bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Henry G. Booker, Life Member Solar‐Planetary Relationships section of AGU, died on November 1, 1988. He was 77.

William H. Wells, 84, a member of the Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU since 1948, died recently.
The substorm
Authors: Stern David P.
Published: October 2011

The substorm is a thing obscure/ We cannot make it out for sure/ But physicists with lots of nerve/ Fill in details they can't observe/ They see it in their own grand visions/ Of tearing modes with no collisions/ That squeeze away the plasma sheet/ To make opposing fluxes meet/ And in their merging, oh so swift/ Great plasmoids are cut adrift/ Or else the boundary is unfirm/ It likes to shimmy, twist and squirm/ And as it moves in fast pulsation/ Gives the storm's acceleration/ Or maybe fireballs explode/ Or all comes from some hybrid mode/ Or maybe field line reconnection/ Is driven by the tail's convection/ Or by a catastrophe thermal/ Or waves with features quite abnormal …/ The satellites that cross the tail/ Can never see such fine detail/ But scientists who ought to know/ Assure us that it must be so/ Oh, let us never, never doubt/ What nobody is sure about!
CIES Grant competition
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Council for International Exchange of Scholars, Washington, D.C., has announced the 1990–191 Fulbright Scholar Awards and the 1990–1991 Research Fellowships in India competitions.

The 1990–1991 Fulbright grants in research and university lecturing abroad for periods of 3 months to 1 year have openings in over 100 countries, in most academic disciplines. Professionals, retired faculty, and independent scholars are encouraged to apply.
Graduate awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Four Minority Fellows and 23 Graduate Fellows will do graduate work in Earth sciences under the National Science Foundation's Graduate and Minority Graduate Fellowship programs. NSF awarded 100 minority and 760 graduate fellowships in April, bringing the total fellowships to 25,000 since the programs began in 1952. About 13% of applicants in 1989 received the $12,300 three‐year awards plus an annual cost‐of‐education allowance of $6000.

The programs are part of NSF's “educational pipeline” to encourage outstanding students to go on to graduate work and careers in science, mathematics and engineering, said Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, NSF Assistant Director for Science and Engineering Education. Awards were also made in astronomy, biological sciences and biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics and applications of mathematics, physics, psychology, and social sciences.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Harold Jefferies, an AGU Fellow and member of the Seismology Section since 1944, died March 18 at age 97.

Michichiro M. Yasuhara, a Geomagnetism‐Paleomagnetism Section member since 1965, died January 20 at age 61.
Call to aqueous geochemists
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

There is no more exciting time than the present for aqueous geochemists. One need only examine recent titles to see that new instruments and ideas are being applied to natural chemistry with great success. As examples, consider how far we have come in modeling the thermodynamics of complicated brines, or in imagining atoms on the surface of minerals. When I began my study of geochemistry, these problems were largely considered to be impossibly difficult.
$500,000 Grant given to Scripps
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

In support of global change studies, including Earth sciences, physical oceanography, climatology, marine chemistry, and ocean ecology, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York has made a grant of $500,000 to Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Scripps will use the money to support recent Ph.D. scientists who are studying the environment's reaction to conditions such as increasing pollution, ozone depletion, greenhouse effects, climate change, and deforestation.

Edward A. Frieman, director of Scripps, said that “A critical need in this growing interdisciplinary field of global change is to introduce a new generation of young scientists to its complex problems and to the novel research strategies required for understanding global phenomena.” The grant from the Mellon Foundation will enable Scripps to attract motivated scientists, who are able to contribute to the important worldwide issue of global change.
NSF solicits program proposals
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The National Science Foundation announced a deadline of August 4, 1989, for Science and Technology Research Center proposals. Letters confirming intent to submit a proposal must be received by June 1, 1989. The STC Program was established to help maintain U.S. preeeminence in science and technology and ensure a pool of experienced scientists able to meet the changing needs of science and society.

Objectives of the program are to take advantage of complex areas of science and technology requiring the use of equipment and facilities that can only be provided by a campus‐based research center; to involve students, research scientists, and engineers from academia, nonprofit organizations, industry, and federal laboratories in order to enhance the training and employability of professionals; and to provide stable, long‐term funding.
Computer centers
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The National Science Foundation has renewed grants to four of its five supercomputer centers. Average annual funding will rise from $10 million to $14 million so facilities can be upgraded and training and education expanded. As cooperative projects, the centers also receive money from states, universities, computer vendors and industry. The centers support research in fluid dynamics, atmospheric modeling, engineering geophysics and many other scientific disciplines.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Frank Hermann, a member of the Hydrology section and an AGU member since since 1965, died on October 16, 1988. He was 97.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Victor T. Stringfield died June 19, 1989, at the age of 87. He spent more than 50 years with the USGS, mostly in the Washington, D.C./Reston, Va., headquarters. He was internationally known for his many publications and research in groundwater hydrology, especially in the hydrology of carbonate rocks. Vic had been an active member of the AGU Hydrology Section since 1936. Those wishing to honor Vic have been asked to make their contributions to a professional society of their choice.
Clean Coal Draft for public comment
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Department of Energy is asking the public to comment on the draft environmental impact statement for 22 clean coal technologies, from precombustion cleaning techniques to coal gasification and fuel cell systems. Incentives to promote use of these new methods for burning coal are included in President George Bush's proposed revisions to the Clean Air Act.

The draft is based on a computer model developed at Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, and run at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee. The model estimates the amounts of reduction by 2010 in national emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide that use of the new technologies could achieve. It also compares the amounts and kinds of solid waste produced by clean coal technologies to the solid waste of power‐production technologies in use today.
Smithsonian grants
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Research fellowships for 1990–1991 have been announced for independent research in residence at Smithsonian Institution facilities. The grants range from $3000 to $25,000 depending on circumstances.

In Earth sciences, proposals can be made in meteoritics, mineralogy, paleobiology, petrology, planetary geology, sedimentology, and volcanology. In biological sciences, fields available are animal behavior and pathology, ecology, environmental studies, evolutionary biology, marine biology, natural history, paleobiology, systematics, and tropical biology.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Joseph Paulus, 80, an AGU member since 1946 in the Atmospheric Sciences section, died on July 28, 1989.
Salute to Dr. Virgil A. Frizzell, Jr., American Geophysical Union congressional science fellow
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Mr. Mineta Mr. Speaker, for the last year it has been my privilege to work with Dr. Virgil Allen Frizzell, Jr., the 13th congressional science fellow representing the American Geophysical Union.

Dr. Frizzell came to Congress under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship Program. Dr. Frizzell sought his 1‐year fellowship in the House of Representatives because, in his words:

Earth scientists generate data that reflect on many Important Issues. We need to learn to communicate and interpret scientific findings better if we are to help legislators make better decisions concerning those issues.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

J. Gordon Stipe, 75, a member of the Planetology section since 1966, died.

M. King Hubbert, an AGU Fellow and member in the Tectonophysics section since 1929, died at 86.
How much deforestation?
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The space agencies of Brazil, the United States, and Europe will work together to determine the extent of global tropical deforestation from satellite imagery and ground observations.

The program, conducted as part of activities leading up to the International Space Year in 1992, was undertaken in part to resolve large differences in estimates of recent deforestation in Amazonia by scientists at INPE, Brazil's space agency, and NASA.
Regional aquifer systems
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The fifth in the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) Monograph series “Regional Aquifer Systems of the United States” has just been published as Monograph Series No. 13, “Aquifers of the Midwestern Area,” edited by L. A. Swain and A. Ivan Johnson. The 238‐page publication is available for $18 to AWRA members and $21 for nonmembers.

Each AWRA Annual Conference since 1985 has sponsored special seminars describing hydrologic, geochemical, and geologic characteristics of the Regional Aquifer System Analysis (RASA) studies carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey
Geosphere–Biosphere interaction
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The International Association of Hydrological Sciences, in cooperation with the International Institute for Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, Delft, Netherlands, has just released Monograph 1, Hydrological Phenomena in Geosphere‐Biosphere Interactions: Outlooks to Past, Present, and Future, by Malin Falkenmark.

This first volume in the new IAHS series of monographs provides an overview of the present geosphere‐biosphere system, its global patterns, the phenomena of human relevance, and summarizes past trends and changes experienced in hydrological elements and phenomena. The monograph closes with a discussion of the crucial role of hydrological research within the International Geosphere‐Biosphere Program. The monograph sells for $15.
Evaporation and runoff from large land areas
Authors: Milly P. C. D.
Published: October 2011

An incomplete understanding of the processes of regional evaporation and runoff from the continents hinders future developments in our understanding of the global water cycle and of the Earth's climate. At present there is no clear consensus among geophysicists and biophysicists regarding the dynamic interaction of atmospheric, lithospheric, and biospheric processes in the determination of evaporation from large (characteristic length of 100 km and up) areas of continental surfaces. Observational data are scarce and uncertain, and disciplinary boundaries impede fully coupled theoretical analyses of the problem. As for runoff, large‐scale measurements are available in the form of river discharges, so operational conceptual models can at least be calibrated and employed with some reliability.
US‐USSR Ocean Research Pact
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The United States and the Soviet Union have agreed to sign a pact that should lead to extensive cooperation in oceanography as well as the protection of intellectual property rights related to the joint research.

Under the plan port facilities in each country will be made available to ships involved in joint research. Some planned projects include studies of southern ocean dynamics, mid‐Atlantic Ridge processes, geochemistry of north Pacific sediments, and Arctic erosional processes.
$22.7 Million for Instruments
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The National Science Foundation has awarded $22.7 million for instruments to improve undergraduate education. The 626 grants went to community colleges, four‐year colleges, and universities for their science, mathematics, and engineering departments.

About 40 of the awards are for Earth science equipment. Many other awards are to undergraduate physics, chemistry, and engineering programs that provide graduate students to geophysics.
50 years of AGU membership recognized
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Recently 18 members who joined the Union in 1940 received their gold pins in recognition of 50 years of membership in the Union. They join the distinguished ranks of the other 50‐year members, all of whom are listed below by the year they joined.
MacCready awarded Outstanding Student Paper
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Parker MacCready was selected by the Ocean Sciences Section to receive their Outstanding Student Paper Award from the 1989 Fall Meeting in San Francisco for his paper entitled “Stratified Spin‐up Over a Slope.” Following receipt of his Bachelor's degree in architecture from Yale in 1982, MacCready went to China for 5 months to study the language. On his return to Pasadena he worked for 3 years for Aerovironment, Inc., concentrating on building and flying a human‐powered aircraft and a giant wing‐flapping replica of a pterosaur. Having become interested in the aerodynamics of flappingwing propulsion, he continued his studies at Caltech, where he received his Master's degree in 1986. His informal thesis project was a human‐powered hydrofoil boat with flapping‐wing propulsion. He is currently working on his doctorate in physical oceanography at the University of Washington, where he is studying the dynamics of stratified, rotating boundary layers over topography. His switch to oceanography was motivated by his feeling that environmental fluid mechanics would become an increasingly relevant subject in light of increasing world pollution. In the future he hopes to go into environmental politics, perhaps in a scientific advisory role.
NEXRAD
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Full‐scale production of the NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar) system was authorized January 31 by Robert A. Mosbacher, Department of Commerce secretary. The 165 Doppler weather radar units will provide earlier warning of severe storms and increase the accuracy of weather forecasts.
AGU sponsors visit to U.S.
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Leonidas Ocola, a Peruvian seismologist, has been selected to receive travel support to visit the United States under AGU's Latin American Visiting Geophysicist Program. He will attend the 1990 Spring Meeting in Baltimore and visit a number of U.S. niversities and research institutions.
“SPR”: The right name?
Authors: Prölss Gerd
Published: October 2011

I believe it is worthwhile to continue the discussion on a new name for the Solar‐Planetary Relations section of AGU. At stake is not only a section name but the name of an entire research discipline. The following comments are in response to the alternate suggestions made by J. S. Horwitz and J. W. Chamberlain.
Aircraft‐icing study launched
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Winter icing conditions that imperil aircraft will be the focus of a 2‐month field project recently begun in Boulder, Colo., by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The project is part of the 6‐year comprehensive program Winter Icing and Storms Project (WISP), which is funded by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Science Foundation. WISP will consist of 4 years of field studies using instrumented aircraft, sensitive radars, wind‐speed profilers and solar‐powered portable weather stations.
Reply [to “Comment on ‘Igneous outbursts and mass extinctions” by Robert S. White”] Igneous outbursts
Authors: White Robert S.
Published: October 2011

The purpose of my article was to show that massive outbursts of volcanism occur in flood basalt provinces of an intensity and size that has hitherto not been widely realized, and that we now have a physical model to understand why they may occur so abruptly. Intense environmental pressures may result from their igneous outbursts and they may explain observed mass extinctions. Graham Ryder is quite right to point out that there is global evidence of impact(s) at the Cretaceous‐Tertiary boundary at the same time as the global microfaunal extinctions. But there was also massive volcanism in the Deccan at the same time.
Doctorate time rising sharply: How long should it take?
Authors: Glen William
Published: October 2011

The period 1967–1987 saw a 20% increase in the time it takes to complete the doctorate. That figure is based on data provided by the National Research Council from 11 scientific and engineering fields, including the Earth, atmospheric and marine sciences.

The median time spent earning the degree rose from 5.4 years in 1967 to 6.1 years in 1977 to 6.9 years in 1987—an increase of 1.5 years in a single generation. Completion time still seems to be rising! All graduating doctoral students in 1987 had a median age of 33.6 years; chemistry students were youngest at 29, and education students were the oldsters at 39.8 years.
Science and math education budget
Authors: Mulhall M.
Published: October 2011

Increased attention to science, math and engineering education is a major focus of President Bush's Fiscal Year 1991 budget. The president proposes a 26% increase, bringing the total to $1 billion in direct spending. Programs targeted to receive more money include teacher training and curriculum development, as well as fellowships and other forms of support provided indirectly through research grants. The key agencies involved in these programs are the National Science Foundation, Department of Education, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Department of Energy.
University of the humid tropics
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The creation of a foundation called the University of the Humid Tropics (UNITROP) was announced by Brazilian atmospheric scientist Luiz Carlos Molion at the AGU Chapman Conference on Global Biomass Burning, held March 23 in Williamsburg, Va. The headquarters for UNITROP is in Manaus, Amazonia, Brazil. UNITROP is not a university in a narrow sense, but an institution created and run by scientists with the purpose of understanding Amazonia and developing it socio‐economically in harmony with its environment, Molion said.

The scientific objectives of UNITROP are: Research: Promote, organize and fund researchers and research in Amazonia, encompassing all branches of science, from social and aboriginal issues to biogeophysicalchemical processes, and leading to an integrated understanding of the tropical forest environment and its transformation.
AIP writing award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The American Institute of Physics invites entries for its prize in science writing by scientists. May 11, 1990, is the deadline for submitting entries for the Science‐Writing Award in Physics and Astronomy for Articles, Booklets or Books Intended for the General Public by Physicists, Astronomers, or Members of AIP Member and Affiliated Societies. AGU is affiliated with AIP.

It is the 21st year for this award for outstanding writing dealing primarily with physics and astronomy to scientists who write about science. Nearly half the awards have been given for writings about geophysics, including four on earthquake prediction and two on the Solar System.
Atmospheric model assessment
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has recently released Guide to Reference and Standards Atmospheric Models, an in‐depth assessment of atmospheric models, describing the chemical composition and physical properties of the atmosphere. Models range from the Earth's surface to 2500 km and include model description, development rationale, uncertainties, limitations, origins, and computer code availability.
Bush addresses NAS
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

In an address to members of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., on April 23, President Bush praised the academy's objectivity and immunity to partisan pressures, as well as all who have committed their minds and lives to science. His administration, he said, is “committed to supporting you, as you pursue the knowledge that illuminates the world, knowledge that will surely, ceaselessly continue to bring benefit to all mankind.”
AIP salary report
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

“1987 Salaries Society Membership Survey,” the fifth in a series of salary reports produced by the Education and Employment Statistics Division of the American Institute of Physics has recently been released. The data are based on a random sample survey of one‐sixth of the U.S. and Canadian membership of the AIP Membership Societies, which include AGU, American Physical Society, Optical Society of America, Acoustical Society of America, Society of Rheology, American Association of Physics Teachers, American Crystallographic Association, American Astronomical Society, American Association of Physicists in Medicine, and the American Vacuum Society.
AGU testifies on NASA and NSF budgets
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

In AGU's first testimony to Congress as a society, Executive Director A.F. Spilhaus, Jr. presented the AGU position on the NASA and NSF FY 1991 budget to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Veterans Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies on May 16. The testimony, based on positions developed by AGU panels and adopted by Council, was prepared by President Don Anderson, who could not attend the hearing.
NSF visiting professorships for women
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The deadline date for the National Science Foundation's Visiting Professorships for Women (VPW) program is November 15. The program enables experienced women scientists and engineers to undertake advanced research and teaching at host institutions where they can also provide guidance and encouragement to other women who want to pursue research careers. NSF is particularly interested in increasing participation in research of minority women and women with disabilities.
1990 Ocean Sciences outstanding student papers
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

As a means of encouraging student participation at AGU meetings and rewarding excellence in content and presentation, the AGU Ocean Sciences Section, with the cooperation of ASLO, selects outstanding student papers at the Ocean Sciences Meetings.
References for marine science
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Standard and Reference Materials for Marine Science, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Technical Memo OMA‐51 (2nd edition, 434 pp.), by A. Y. Cantillo, is now available. This compilation of reference materials was prepared at the request of the Group of Experts on Standards and Reference Materials and was printed by NOAA. GESREM is sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and the United Nations Program.

Reference materials are included on ashes, gases, instrument performance materials, oils, physical properties, rocks, sediments, sludges, tissues and waters. For each reference material, source, description and preparation, analyses and values, cost, references, and comments are given. Indices are included for elements, isotopes and organic compounds. Cross references to Chemical Abstracts Service registry numbers and alternate names and chemical structures of organic compounds are also provided.
WHPA Code available
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Wellhead Protection Area code is now available for distribution by the International Ground Water Modeling Center in Indianapolis, Ind. The WHPA code is a modular, semianalytical, groundwater flow model developed for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Ground Water Protection, designed to assist state and local technical staff with the task of Wellhead Protection Area (WHPA) delineation. A complete news item appeared in Eos, May 1, 1990, p. 690.

The model consists of four independent, semianalytical modules that may be used to identify the areal extent of groundwater contribution to one or multiple pumping wells. One module is a general particle tracking program that may be used as a post‐processor for two‐dimensional, numerical models of groundwater flow. One module incorporates a Monte Carlo approach to investigate the effects of uncertain input parameters on capture zones. Multiple pumping and injection wells may be present and barrier or stream boundary conditions may be investigated.
IAHS/WMO and GEWEX
Authors: Klemes V.
Published: October 2011

The Working Group on GEWEX of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has urged a strong involvement of IAHS in GEWEX, the Global Energy and Water Experiment. The Working Group met May 16, 1989, at the IAHS Third Scientific Assembly in Baltimore, Md.

The group recommended that the main thrust of GEWEX‐related IAHS initiatives in the immediate future be concentrated on the following two international projects.
DOE's Deep Microbiology Program
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Research proposals related to geohydrological and geochemical factors that control microbial abundance and diversity at depth, the microbial ecology of subsurface systems, and improved understanding of microbial‐environmental relationships are being accepted for the Department of Energy's Deep Microbiology Program.

Proposals received by November 1, 1990, will be reviewed by an interdisciplinary panel that will be convened in early 1991. Successful applicants will work as members of multiinstitutional, interdisciplinary research teams. DOE will help successful applicants integrate their research with currently funded research projects and will provide uncompromised subsurface sediment and groundwater samples for geochemical and microbiological analyses.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Ed Lange died at age 48. He had been a member of the Ocean Sciences Section since 1975.

AGU Fellow Sigmund I. Hammer passed away in March. He had been a member of the Geodesy Section since 1938.
1989 Pacific Northwest Regional AGU Meeting
Authors: Johnson Ansel G.
Published: October 2011

The Pacific Northwest Region of AGU held its 36th annual meeting September 28–30, 1989, at Portland State University, Portland, Oreg.; 78 scientists attended. The five sessions included tectonophysics, seismology, hydrology and contaminant transport, volcanology and other geology, marine geology and oceanography in 23 oral presentations and 9 poster sessions.

As in most regional meetings, no parallel sessions were used, thus exposing the audience to a wide variety of presentations. The tectonics section included papers on vertical deformation measurements along the Oregon Coast, evidence of the subducting plate using apparent velocities observed from subcrustal earthquakes, gravity modeling in the Portland Basin, and multichannel seismic reflection survey in the Queen Charlotte Basin.
First tomographic study of western U.S. completed
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Earthquake travel times extracted from the International Seismological Centre data set have been used to map the laterally varying Pn velocity structure of the uppermost mantle and to estimate the crustal thickness at each recording station in the western United States. The mapping (see cover) was done by Thomas Hearn, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, and Noureddine Beghoul and Muawia Barazangi, both at the Institute for the Study of the Continents, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. First arrival times from regional distances (200–1200 km) are shown in Figure 1.

A tomographic backprojection method was used [Hearn and Clayton, 1985] that images the uppermost mantle velocity in the western U.S. The method also solves for the station and event static, or time delays. Results correlate well with major tectonic features, as seen on the cover image. Slower uppermost mantle velocities (V < 7.9 km/s) were found centered in the Basin and Range Province surrounded by upper mantle of higher, more normal Pn velocities (V > 7.9 km/s). These low Pn velocities are directly due to the effects of isostasy, hotspot volcanism and crustal extension.
Mars Observer's Global Mapping Mission
Authors: Albee A. L. , Palluconi D. F.
Published: October 2011

The Mars Observer mission, scheduled for launch in September 1992, will provide an orbital platform at Mars from which the entire Martian surface and atmosphere will be observed beginning in late 1993. Mars Observer will extend the exploration and characterization of Mars by providing new and systematic measurements of the surface and atmosphere of the planet. These measurements will be made from a low‐altitude polar orbiter over a period of one Martian year (687 Earth days), permitting repetitive observations of the surface and of the seasonal variations of the atmosphere. The mission is being designed in a manner that will provide new and valuable scientific data at a significant reduction in cost and operational complexity.
AGU's Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting
Authors: Ludwin Ruth S.
Published: October 2011

The 1990 Pacific Northwest regional AGU meeting held September 13–14 at the University of Washington, Seattle, was attended by more than 80 people; 24 papers and 17 posters were presented. About 25 people participated in a field trip to look at debris flow processes, deposits and hazards at Mount Ranier, organized by Patrick Pringle of the Washington Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geology. Published copies of the field trip guide will be available in 1991 from the Washington State DNR.

Also featured at the meeting was an interdisciplinary study by the Geology, Forest Resources and Engineering departments of the University of Washington, “Characterization and Modeling of a Hollow in the Cascades With Respect to Slope Stability.” Slope stability is an important topic in the Pacific Northwest because of its rugged topography and the economic importance of both forestry and fisheries.
Deformation in the continental lithosphere
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Physical Properties of Earth Materials Committee, a technical committee of AGU's Tectonophysics Section, is organizing a dinner/colloquium as part of the Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. This event will be held Monday, December 3rd, in the Gold Rush Room of the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway Hotel at 1500 Van Ness St. There will be a no‐host bar from 6:30 to 7:30 P.M., followed by dinner from 7:30 to 8:30 P.M. Paul Tapponnier will deliver the after‐dinner talk, “Large‐Scale Deformation Mechanisms in the Continental Lithosphere: Where Do We Stand?” It will start at 8:30 P.M. and a business meeting will follow at 9:30 P.M.
A multidisciplinary Amazon Shelf Sediment Study
Authors:   AmasSeds Research Group
Published: October 2011

A new research program is taking a comprehensive look at the continental shelf at the mouth of the Amazon, the world's largest river. This paper describes the objectives, the design, some preliminary results, and the future plans of the program, which is called A Multidisciplinary Amazon Shelf Sediment Study (AmasSeds). The participants in the program's research group are listed at the end of this article.

Among the initial findings from AmasSeds are observations of mammoth pulses of water (and sediment) discharge on weekly time scales from the Amazon, and documentation of the advection of this material over 1000 km over a couple of weeks. The study has also measured suspended sediment concentrations that affect seawater density and biological productivity, and revealed shoreline erosion even while billions of tons of sediment are being supplied. In addition, iron and manganese cycling has been found to be so extensive that it controls seabed chemistry. Finally, the project has identified a major environmental change that occurred several hundred years ago.
SPR Federal Budget Review Panel formed
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Solar‐Planetary Relationships Section of AGU has formed a new panel to review the Presidential Fiscal Year 1992 (and FY 1993) federal budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Department of Energy funding. An SPR position paper will be issued and sent to key congressmen/aides, the Presidential Science Advisor and the science agencies. This will be done in parallel with the AGU panel (involving all sections) and their resultant white paper. Last year, the AGU effort was highly successful.
News from the Suncoast Chapter
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

AGU's serenely‐named Suncoast Chapter, one of the union's several regional groups, met twice during the 1989–1990 academic year. The fall meeting featured four panelists discussing “An Oil Spill in Tampa Bay—A Disaster Waiting to Happen.” The spring meeting hosted Arthur D. Weissman, chief of the Guidance and Oversight Branch of the Environmental Protection Agency, speaking
A high‐resolution geoid for the United States
Authors: Bodner A. Nicholas
Published: October 2011

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations's National Geodetic Survey is computing a high‐resolution geoid height model for the conterminous United States. The model, known as GEOID90, should be available from NGS in December 1990. These geoid heights will be referred to as the Geodetic Reference System of 1980 (GRS 80) and will be appropriate for use with measurements from the Global Positioning System.
Latest national water summary available
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

In response to a Congressional Directive of 1977, the U.S. Geological Survey has been making available a report discussing source, use, and disposition of surface water and groundwater in the United States. Their latest such report has been published as USGS Water Supply Paper 2350, “National Water Summary 1987—Hydrologic Events and Water Supply and Use,” compiled by Jerry E. Carr, Edith B. Chase, Richard W. Paulson, and David W. Moody. The report is immediately available from local USGS Publications Offices or from the Books and Open‐file Reports Section, U.S. Geological Survey, Federal Center, Box 25425, Denver, CO 80225, for $31.
Atmospheric Science Ph.D. Program at Huntsville
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

An atmospheric science program has been established at the University of Alabama in Huntsville upon approval of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education on March 30, 1990. The program offers the Ph.D. in atmospheric science with emphasis on remote sensing and Earth system science. Students will be able to take advantage of the facilities of a rapidly growing research university and the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's Marshall Space Flight Center.
Implementation
Authors: Dziewonski Adam M. , Kaula William M.
Published: October 2011

The problem‐oriented discussions in this series mention many observations, experiments, and modelings that are needed to carry out the goals of the Planet Earth Initiative. The next logical step would be to compile from these mentions an enumeration of measurables (for example, cloud coverage and ocean surface temperature), with a view to specifying the instruments, platforms, spacings, frequencies, etc., at which these measurements should be made. This step has already been taken for significant fractions of the problems discussed. Tables 1 and 2 are outlines of such a compilation, the most comprehensive but not the most detailed, drawn from the 1988 National Research Council/Space Science Board report, Space Science in the Twenty‐First Century: Mission to Planet Earth. Its emphasis is on the global approach, and some might argue that 10,000 “simple ground installations” are too few for such efforts as studies of crustal motion.
Techniques for integrated water resources management
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The course, Decision Support Techniques for Integrated Water Resources Management, is designed mainly for technical managers and staff of water resources management agencies at the international, national, regional, and local water board level, as well as consultants in other professions working in or interested in the field of water resources development, planning, and operation. It will be held in Wageningen, The Netherlands, June 10–15, 1991.

The course objective is to promote better understanding and dissemination of techniques to be applied in “real‐world” integrated water resources management. The course offers an introduction to the concepts of decision modeling, plus ample case studies to demonstrate their applicability. It covers decision theory, operations research and simulation methods, as well as certain aspects of law and psychology. Selected multiple objective techniques will be presented, followed by an overview of recent trends in the field. Computer‐based techniques will be demonstrated.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Durk Doornbos died on April 28 at age 50. He had been a member of AGU (Seismology) since 1975.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Irving E. Kaplan died on August 18 at age 67. He had been a member of AGU (Atmospheric Sciences) since 1977.

Jurgen Buchau, 60, died on August 9. He joined AGU (Solar Physics and Aeronomy) in 1968.
Honors
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Outlining important U.S. scientific problems that, to be properly addressed, must be investigated with a drilling ship was the objective of the U.S. COMmittee on POST‐1998 Ocean Drilling (COMPOST), which met in Seattle October 14–15. Members of COMPOST were chosen specifically by the Joint Oceanographic Institutions‐U.S. Science Advisory (JOI‐USSAC) as representatives of major ongoing ocean sciences initiatives in the United States.

The scientific rationale for drilling was examined and COMPOST summarized what the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) has done and can do for the following initiatives: Marine Aspects of Earth System History (MESH)
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

T. Neil Divine, a member of AGU since 1974 in the Planetology section, died of AIDS‐related complications on January 27, 1994. He is best remembered for contributions to the Voyager, Galileo, CRAF, and Cassini missions, which included denning the radiation belts around Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus and the dust environment around Halley and other cometary targets. Donations will be accepted in his memory to the AIDS Project Los Angeles.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Samuel P. Zimmerman died June 23, 1993, at age 68. He had been a member of AGU (Atmospheric Sciences) since 1964.

Supriya Sanatani died January 8 at age 52. She had been a member (SPA‐Aeronomy) since 1967.
Dust to dust
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A ring of asteroidal dust encircles the Earth, and a cloud of dust permanently follows the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, according to new infrared satellite observations reported in the June 29 issue of Nature. The findings by astronomers at the University of Florida, Gainesville, may also help explain the asymmetry of the zodiacal cloud that envelops the inner solar system, observed by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, among others. Gravitational resonance holds the interplanetary dust, which likely comes from the asteroidal belt, in Earth's orbit, yet the resonant trapping also means that the particles may be knocked out of orbit to spiral toward the Sun by light drag and solar wind drag forces on a time scale of 10,000 years.
Hot spot
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Venus remains geologically active in at least two places, according to data from NASA's Magellan mission, which will be terminated by the end of the year after a final escapade. However, the finding is somewhat old news since the probe also determined that little has likely changed on the planet in the past half‐billion years. On the basis of altimetry and gravity data, geophysicist Suzanne Smrekar, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., found evidence of “top loading” and “bottom loading” at several sites.
Bacteria bites
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Naturally occurring bacteria may be a future solution for myriad pollution problems, mounting laboratory evidence suggests. Last month, USGS scientists reported in Nature that microbes living in oxygen‐free sediments can break down derivatives of hydrofluorocarbons, which are among the compounds under consideration to replace ozone‐destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). And now, another USGS scientist reports in the July 14 Nature that microbes which degrade toxic and carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbons like benzene and toluene can be boosted with an iron additive or chemical binder to work in anaerobic conditions that are commonly found in heavily polluted aquifers. Previously, scientists thought the bacteria could reduce the hard pollutants only if plenty of dissolved oxygen was in the water. Other bacteria have been shown to convert uranium to a highly insoluble form in cbntaminated waters as well.
Over the barrel
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Merit review research got a vote of confidence in the Senate earlier this month, but the final level of support that academic research will receive from the Defense Department will not be known until after Labor Day. The Senate voted August 11 to restore $821 million of the $900 million that was unexpectedly cut from the Defense Appropriations Bill in the House before the July 4 holiday. If the cuts remain, some areas of geophysical science may be in jeopardy.
White submarine
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

While not everyone gets to live in a yellow submarine, the scientific community may get to have a decommissioned U.S. Navy nuclear submarine dedicated to it. The Sturgeon class of submarines, which scientists say are the ideal choice for the project, will be coming up for decommissioning in this next decade. So the time is ripe, scientists say. Two weeks ago, oceanographers, submarine specialists, marine biologists, and geophysicists, among others met at AGU headquarters in Washington to discuss how to get the project in the water. If all goes well, the project would be the “biggest thing that ever happened in ocean and Earth science,” according to Lloyd Keigwin of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who convened the meeting. For example, the submarine could make many types of “compelling” research possible that can not be done now by other means, such as studies in the Arctic that may have significant bearing on global change research, Keigwin says. However, the imposing hurdles that the project must overcome are as big as the opportunities it offers. Foremost, there is a question as to who will pick up the tab for such an endeavor.
EOS plan
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The United States should develop a long‐term, comprehensive strategy for future Earth‐observing satellite systems, according to a recent report by the Office of Technology and Assessment (OTA).
Bureau caves in
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

It happened as fast as the collapse of a mine shaft. In October, as the federal budget ax began swinging in earnest, the U.S. Department of the Interior did some cutting of its own, lopping off the 85‐year‐old federal Bureau of Mines. The bureau's 1,200 employees were to be laid off by January 16 (although that picture has been clouded by the federal shutdown), just 90 days after they were sacrificed to cost‐cutting measures by Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, according to The Washington Post.
A tangled Web
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Add another strand to the web of life. The concentration of oxygen in the Earth's oceans and atmosphere appears to be indirectly linked in a feedback system to the productivity of marine organisms, according to Earth scientists Phillippe Van Cappellen of Georgia Tech and Ellery Ingall of the University of Texas at Austin.

Studying ancient and modern sediment cores from the sea floor, the two researchers found that when the oceans are more fully oxygenated, they store more phosphorus; when the oxygen supply is depleted, the phosphorus concentration in sediments is reduced as well.
Evidence suggests external triggering of substorms
Authors: Lyons L. R.
Published: October 2011

Before substorms can be fully understood, we must first determine whether they are triggered by an internal instability of the magnetosphere or whether they are a response to external changes in the solar wind or interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). If substorms often occur in the absence of any external changes, it would suggest that they are triggered by internal magnetospheric processes. Such internal triggering has been suggested by observations that have been interpreted to imply that substorms occasionally occur while the IMF is steady. However, published observations show that magnetic activity during periods of steady IMF is fundamentally different from substorms and can readily be distinguished from substorms. It is thus necessary to distinguish substorms from the other activity that occurs during periods of steady IMF to determine the extent to which substorms are externally triggered.
Giving women their space
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

In an attempt to spark greater interest in space sciences among high school girls, the Harvard‐Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has been distributing a booklet entitled “Space for Women: Perspectives on Careers in Science.” The 20‐page color booklet offers advice and encouragement to young women interested in space physics, astronomy, and other space‐related fields. More than 10,000 copies have already been distributed to students, teachers, and career counselors.
Protecting Antarctica
Authors: Carlowicz Michael
Published: October 2011

House Science Committee Chairman Robert Walker (R‐Pa.) has introduced a bill into Congress to give the United States the legislative authority to implement the 1991 Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty. That protocol established rules and principles to shield the Antarctic environment from human spoilage—placing limits on the discharge of pollutants, protecting plant and animal life, and requiring environmental impact assessments before new activities and programs are launched. The protocol also forbids prospecting or developing of mineral resources except for scientific research.
American Physical Society comments on NAS Report
Authors: Schrieffer Robert , Bromley Allen
Published: October 2011

Here are relevant excerpts from the American Physical Society's (APS) comments on the NAS report, as reported in FYI, the AIP bulletin of science policy news.

"Dr. Press and his panel members organized their collected wisdom into 13 recommendations. We concur with most of them, but find substantial difficulty with several."