bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

As in many areas of human knowledge, the notion of climate acquired a deeper historical content around the turn of the 19th century. Natural philosophers, geographers, and others became increasingly aware of climate's own history and its relation to human, plant and animal, and Earth history. This article examines several aspects of this “historicization” of climate.

The lively 18th century discussion of the influence of climate on society is well known. Montesquieu is its most famous representative, but Voltaire, Hume, Kant, and others also participated. Their debate was literary more than scientific, their goal the understanding of man, not climate. Partly for this reason and partly because of the lack of good information on climates, they made no attempt to gather substantial climatic data. In fact, the importance of systematically collecting reliable data was scarcely understood in any area of natural philosophy before the last decades of the century [Cf. Frängsmyr et al., 1990; Feldman, 1990]. Instead, participants in the debate repeated commonplaces dating from Aristotle and Hippocrates and based their conclusions on unreliable reports from travelers. As Glacken wrote of Montesquieu, “his dishes are from old and well‐tested recipes” [Glacken, 1967, chapter 12]. This is not to say that the debate over climatic influence was not significant—only that its significance lay more in the history of man than in the atmospheric sciences.
Reply [to “‘Flat‐Venus Society” organizes”]
Authors: Stofan Ellen R.
Published: September 2022

The Magellan Project appreciates David Morrison's reminder that our vertically exaggerated (22.5 times) images and videos are produced by combining images with altimetry, a fact that we try to point out on both videos and images released to the public. The computer‐generated scenes are produced as part of a solar system visualization project that combines various data sets for scientific computer visualization and analysis. We felt that the images would be of interest to others. Part of the reason that we use vertical exaggeration is that we are trying to show topographic variations over very large areas, the scale at which we have accurate topographic information. (There is a disparity between the 120–300 m resolution of the images and the greater than 10 km resolution of the topography.)
Correction to [Comment on] “IUGG 1991: Geophysics as a global endeavor”]
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Two articles published in Eos on the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (October 1 and 8, 1991) contained errors in the listing of new officers and IUGG member associations.

The IUGG officers elected at the August 1991 General Assembly in Vienna are Helmut Moritz, president; V. I. Keilis‐Borok, past‐president; Peter J. Wyllie, vice‐president; Georges Balmino, secretary general; Soren Gregersen, treasurer; Du‐Zheng Ye, Gordon McBean, A. S. Monin, bureau members.
In Memoriam
Authors: Nishida Atsuhiro
Published: September 2022

Tatsuzo (Tatsu) Obayashi, Professor Emiritus of the University of Tokyo and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, died February 19, 1992, at the age of 65. He was born in Wakayama, Japan, April 10, 1926, and graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1948.
Reply to “Comment on “Sensitivity of the global climate system to initial conditions” by A.A. Tsonis” Autoagressive models not sensitive to initial conditions
Authors: Tsonis A. A.
Published: September 2022

The sensitivity of the global climate system to the initial conditions via a statistical approach was studied by Tsonis [1991]. The philosophy behind this approach was to model a global temperature record with an optimum autoregressive model ]see Katz, 1982[ and then to use this model to infer the average time that it takes for two records initially nearby to diverge significantly.
Mars Observer launch delayed
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

The September 16 launch of NASA's Mars Observer mission has been postponed due to contamination of the spacecraft. The payload was removed from the Titan III nose fairing on the rocket and returned to the spacecraft facility at Kennedy Space Center for cleaning.

A rescheduled launch is expected later in the month. The Mars launch window closes on October 13.
Recent Ph.D.s
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

A uniquely comprehensive study of the late Quaternary arc volcano Tatara‐San Pedro, at 36°S, in the Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ) of the Chilean Andes (Figures 1, 2), is currently underway on the basis of new samples and field data collected earlier this year by a team of fifteen U.S. and Chilean scientists working under the auspices of the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Guide to major programs and activities
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

LEADERSHIP: The AGU Council of elected Union and Section officers has full responsibility for AGU affairs AGU Council: Ralph Cicerone (President), Fred Spilhaus; Review Union Statutes and Bylaws: John R. Ritter, Fred Spilhaus; Develop a strategic plan for the Union Planning: Marcia Neugebauer; Fred Spilhaus; ELECTIONS: Propose candidates for Union offices Nominations: Don L. Anderson, Fred Spilhaus.
A community of scientists
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

AGU's more than 29,000 members are involved in hydrology, ocean sciences, volcanology, geochemistry, petrology, atmospheric sciences, tectonophysics, space physics and aeronomy, seismology, geomagnetism and paleomagnetism, geodesy, and planetology. Many members are also involved in the interdisciplinary frontiers of these and related sciences. The high proportion of members active in research lends an overall coherence to the membership's perceptions and objectives.
Dinosauric demise
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

For more than a decade, many scientists have theorized that the disappearance of the dinosaurs may be due to the collision of a huge asteroid with Earth 65 mya. However, many gaps have persisted in the theory. Now NASA scientists offer a detailed explanation of how the impact may have led to the extinction of the dinosaur. In a recent issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters, a team of scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Earth and Space Sciences Division in Pasadena, Calif., write that the location of the impact was key.
Unstable disks around stars may harbor clues to origin of solar system
Authors: Wakefield Julie
Published: September 2022

Since humans first developed critical consciousness, they have striven to understand the mysteries of our solar system. Prehistoric peoples built Stonehenge and other testaments to their understanding of the stars. Around 4000 B.C., Babylonian priests charted timetables of the constellations, while halfway around the world early Mayan civilizations produced astounding astronomical feats. And from there, the historic record only avalanched.

Today, contemporary astronomers continue to pursue many of these age‐old questions. And now, a wave of new findings may help elucidate how our solar system's Sun and planets formed about 4.5 billion years ago. Moreover, the findings may help expedite the search for extrasolar planetary systems similar to our own.
U.S. Congress addresses risky science business
Authors: Wakefield Julie
Published: September 2022

A new breed of risk analysis may be coming to the rule‐making process, if Republican lawmakers get their way. The Republican Contract with America, among other things, entails a new regulatory contract for America, which may impact on how federal agencies conduct science in the future.

The regulatory contract is one chunk of the Republican Contract that the Science Committee has a lot to say about, with primary jurisdiction over Title III of HR9, the Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act of 1995, which tackles risk assessment head on. Accordingly, hearings were already under way last week before both the Science and Commerce committees in keeping with the timetable of the promised 100‐day deadline. The risk assessment section of the bill, Title III, likely will be marked up this week, congressional sources say, if few snags arise during the Administration's testimony, which was slated for last Thursday and Friday.
Jacob receives Macelwane Medal
Authors: Levy Hiram , Jacob Daniel J.
Published: September 2022

The James B. Macelwane Medal was presented to Daniel J. Jacob at the 1994 AGU Spring Meeting Honors Ceremony on May 25,1994. The medal recognizes significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by a young scientist of outstanding ability. The award citation and Jacob's response are presented here.
Plasma Physics: An Introductory Course
Authors: Gary S. Peter
Published: September 2022

Plasma Physics: An Introductory Course was developed from recent lectures given at the British Culham Summer School in Plasma Physics, a 2‐week introductory course for graduate‐level students, which has been conducted each summer since 1964.

The volume presents many points of view since its 18 chapters were written by different authors, but the well‐integrated chapters provide an excellent introduction to plasma physics. While the absence of homework problems and the diverse points of view render it inappropriate for use as an introductory textbook, its cross‐cutting discussion of research progress in a wide range of plasma physics and applications constitutes a useful supplement to more conventional textbooks.
Infrared signature of Jupiter's Io interaction is detected
Authors: Connerney J. E. P. , Satoh T. , Baron R. , Owen T.
Published: September 2022

One of the most intriguing problems in the study of planetary magnetospheres is the electrodynamic interaction between Io, a satellite of Jupiter, and the planet's magnetosphere. The first indication of this unique relationship was found in remote observations of radio emission from Jupiter's magnetosphere, first detected in 1955. Observations of Jovian decameter radiation (DAM) at Earth had established a correlation between the probability of observation of DAM and the position of Io in its orbit about Jupiter. Io's influence on the generation of Jovian DAM was attributed to the workings of an electric generator of enormous scale [Goldreich and Lynden‐Bell, 1969]. Now, images of Jupiter's disc reveal a localized infrared emission feature associated with this interaction (Figure 1).
EPA looks to change—Not grow
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Clinton asked for $7.4 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency in FY 1996—a $138 million (2% increase) over FY 1995. EPA's hallmark, according to the agency, is “not growth, but change,” with its strategic plan The New Generation of Environmental Protection as its signpost. Ecosystem protection, environmental justice, pollution prevention, strong science and data, partnerships, environmental accountability, and reinventing EPA management are its top priorities.

Clinton's budget asks for $1.56 billion for the Superfund program, a $131.7 million increase over fiscal year 1995. The budget has $77.3 million, a $7.3 million increase, for the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) program. EPA's water infrastructure program would take a $404 million hit in FY 1996, down to $2.37 billion.
Leafy revelation
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Height is known to matter when it comes to understanding global change and dynamic processes in the Earth's mantle in times past. Scientists have long thought that knowing the elevation of large topographic features in historic periods could shed light on these questions. But in practice, this has been hard to do. For starters, separating the effects of increased elevation from those of climate deterioration is difficult. And even though past elevations could be gleaned from pressure measurements, scientists have had little luck with this approach. Generally, they have turned to plants, or more specifically plant leaves. The leaves vary in characteristic ways depending on temperature, which in turn varies with elevation.
DoS‐a‐DoS
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

When it comes to creating a Department of Science (DoS), House Science Committee chair Robert Walker (R‐Pa.) says he is “not looking to create a science dictator here.” Although the details of the new bill are still being ironed out, Walker says the agency, as a singular cabinet agency, would house the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the USGS, the White House Office of Science and Technology policy, and the weapons programs of the Department of Energy.
Workshop fuels interest in metamorphism and tectonics
Authors: Ernst W. G.
Published: September 2022

Recent studies of metasedimentary gneisses from the Western Alps, southwest Norway, northern Kazakhstan, and east‐central China reveal the presence of ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) mineral relics encased in strong refractory host garnet, zircon, and pyroxene grains. Petrologists are accustomed to the rare exposure of deeply buried mantle materials such as kimberlites. But the occurrence of coesite and diamond, which are very high‐pressure forms of silica and elemental carbon, respectively, in metasedimentary rocks that originated at the Earth's surface is an eyebrow raiser. Since all reported UHP occurrences involve crustal rocks marking continental collisional suture zones, it appears that slabs of old, continental, crust‐capped lithosphere must have been subducted to depths of 90–125 km or more. Then, after decoupling, the buoyant sialic material returned toward the surface propelled by body forces.
Sunny vindication?
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Scientists have generally agreed that Earth's temperature has risen slightly during the past 100 years, by about 0.6°, in fact. But they have not been able to agree why. For one thing, the Sun has been a spoiler in the debate. While many scientists believe that greenhouse gases or even purely natural climate variations are to blame, others have insisted that the Sun may be a player in climate changes on Earth. The Sun maybe getting brighter or variations in the solar cycle may be driving temperature changes, they suggest. Because the Sun is difficult to remove from the equation, the issue has remained unsettled. Now in the April 7 issue of Science, David Thomson of AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., may have brushed away some of the clouds. Using sophisticated techniques to study the statistical structure of time series, Thomson analyzed more than 300 years of temperature records. He found little evidence that the Sun is altering Earth's temperatures. In fact, he determined that the amplitude of the seasonal cycle is decreasing, which clashes with what would be expected if the Sun were getting brighter. He claims his finding “implies that solar variability cannot be the sole cause of the increasing temperature over the last century.” Though the Sun may play some role in climate change, Thomson writes in Science that the implications of his analysis are that “the effects of increasing greenhouse gases may be worse than previously thought.” Moreover, he writes, the finding calls for a reexamination of various climate parameters from orbital effects to seasonal temperature differences to annual temperature cycles.
The importance of atmospheric measurements at Alert, Canada
Authors: Manning Martin , Dlugokencky Ed , Tans Pieter , Francey Roger , Fraser Paul , Steele Paul , Keeling Charles D. , Keeling Ralph , Levin Ingeborg , White Jim
Published: September 2022

Since 1986 the Atmospheric Environment Service (AES) of Environment Canada has operated an atmospheric chemistry program at Station Alert, which is located at 82°N on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island.

The program provides a detailed record of atmospheric change in the high Arctic that is crucial to both regional and global issues. Plans to reduce the Canadian government's deficit now require Environment Canada to make budgetary cuts and are prompting reevaluation of this and other programs. In light of these circumstances, we would like to take the opportunity to consider the importance of Alert to international atmospheric science.
Nagai is new GRL Japanese regional editor
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Tsugunobu Nagai's term as Japanese Regional Editor of Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) began this year and will run through 1997.

Since 1993, Tsugunobu Nagai has been a faculty member of the newly established Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology; he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in atmospheric dynamics and space plasma physics. Nagai graduated from the University of Tokyo with a B.S. and M.S. in astronomy and then worked at Kakioka magnetic observatory, taking a Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo in space physics in 1981. As an NRC research associate at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, he researched low‐energy plasmas in the ionosphere and magnetosphere in 1983–1983. He next took part in research in upper atmosphere physics at the Meteorological Research Institute in the Tsukuba Science City, Japan. Because of increased interest in climate and environmental study, he became involved in research into climate change in 1987. With colleagues, Nagai has successfully simulated the El‐Nino‐Southern Oscillation, a major cause of climate change, with coupled atmosphere‐ocean general circulation models.
Ice sheets play important role in climate change
Authors: Clark Peter U. , MacAyeal Douglas R. , Andrews John T. , Bartlein Patrick J.
Published: September 2022

Ice sheets once were viewed as passive elements in the climate system enslaved to orbitally generated variations in solar radiation. Today, modeling results and new geologic records suggest that ice sheets actively participated in late‐Pleistocene climate change, amplifying or driving significant variability at millennial as well as orbital timescales. Although large changes in global ice volume were ultimately caused by orbital variations (the Milankovitch hypothesis), once in existence, the former ice sheets behaved dynamically and strongly influenced regional and perhaps even global climate by altering atmospheric and oceanic circulation and temperature.

Experiments with General Circulation Models (GCMs) yielded the first inklings of ice sheets' climatic significance. Manabe and Broccoli [1985], for example, found that the topographic and albedo effects of ice sheets alone explain much of the Northern Hemisphere cooling identified in paleoclimatic records of the last glacial maximum (˜21 ka).
A rule‐of‐thumb for atmospheric density and pressure versus altitude
Authors: Dessler A. J.
Published: September 2022

Order‐of‐magnitude values for the density and pressure of the Earth's atmosphere are readily obtained for altitudes up to 160 km by means of a simple rule‐of‐thumb. The results, while not precise, are good enough for rough calculations when your favorite atmospheric table is not at hand.

The rule‐of‐thumb is atmospheric massdensity, number‐density, and pressure all decrease by approximately a factor of 10 for every 10‐mile increase in altitude up to an altitude of 100 miles. (This is one of the few cases in which working with English units is advantageous.) Interpolation in 5‐mile increments is obtained by using a factor of three decrease in atmospheric parameters for every 5‐mile increase in altitude.
Ozone recovery?
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

New research indicates that levels of the ozone‐depleting chemical methyl chloroform are falling, the first decrease ever measured of a substance restricted by the Montreal Protocol. The Protocol is an international treaty limiting the production of ozone‐depleting chemicals. The research, led by Ronald Prinn of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, showed that concentrations of methyl chloroform have decreased at approximately 2% per year since mid‐1990. Until that time, levels had increased by approximately 4% a year since 1978.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Constantin Copaciu died in early February, at age 85. He had been a member (Tectonophysics) since 1984.

Cesare Emiliani died July 20, 1995, at age 73. He was an AGU Fellow (Ocean Sciences), who joined AGU in 1966.
Reply [to “Comment on ‘Solar wind mechanism suggested for weather and climate change” by B. Vonnegut and C.B. Moore”]
Authors: Tinsley Brian A.
Published: September 2022

To explain correlations of weather and climate parameters with solar activity via atmospheric electricity requires first, a plausible mechanism (A) relating changes in atmospheric electricity to the relevant solar or solar wind parameters, and second, a plausible mechanism (B) relating changes in the relevant weather and climate parameters to the atmospheric electricity changes.
Hydrology at Duke
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Duke University has established a new Center for Hydrological Science to coordinate research and develop a coherent graduate program for Ph.D. study in hydrology. The Center, supported with startup funding from the University, will include five faculty members in civil and environmental engineering, three members at the School of the Environment, two in geology, and one in mathematics.
NASA Home page
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has a new Internet World Wide Web home page designed to inform the public about NASA activities. Home page sections include Goddard missions, space sciences, Earth sciences, Goddard organizations, the newsroom, public services and information, and education. The home page is available at URL: http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc.html.
High flier
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Pathfinder, an unpiloted, remotely controlled NASA aircraft has reached an altitude of 50,500 feet, a new record for a solar‐powered aircraft.

The all‐wing aircraft, which weighs less than 600 pounds, is being evaluated in a program to develop technologies for operating unpiloted aircraft at altitudes of up to 100,000 feet on environmental sampling missions lasting up to a week or more. The evaluation program is called ERAST—Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology—and is part of Mission to Planet Earth.
NASA on the “Net”
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

The “NASA Science Communications Strategy, The Final Report of the NASA Science Communications Working Group” is now available via the Internet. The report underscores the Agency's commitment to improving the way science is communicated to the public and outlines a strategy for developing scientific communications programs. The document can be accessed by using a web browser at URL: http://dlt.gsfc.nasa.gov/cordova/scicom.html.

NASA's first electronic research announcement was issued in September by the Office of Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE). The announcement, soliciting several kinds of scientific proposals, was posted to the MTPE Home Page, and 30,000 postcards were sent to potential researchers notifying them that the announcement was available. Normally, NASA sends announcements by mail to lists of potential researchers, paying printing and postage for 2000–6000 copies. By using the Internet, NASA increased direct notifications, including 6000 overseas; the postcards gave an electronic address to download the announcement and a telephone number to call to request a paper copy. Depending on how many people request a paper copy, the electronic distribution could save NASA up to $80,000. Those interested can access the announcement by going to the Mission to Planet Earth Home Page (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/mpte) and clicking on “MTPE Research Announcements.”
Green tools
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

With an eye toward forging tools that the nonscientist can use to make environmentally prudent policy, the National Science Foundation has provided the seed funding to establish a new National Center for Environmental Decision‐Making Research. NSF has awarded $5 million over the next five years to the Joint Institute for Energy and the Environment at the University of Tennessee for creation of the center.

The organizing principle of the effort, according to NSF, is to “make scientific environmental research more relevant and useful to decision makers.” Interdisciplinary teams of sociologists, economists, geologists, ecologists, computer scientists, psychologists, urban planners, and others will be asked to interpret existing research and to conduct new studies of environmental problems and how they were resolved.
On the money
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Go West young physicists… and go with the doctors. That is the underlying message of a membership survey conducted by the American Institute of Physics, which found that physicists working in Pacific states earn 10% more than colleagues in the rest of the United States. Those working in the West North Central states take home 16% less than the norm, AIP reported. At the same time, the survey revealed that physicists working in health care ranked at the top of the pay ladder, while academics hung onto the low rung: physicists and engineers associated with medicine earn roughly $77,000 per year, while those associated with four‐year colleges and universities take home about $45,000.
Forget the bottled water
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

If and when humans decide to build a home on the Moon, they should be able to carry a little less baggage from home. Researchers Richard Morris and David McKay of NASA and Carl Allen of Lockheed have experimented with lunar rock and soil samples and have determined that oxygen can be extracted from the Moon's surface. Conducting reduction experiments with hydrogen at 1050°C, the researchers found that lunar soils rich in iron could be used to produce a recoverable amount of oxygen for life support, and propellant, as well as water production. Through remote sensing, the group suggested, scientists could locate lunar regions rich with iron and situate a permanent settlement nearby. “This is a major advance because we are now confident that we could make a large amount of water and oxygen on the Moon,” said McKay. “It puts us in a position of being able to support human life on the Moon earlier than we thought.”
An uplifting sinking feeling
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

A British ecologist has found evidence of something scientists have suspected for quite some time: tropical rain forests soak up excess CO2 from the atmosphere. By measuring the flux of CO2, water vapor, and heat over forests in Brazil's Jaru Reserve, John Grace of the University of Edinburgh observed that such regions are net absorbers of the gas, at a volume of one ton of CO2 per hectare of rain forest. In fact, photosynthetic gains outpaced respiratory losses in all seasons of the year, at all times except on the cloudiest of days.
Reflections on art
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

An artist has teamed up with the Sun to forge a work of sculpture that is, literally, brilliant. Janet Saad‐Cook recently unveiled the first piece of what she calls the Global Sun Drawing, a series of permanent sunlight‐activated sculptures. The first installment, now on display in the library of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Haystack Observatory, uses optically coated glass and mirrored metals to create evolving images on indoor surfaces as the Sun sweeps across the sky. The shimmering, multi‐colored “drawings” even change according to the seasons.
Fishy evidence
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Adding to the ongoing debate over the mass extinctions that marked the end of the Cretaceous period, a paleontologist from Purdue University recently uncovered a bed of 65‐million‐year old fish bones that bears the fingerprints of a meteorite impact. Gathering the fossils from Seymour Island, near the Antarctic Peninsula, William Zinsmeister discovered what he has termed a “horizon of death,” a 12‐square‐kilometer bone bed resting just above a layer of iridium. The element is rare on Earth but common to most meteorites.

The Purdue professor of geosciences believes the site provides strong evidence that the impact of an extraterrestrial object played at least some part in the mass extinctions that marked the end of the Cretaceous.
Reply [to “Comment on ‘Trip illumines lightning” by R. D. Hill”]
Authors: Hill R. D.
Published: September 2022

B. Vonnegut's comments are excellent. I further agree, according to Vonnegut's overview in 1994, that “a satisfactory understanding of how a thunderstorm works will require a continuing series of investigations…”
Hole‐some research
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

It is as massive as 1.2 billion Suns and surrounded by an 800‐lightyear‐wide disk of ionized gas and dust moving at speeds up to 1.67 million km/hr. But you can't see it—at least not in the usual ways—because it is compressed into a space the size of a thumbnail.

The third black hole ever confirmed by astronomers has been discovered by Johns Hopkins graduate student Laura Ferrarese, Hopkins astronomer Holland Ford, and Leiden University astronomer Walter Jaffe. The team announced its discovery on Dec. 4 in Paris at the European Space Agency's “Science with Hubble Space Telescope II” conference.
Japan catches up to U.S. in some scientific and technological indicators
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

Some of Japan's leading indicators of science and technological strength have caught up with or surpassed those of the United States, concludes a special report by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Science Resources Studies (SRS) released in late January, prior to the release of President Clinton's 1999 budget proposal that calls for substantial increases in the U.S. science budget.

The NSF report, “The Science and Technology Resources of Japan: A Comparison with the United States,” states that since 1989, Japan has slightly led the United States in the proportion of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) invested in overall research and development (R&D).
Worldwatchers push for sustainable development
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

“Recognizing the limits of natural systems is often seen as a call for no growth, but the issue is not growth versus no growth. The question is, What kind of growth? And where?” write Lester Brown and one of his 13 co‐authors, Jennifer Mitchell, in the 1998 issue of “State of the World: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress toward a Sustainable Society.”

Now in its 15th annual edition, the book, which is published by a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit organization, this year focuses on the future of growth and on building a new economy.
Tuned to 1612 on the dial
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

Five years in the making, the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) and Motorola, Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding in March that extends some protection from interference to radio astronomers who use the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico.

Motorola, which operates the IRIDIUM commercial communications satellite system, has agreed to guarantee 8 hours of radio observing time each day—from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time (6:00–11:00 UT)—that is free of potential signal interference from its satellites. With 66 IRIDIUM satellites scheduled to be operational in low‐Earth orbit this fall, the agreement had taken on some urgency.
Sustainable developments
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

Hundreds of diplomats, along with industry, finance, environment, and labor leaders from around the world met from April 20 to May 1 for the sixth session of the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD), an annual follow‐up conference to track the Agenda 21 program of action adopted at the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit.

During the session, which focused on freshwater management concerns and the role of industry in sustainable development, the participants discussed a number of issues about development and parity among northern and southern hemisphere countries.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

The Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology (VGP) Section presented the following Outstanding Student Paper Awards at the AGU 1997 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, on last December.

Ken Koga presented a poster on “Kinetics of Garnet to Spinel Facies Transformation and Trace Element Re‐distribution.” Ken graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1993 with a B.S. from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He currently is at the MIT/WHOI Joint Program working towards a Ph.D. with Nobumichi Shimizu of WHOI and Timothy Grove of MIT. Ken's general interests include petrology and geochemistry of minerals in various magma generation processes. His thesis projects involve experimental investigations of the kinetics of solid‐state chemical reactions among upper minerals and geochemical consequences of these reactions.
Dealing with Y2K
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

In 17 months, the ball drops in New York's Times Square to usher in a new millennium and new year ending in the digits 00. However, internal clocks in computers around the world may recognize the date as 1900 rather than 2000 if governments and businesses drop the ball in dealing with a simple computer design flaw that has ballooned into a complex management issue of correcting billions of lines of computer code worldwide.

In a speech at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C, in July, U.S. President Bill Clinton proposed new legislation to make it easier for the private sector to collaborate in solving this problem.
Outstanding student paper award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

The Planetology Section presented an outstanding student paper award to Julie Ann Rathbun at the AGU 1998 Spring Meeting in Boston, Mass., last May.

Julie Ann Rathbun presented a paper titled “Ice Diapirs on Europa and Their Implications."” Julie received her B.S. degree in physics from the State University of New York at Buffalo in May 1994. She has an M.S. in astronomy from Cornell University that she received in July 1997. At present, she is working towards a Ph.D. in astronomy from Cornell under the direction of Steven Squyres. Julie's thesis topic is studying thermal upwellings on Venus and Europa using techniques developed for Coronae formation. She is doing this study in order to understand the subsurface structure of the bodies and how similar processes can differ in icy and rocky bodies. Work already accomplished toward this thesis are Magellan data used to model the formation of Beta Regio and Theia Mons, and Galileo data used to model the formation of small topographic domes to show that a liquid water ocean must have been present at the time of their formation.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

The Planetology Section presented an outstanding student paper award to Julie Ann Rathbun at the AGU 1998 Spring Meeting in Boston, Mass., last May.

Julie Ann Rathbun presented a paper titled “Ice Diapirs on Europa and Their Implications."” Julie received her B.S. degree in physics from the State University of New York at Buffalo in May 1994. She has an M.S. in astronomy from Cornell University that she received in July 1997. At present, she is working towards a Ph.D. in astronomy from Cornell under the direction of Steven Squyres. Julie's thesis topic is studying thermal upwellings on Venus and Europa using techniques developed for Coronae formation. She is doing this study in order to understand the subsurface structure of the bodies and how similar processes can differ in icy and rocky bodies. Work already accomplished toward this thesis are Magellan data used to model the formation of Beta Regio and Theia Mons, and Galileo data used to model the formation of small topographic domes to show that a liquid water ocean must have been present at the time of their formation.
Geophysicists
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

The Planetology Section presented an outstanding student paper award to Julie Ann Rathbun at the AGU 1998 Spring Meeting in Boston, Mass., last May.

Julie Ann Rathbun presented a paper titled “Ice Diapirs on Europa and Their Implications."” Julie received her B.S. degree in physics from the State University of New York at Buffalo in May 1994. She has an M.S. in astronomy from Cornell University that she received in July 1997. At present, she is working towards a Ph.D. in astronomy from Cornell under the direction of Steven Squyres. Julie's thesis topic is studying thermal upwellings on Venus and Europa using techniques developed for Coronae formation. She is doing this study in order to understand the subsurface structure of the bodies and how similar processes can differ in icy and rocky bodies. Work already accomplished toward this thesis are Magellan data used to model the formation of Beta Regio and Theia Mons, and Galileo data used to model the formation of small topographic domes to show that a liquid water ocean must have been present at the time of their formation.
New ozone depleting chemical found
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

Scientists in Australia say they have discovered another chemical that is depleting the ozone in the upper atmosphere. They say it is not controlled by the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and has an as‐yet unknown source.

“The rapid growth of halon‐1202 comes as a surprise to us,” says Paul Frasier, an atmospheric scientist with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).
NASA helps reduce city hot spots
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

When researchers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., recently flew a thermal camera, mounted on a NASA aircraft, over Baton Rouge, La., Sacramento, Calif., and Salt Lake City, Utah, they took each city's temperature and produced an image that pinpoints the cities' “hot spots.”

Now, the researchers are using the images to study what types of surfaces in cities contribute to bubble‐like accumulations of hot air, called urban heat islands. The bubbles of hot air develop over cities as naturally vegetated surfaces are replaced with asphalt, concrete, rooftops, and other man‐made materials.
Report calls for new fishing policies
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

A new report by the National Research Council says that in order to restore fish populations and protect ecosystems, fishery managers should develop policies aimed towardsubstantially reducing fishing. The report, “Sustaining Marine Fisheries,” calls for management plans that cover commercial fishing as well as recreational and subsistence fishing.

The report also calls for more coastal and ocean areas to be designated as protected, nonfishing zones. Less than a quarter of one percent of coastal sea areas currently are designated as marine‐protected areas, but such areas can quickly restore populations of fish and other aquatic life, as well as reduce pollution, according to the report. More fishermen should be involved in planning and designating protected areas, the report adds.
Web adventures
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

While some people are plodding through snow or exploring distant reaches of the universe, students and other armchair adventurers can keep toasty while following along and learning some good science lessons.

Lee Mauldin, a scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, has created a Web site to update kids in very basic language about his 6‐week field study at the South Pole's Clean Air Facility.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Robert S. Arthur died at age 84. He was a retired life member (Ocean Sciences) who joined in 1945.

Donald W. Beaver died at age 58. He was a member (Hydrology) who joined in 1968.
Williams and Doney receive 2000 James B. Macelwane medal
Authors: Lay Thome , Williams Quentin C.
Published: September 2022

Quentin C. Williams and Scott C. Doney were awarded the James B. Macelwane Medal at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held on December 17, 2000 in San Francisco, California. The medal recognizes significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by a young scientist of outstanding ability.
Siliciclastic Sequence Stratigraphy—Concepts and Applications‐SEPM Series‐Concepts in Sedimentology and Paleontology #7
Authors: Bartek Louis R.
Published: September 2022

Sequence stratigraphy is branch of stratigraphy that is based upon using stratal patterns and stratal termination patterns to identify groups of strata that were deposited within the same interval and therefore genetically related. Its wide application in the 1980s and 1990s has provided new insight into the history and architecture of basin fill.

In this book, H.W. Posamentier and G.P. Allen take sequence stratigraphic models developed in the 1970s and modified in the 1980s to a higher level. The authors state that their goal is to focus on remaining flexible and pragmatic in their presentation of how to conduct sequence stratigraphic analyses and to operate using the premise that any geologic interpretation that does not violate stratigraphic first principles is a reasonable solution. They emphasize that the nature of sequence development is controlled by a combination of variation in accommodation, sediment supply, and physiography, and that each can have a significant impact on sequence architecture. This is a departure from earlier work, where eustasy was assumed to be the dominant force in sequence development.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

P. D. Akin died at age 86. He was a retired life member (Hydrology) who joined AGU in 1943.

F. Victor Appleby died at age 97. He was a retired life member (Hydrology) who joined AGU in 1956.
Magma differentiation rates: Combining isotopic constraints and thermal models
Authors: Hawkesworth Chris J. , Blake Steve , Thomas Louise , Turner Simon P.
Published: September 2022

Volcanism on the Earth arises due to the partial melting of the upper mantle, which produces magma of basaltic composition. However, most of the compositional variations observed in igneous rocks at any one volcano result from the subsequent processes of magma differentiation, and the dominant process is that of crystal formation and the physical separation of the crystals and the remaining liquid. This process of fractional crystallization leads to gas‐rich viscous magmas that have a greater potential to erupt in a catastrophically explosive manner than do more primitive magmas. Volcanologists and geochemists are therefore interested in ways of measuring the differentiation rates of sub‐volcanic magmas and in understanding the results in terms of the processes that can cause crystallization.
Symposium highlights results from HF interaction experiments
Authors: Rietveld Michael T. , Isham Brett
Published: September 2022

The high‐power, high‐frequency (HF) ionospheric radio facility in Tromsø, Norway is used to conduct fundamental research in plasma physics, ionospheric physics, and geophysics. This facility is making possible new discoveries in the fields of space plasma physics and upper atmospheric physics. Built by the Max‐Planck Institut fur Aeronomie and inaugurated on September 12, 1980, it was purposely located next to the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) incoherent scatter radars at 931 MHz and 224 MHz. These are the primary diagnostic instruments of the perturbations produced in the ionospheric plasma by the powerful HF radio waves [Rietveld et al., 1993].
Part 2. Institutional subscriptions to electronically delivered AGU journals
Authors: Jaumann Ralf
Published: September 2022

An editorial in the May 22, 2001 issue of Eos, and an “About AGU” column in the May 29 issue described some of the changes that will occur in the next few months as AGU makes the transition to fully electronic publishing. Although members have had access to electronic versions of AGU's printed journals for some time, that service was not ready for institutional access. This piece—the second in a series—discusses what institutional subscribers can expect in 2002 and how AGU plans to price for online access by institutions
Suggestions for future CoOP research sought
Authors: Jahnke Richard A.
Published: September 2022

The Coastal Ocean Processes (CoOP) Program works to improve the understanding of continental shelf dynamics and the physical, biological, chemical, and geological processes mediating material transport across shelf systems [Brink et al., 990, 1992; Roman, 1998]. Since the pilot project in 1992 (Table l), CoOP has grown steadily and currently supports 90 principal investigators. While the overall CoOP research strategy has categorized the different research programs by the physical processes influencing transport, CoOP is a fully integrated, interdisciplinary program (Figure 1).

The CoOP Program is based on the central hypothesis that there exists a small set of fundamental processes that control transport on continental shelves, and that shelf systems are thereby distinguished by the relative importance of these processes. The overall strategy of CoOP has been to focus multidisciplinary process‐oriented research efforts at locations where individual factors such as tides, windforcing, freshwater inflow, and boundary currents impact transport processes and the biogeochemical and ecological characteristics of the study regions to different extents.
Help wanted: Space ambassadors
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: September 2022

It might be one of the more unusual part‐time jobs around. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is inviting motivated space enthusiasts from across the United States to apply to become volunteers in its 2002 Solar System Ambassador program.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Carl Max Hammond, Jr. died on September 11, 2001, at age 37. He had been an AGU member (Magnetospheric Physics) since 1988.

He was a passenger on one of the hijacked commercial airlines that were crashed in New York City. Lester Machta died on August 31, 2001, at age 82. He was an AGU Fellow who joined in 1950.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: September 2022

Glenn W. Brier died last year, at age 88. He was a life member (Atmospheric Sciences) who joined AGU in 1945.

Leonard B. Corwin died in 1999, at age 94. He was a retired life member (Hydrology) who joined AGU in 1937.
Elucidation of divergent desaturation pathways in the formation of vinyl isonitrile and isocyanoacrylate
Authors: Kim Wantae , Chen Tzu-Yu , Cha Lide , Zhou Grace , Xing Kristi , Canty Nicholas Koenig , Zhang Yan , Chang Wei-chen
Published: September 2022

Two different types of desaturations are employed by iron- and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent (Fe/2OG) enzymes to construct vinyl isonitrile and isocyanoacrylate moieties found in isonitrile-containing natural products. A substrate-bound protein structure reveals a plausible strategy to affect desaturation and hints at substrate promiscuity of these enzymes. Analogs are synthesized and used as mechanistic probes to validate structural observations. Instead of proceeding through hydroxylated intermediate as previously proposed, a plausible carbocation species is utilized to trigger C=C bond installation. These Fe/2OG enzymes can also accommodate analogs with opposite chirality and different functional groups including isonitrile-(D)-tyrosine,N-formyl tyrosine, and phloretic acid, while maintaining the reaction selectivity.