metric tons of water ice at the poles. (See Eos, March 17, 1998).
Adams receives 1998 Whipple Award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

John B. Adams of the University of Washington has been named the recipient of the AGU's 1998 Fred Whipple Award, for outstanding contributions to the field of planetary science.

John Adams is one of the primary founders of the field of remote sensing spectroscopy of planetary surfaces, and the measurements and techniques that he pioneered have revolutionized our understanding of the solar system and have strongly influenced many, if not all, subsequent spacecraft and in situ explorations of our planetary neighbors.
Outstanding student paper award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism (GP) Section presented the outstanding student paper award to Michael Winklhofer at the 1998 Spring AGU Meeting, in Boston, Mass., last May.

Michael received his degree in geophysics at the University of Munich where he is currently working toward a Ph.D. His dissertation topic examines the possibilities of how the Earth's magnetic field can be detected by animals using biogenic ferromagnetic material.
Recent mine spill adds to contamination of southern Spain
Authors: van Geen A. , Chase Z.
Published: October 2006

The retaining wall of a tailings reservoir collapsed at a zinc mine in Spain last spring, releasing into the watershed possibly nearly as much zinc as the mine produces annually. The accident happened April 25,1998, at the Los Frailes mine near Aznalcollar in southern Spain, sending ∼5 x 106m3 of acid sludge into the Guadiamar River. Based on a suite of water and river bank sediment samples collected downstream of the spill on May 1–3, 1998, an estimated 40,000 to 120,000 tons of Zn was added to the watershed. This is comparable to the annual production capacity of the mine of 125,000 tons. While the scale of the accident was certainly very large, an equivalent amount of Zn has been reaching the adjacent Tinto‐Odiel estuary every 1–2 years as a result of mining since the middle of the 19th century. Emergency dikes were built shortly after the accident to prevent contamination of Donana National Park, an important wildlife reserve 40 km to the south of the mine. The composition of samples collected north of the park suggest this diversion was effective.
Endangered cave crustacean could be water quality indicator in Illinois Karst Region
Authors: Showstrack Randy
Published: October 2006

Some of the rolling, rural countryside of southwestern Illinois has become just a 20‐minute commute from the sprawling city of St. Louis, Missouri, across the Mississippi River, now that newly built roads have opened up the landscape. But as more houses rise in rapidly developing bedroom communities, increasing levels of coliform bacteria—probably originating from septic systems and livestock—are being found in the groundwater. Trace amounts of pesticides, including atrazine, also are present.

These contaminants, in large enough quantities, can pollute groundwater and cause public health problems. They also appear to be responsible for the decreased habitat and population of a little‐known cave‐dwelling crustacean, the Illinois Cave Amphipod (Gammarus acherondytes), a tailless shrimp that can grow up to 20 mm in length and that swims in underground streams in cave dark zones. Decreased dissolved oxygen content in the streams, resulting from land development activities that can cause faster surface runoff, also may affect the amphipod.
Report endorses climate study, recommends several research foci
Authors: Sorooshian Soroosh , Schultz Peter
Published: October 2006

A major study to understand climate variability and predict climate change should proceed in the same direction, a National Research Council (NRC) panel has recommended. The panel also urged the implementation of a number of future research activities. The study, known as the Continental‐Scale Intercomparison Project (GCIP), the first of five continental‐scale projects of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX), began in 1990.

Recent efforts to study climate have emphasized the importance of improved understanding of many aspects of the hydrologic cycle and the exchange of energy and water at the atmosphere‐surface interface. To address these issues within the context of the Mississippi River basin, the World Climate Research Programme established the GEWEX GCIP. The NRC established a panel specifically to evaluate and provide scientific leadership and guidance on the scientific strategies, plans, and priorities of the GEWEX Program. This panel's report, “GCIP: A Review of Progress and Opportunities,” also highlighted the major accomplishments of the study so far. It was released June 8 at the GCIP Mississippi River Hydrometeorology Conference in St. Louis, Mo.
Middle Proterozoic to Cambrian Rifting, Central North America
Authors: Van Schmus W. Randall
Published: October 2006

The 1100 Ma Midcontinent Rift System in central North America, with its exposed Keweenawan volcanic and plutonic rocks in the Lake Superior region, is one of the major rift‐related magmatic provinces in the world. Recent geophysical, petrologic, and geologic studies of the rift and related rocks have made the system one of the best studied structures of this type.

Middle Proterozoic To Cambrian Rifting, Central North America contains an introduction, an overview, and 17 new contributions arising from the 10th International Basement Tectonics Conference held at the University of Minnesota‐Duluth in August 1992. The conference focused on Proterozoic rifting in central North America, with an emphasis on the Midcontinent Rift System, and the papers in this volume reflect that emphasis. Thirteen papers deal specifically with the Midcontinent Rift System, while the remaining papers address other rift‐related igneous and sedimentary rocks in the central United States. This volume is the first major overview of the Midcontinent Rift System since the 1982 Geological Society of America (GSA) Memoir 156, Geology and Tectonics of the Lake Superior Basin, edited by R. J. Wold and W. J. Hinze. It should be a welcome addition to the library of anyone working on this subject or working with related rocks and processes.
Astronomers announce origin and cause of Jupiter's Ring System
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

In a very rough economic analysis, Joseph Veverka, professor of astronomy and planetary sciences at Cornell University, said that NASA's Galileo and earlier Voyager missions to Jupiter cost each American about the equivalent of one chocolate bar per year.

“Given the results that Galileo has produced in the last several years, I think you probably got your chocolate bar's worth,” Veverka mused at a September 15 news conference held by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO)in Tucson, Ariz., and Cornell to announce the latest dramatic discovery involving the spacecraft.
Outstanding student paper awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Seismology Section presented the following outstanding student paper awards at the 1998 AGU Spring Meeting in Boston, Mass., last May.

Shu‐Huei Hung presented a paper titled “Can a Low‐velocity Column of High Melt Concentration be Hidden Beneath the East Pacific Rise?” Shu‐ Huei received a B.S. in geology in 1991 and an M.S. in geophysics in 1993 from National Taiwan University. She completed her Ph.D. in geophysics at Brown University in May 1998, under the supervision of Donald Forsyth. Her thesis involved the development of an inversion procedure for comparative‐ event, moment tensor determination and of a parallel multi‐domain pseudospectral method for simulation of seismic wave propagation in inhomogeneous and anisotropic media. She has combined waveform modeling with seismic observations to characterize the nature of intraplate earthquakes, lithospheric anisotropy, and mantle upwelling in the MELT Experiment area across the Southern East Pacific Rise. As a postdoc research associate at Princeton University, Shu‐ Huei works on three‐dimensional waveform travel‐time sensitivity kernels explored from different renovated methodologies to improve our understanding of wave scattering and diffraction in heterogeneous Earth structures.
Climate Change and the Global Harvest: Potential Impacts of the Greenhouse Effect on Agriculture
Authors: Norman John M.
Published: October 2006

The media preoccupation with El Nino and recent weather calamities suggests that nearly everyone should be aware, at least at a superficial level, of the possibilities for global climate changes. Endless articles in the popular press and scientific journal literature have reported a plethora of possible climate change outcomes, supported of course by a judicious selection of observations and reference citations. All this speculation has given rise to assertions that the scientific community is struggling with an uncomfortable dichotomy between genuine and justified concern versus enhanced budgets and notoriety that come with dire scenarios. Perhaps the climate‐change research community is second only to the medical research community in having its credibility shaken by premature airing of uncertain findings.
Basin‐Wide Diagenetic Patterns: Integrated Petrologic, Geochemical, and Hydrologic Considerations
Authors: Harrison Wendy J.
Published: October 2006

The serious scholar of petrology is well aware of the discrepant level of understanding that exists between igneous and metamorphic petrogenesis and sediment diagenesis (also known as postdepositional evolution). While nucleation and crystallization theory, phase equilibria, and principles of heat and mass transport have provided guidance for scientists to understand the formation and subsequent evolution of igneous and metamorphic rocks, sedimentary petrologists seem to have been left behind in detailed, descriptive characterization, with little chemical and physical basis to unify the diagenesis of one rock unit with any other.

Of course, one cannot lay blame entirely on the scientist: the study of sediment diagenesis is plagued by problems of incomplete chemical reaction, the need to characterize amorphous solids and poorly crystalline mineral phases, low temperature and pressure conditions that result in reaction kinetics dominating over thermodynamic equilibria, and a lot of fugitive water! Further complications arise because most of the samples available for extensive regional study of sediment diagenesis are those recovered during the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon and mineral resources. The processes that have controlled postdepositional chemical and physical evolution of such samples are undeniably nonrepresentative of those affecting the vast volumes of most sedimentary sequences.
Tsunami researchers outline steps for better data
Authors: Yeh Harry
Published: October 2006

A tsunami is a long wave. The length of the wave is much longer than its depth. A typical tsunami wave in deep water is several tens to hundreds of kilometers long. Hence even if such a wave propagated over a 4000‐ m‐deep abyssal plain, its evolution would be strongly affected by the bottom bathymetry. This is not the case for storm‐generated waves, which are typically less than 500 m long; waves whose length is less than twice their depth are not affected by the presence of the ocean bottom.
Deep Space One: Preparing for space exploration in the 21st century
Authors: Nelson Robert M.
Published: October 2006

Later this month, NASA is scheduled to take a revolutionary step with the launch of the New Millennium Program's Deep Space One (DS1) mission. DS1 will fly by asteroid 1992KD in July 1999 and will then be on a trajectory toward comet 19P/Borrelly (see Figure 1).

The target bodies are not what makes DS1 revolutionary, however. NASA has flown missions past comets and asteroids before. Rather, the pioneering role of DS1 is in paving the way for future, even more exciting, science missions by testing a host of new, advanced technologies that are unproven in deep space.
For research on climate change, past is key to future
Authors: Oldfield Frank
Published: October 2006

One of the major challenges for predicting future climate change is determining the specific causes of past and present changes. Greenhouse gases are not alone in influencing climate; changes in solar irradiance and major volcanic eruptions also play important roles. Recent research findings complement and reinforce evidence for human‐induced warming based on theory, computer models, and the growing number of observations that claim to detect a “fingerprint” signal of the greenhouse effect. They do not deny the importance of solar influences on climate and especially cloud variability, but they do point to a broader picture.
Series of disasters strikes Peruvian Observatory
Authors: Scanlon Jim
Published: October 2006

A midday blaze severely damaged the Geophysical Observatory at Huancayo, Peru, high in the Andes above Lima on August 28, 1996. The fire, which started accidentally, was one of a series of misfortunes suffered by the Peruvian Geophysical Institute (IGP) in recent years.

The observatory, which was built in 1919 by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is a 4‐hour drive by bus from the Pacific coast between cosmopolitan Lima and the Amazonian lowlands. From the late 1980s until 1992, the observatory was isolated from the international community due to political developments in Peru, namely the Maoist Communist insurrection known as Sendero Luminoso. The turmoil resulted in the loss of nearly all cooperative contracts with American universities for research at Huancayo. IGP did maintain a few contracts, such as one with Cornell for the Radio Observatory at Jicamarca in the northern part of the country.
Volcanic ash can pose hazards to air traffic
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

When volcanoes erupt, lava flows are what concern many people. But as air traffic increases, some scientists at agencies in the U.S. and abroad—including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and NASA—also are focusing on how to avoid costly and potentially deadly problems that can arise from volcanic ash clouds.

The clouds can rise into the cruise altitude of aircraft and can affect traffic thousands of kilometers away from a volcano, as wind carries the ash. The ash can ruin planes, and cause loss of thrust and even flameouts. It also can slicken runways and damage planes on the ground.
Outstanding student paper awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Geodesy Section presented the following outstanding student paper awards at the 1998 Western Pacific Geophysics Meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, in July 1998.

Craig Roberts presented a paper titled “Antenna Phase Centre Variation: Cause for Concern for Precise GPS Deformation Monitoring Applications.” Craig is a Ph.D. student at the School of Geomatic Engineering, University of New South Wales. He graduated from the University of South Australia with a bachelor of surveying in 1988. He began his career as a private surveyor in Adelaide.
Outstanding student paper awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Tectonophysics Section presented the following outstanding student paper awards at the 1998 Western Pacific Geophysics Meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, in July 1998.

Yoshitaka Hashimoto presented a paper titled “Underplating Process from Melange Formation to Duplexing: Example from the Cretaceous Shimanto Subbelt, Kii Peninsula, SW Japan.” Yoshitaka earned his B.S. in geology and mining, and his M.S. in Earth and planetary science from Hokkaido University in 1996 and 1998, respectively. He currently is a Ph.D. candidate in the Geological Institute at Tokyo University under the supervision of Professor Gaku Kimura. The purpose of his thesis is to investigate the detailed process of underplating and the space‐time relationship of tectonic melange formation and duplexing mechanisms from underthrusting to underplating. His future research interests focus on the study of veins, lithification progress in subduction zone, the relationship between deformation and pore water, seismic fronts, and understanding why underplating occurs.