bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Outstanding student paper award
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Geomagnetism & Paleomagnetism Section presented an outstanding student paper award to Stefanie Brachfeld at the 1999 AGU Spring Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, last June.

Stefanie presented a paper titled “Secondary Normalization for Removing Magnetic Grain Size Bias from Relative Paleointensity Data: New Data from the North American Holocene.”
Wegener's work included studies of noctilucent clouds, auroras
Authors: Schröder Wilfried
Published: October 2011

The 120th anniversary of the birth of Alfred Wegener (1880‐1930) occurs next year and the event gives us an opportunity to commemorate his work. While the study of continental drift was a significant part of that work, Wegener's influence is also apparent in other areas of the geosciences, including solar‐terrestrial physics, the physics of the upper atmosphere, and meteorology.

Wegener's research in these areas was a continuation of a series of early studies by a number of scientists trying to explain atmospheric phenomena with the known laws of physics. His studies of noctilucent clouds and of auroras, for example, are significant in the context of the history of science as early experiments to explain the terrestrial atmosphere from a profoundly physical point of view. His contributions are building blocks to modern, comprehensive, physical interpretations, just as previous studies were building blocks to his. Wegener followed the same goal, namely the physical explanation of observed and recorded phenomena, and he belonged therefore to that group of researchers who contributed to the early development of geoscience and cosmoscience and whose heritage should be conserved.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Ludwig L. Kelly died at age 90. He was a retired life member (Hydrology) who joined in 1939.
Honors
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Tectonophysics Section presented two outstanding student paper awards at the 1999 AGU Spring Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, last June.
Mesoscale eddy aswirl with data in Gulf of Alaska
Authors: Crawford William R. , Whitney Frank A.
Published: October 2011

For the first time ever in the Gulf of Alaska, an anticyclonic mesoscale eddy's formation, migration, and transport have been observed and thoroughly documented. The eddy, Haida‐1998, was found to be one of an annual supply of eddies that transport fresh water and nutrients into the mid‐gulf from the Alaskan panhandle and the Canadian west coast.

Haida‐1998's core had an unusually high elevation, making it one of the largest eddies ever observed in this region. Its strength is attributed to oceanic features associated with the 1997–1998 El Niño winter. The eddy was still active in early July 1999 and is expected to remain intact into the year 2000. By that time it will be one of the last surviving features of the 1997–1998 El Niño in the northeast Pacific Ocean.
Scientists confer on magnetospheric current systems from a global viewpoint
Authors: Ohtani Shin‐ichi , Fujii Ryo‐ichi
Published: October 2011

A ubiquitous feature of all magnetospheres is the presence of magnetic field and plasma. Their spatial and temporal variations can be addressed in terms of the electromagnetic coupling between one region of the magnetosphere and another.

Outstanding issues of electromagnetic processes in the magnetosphere from the global viewpoint were revisited early this year at the Chapman Conference on Magnetospheric Current Systems. The conference emphasized interregional processes, such as the coupling between the magnetosphere and ionosphere, and driving sources of currents, such as the solar‐wind driven dynamo at the magnetopause.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Frank Lerch died in January 1999, at age 75. He had been a member (Geodesy) since 1976. Lerch began his career at Goddard in 1960 when NASA itself was in its infancy, and set Goddard on its current path for determining the gravity field models. As a mathematician, he was responsible for developing many of the numerical techniques that are now in common use to process satellite tracking data, combine satellite and surface gravity data, and solve for the gravity field. His career was centered on the development of the Goddard Earth Models (GEMs), Joint Gravity Models (JGMs—with the University of Texas, CNES, and JPL as partners), and he began the work toward achieving EGM96, GSFC's latest and continuing gravity modeling effort in collaboration with NIMA and the Ohio State University
Climate Workshop urges interdisciplinary paleo simulations, analyses
Authors: Weber S. L. , von Storch H.
Published: October 2011

In the past decade, climate research has made considerable progress in understanding and modeling climate on timescales of years to decades. At the same time, increasingly more proxies of climatic variables have been detected. Significant progress has been achieved in aligning this evidence in time.

A workshop earlier this year on the state of the art of climate variability studies called for utilizing coupled atmosphere‐ocean general circulation models (GCMs) for simulating and analyzing paleoclimatic variability. A fresh attempt is warranted to systematically combine the skills of climate modelers, climate diagnosticians, and paleoclimatologists, agreed participants at the workshop, “Climate Variability on Multidecadal to Millennial Timescales,” sponsored jointly by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute KNMI and the German Federal Research Laboratory GKSS.
Tectonic Boundary Conditions for Climate Reconstructions, Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics, No. 39.
Authors: Ruddiman William F.
Published: October 2011

Although most of Earth's early historical record has been destroyed by plate‐tectonic recycling of rocks, the blurry outline of its tectonic history comes slowly into focus in geologic records from the last 400 million years. One by one, past configurations of its major geographic features—outlines of continents and oceans, and subaerial and subsea topography—become resolvable in varying degree from surviving geologic evidence.

Earlier in this century this kind of information inspired geoscientists to concoct hypotheses to explain the many observations of past climate changes emerging from studies of sedimentary rocks. Tectonic hypotheses of climate change proliferated, unconstrained by rigorous testing. In the last 2 decades, since pioneering work in the early 1980s by Eric Barron, climate models have been used to put quantitative constraints on these ideas, producing an ongoing scientific revolution in our understanding of long‐term climate change.
Exciting, unsettling changes in store for physical oceanography
Authors: Royer Thomas , Young William
Published: October 2011

The U.S. physical oceanographic community is entering a period of change that is both exciting and unsettling. Very critical problems face it, and how they are dealt with could determine if physical oceanography will survive as we know it today.

The number of physical oceanographers has increased rapidly. But several large field programs are reaching the end of their data collection phases, and the growth in federal science budgets seems to have stagnated, at least in comparison with the “golden years” still fresh in the memory of many senior scientists. At the same time, technology is providing new tools for making ocean observations and expanding computational capacity. We are progressing from the dark ages, when ocean processes were seen dimly, if at all, into an era where those processes are brilliantly revealed with these new observational and analytical techniques.
Good practices needed in career mentoring
Authors: McManus Dean A. , Kappel Ellen S.
Published: October 2011

Few graduate and undergraduate students follow in the career footsteps of their advisors. Yet to be the most effective mentors, advisors must have the knowledge to prepare their students for “other” jobs. How can we help students obtain the information and experience they need in order to make informed career decisions? Where do we find this information so that we are informed? It is our collective responsibility as Earth and space scientists, and critical to the health of our field, to know the answers to these simple questions. A forum on career mentoring at the AGU Fall Meeting can help.
Pollution dips in North America
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Industrial pollution declined 2.3% in the United States and Canada in 1996, continuing a dip during the previous 2 years, according to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation's (CEC) August 10 report, “Taking Stock 1996.” The report says the decline also continues beyond 1996.

Large manufacturing facilities in the United States and Canada that reported information to CEC produced 1.225 billion kg of pollution in 1996, compared to 1.254 billion kg in 1995, the report says.
Reconstructing Turkey
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Forty‐five seconds. That's all it took to turn Turkey upside down. Economic losses from the earthquake that struck the western part of the country at 3:01 a.m. local time on August 17, 1999 could equal $3 to $6.5 billion in direct costs, according to a September 14 World Bank assessment. Costs could rise significantly when accounting for all indirect and secondary costs.

Reconstructing the estimated 20,000 buildings that collapsed or were heavily damaged, and accounting for emergency relief, lost production, jobs, and tourism, relocating people, and other items could add up to a total of at least a 1.5–3.3% reduction in the nation's GNP for 1999, according to the World Bank.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Lothar A. Joos died at age 88. He was a retired life member (Atmospheric Sciences) who joined in 1949.

Arthur Kranish died at age 71. He was a member who joined in 1988.
Ecosystem restoration a challenge for unified hydrologic science
Authors: Nuttle William K.
Published: October 2011

Will a unified, but increasingly interdisciplinary hydrologic science provide the knowledge now needed by water managers to restore and conserve regional ecosystems? Or will divisions present in hydrologic science compel managers themselves to gather and synthesize information developed in narrow subfields of water‐related science?

On July 1,1999, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a plan that would spend $8 billion over the next 20 years for the “primary and overarching purpose” of restoring the natural ecosystems of south Florida, in particular the vast wetlands of the Everglades and adjacent coastal areas. This plan signals a radical expansion in the goals for water management in south Florida to include responsibility for the health and sustainability of regional ecosystems.
Extensive research on Loma Prieta improves understanding of earthquakes
Authors: Holzer Thomas L.
Published: October 2011

Research on the 1989 Loma Prieta, California, earthquake, probably the most thoroughly documented in American history, has dramatically improved our understanding of the complexity of earthquakes and of how society can reduce risk and improve response in connection with large natural disasters. The magnitude 6.9 earthquake was the largest and most damaging to strike an American urban area since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Loma Prieta's 10th anniversary is October 17.

Loma Prieta began without immediate foreshock activity about 100 km southeast of San Francisco (37°03.6′N, 121°88.3′W) on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. PDT (00:04:15.2 UTC., October 18).The quake killed 63 people, and another 350 were hospitalized. Estimates of total property losses range from $6 billion to $10 billion. Its dramatic timing, interrupting the World Series in San Francisco, and its striking images—a pancaked freeway, a fallen span of a major transbay bridge, and burning collapsed apartments—piqued public interest. It also prompted the U.S. Congress to authorize supplemental funding to the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) agencies—USGS, National Science Foundation, Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Institute of Standards and Technology—to support research in order to learn from the tragedy.
A whole lotta shaking
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has just released a new set of maps that provides detailed information about the 31,196 earthquakes that have rattled the San Francisco Bay area in north‐central California between 1967 and 1993.

The maps indicate magnitudes, epicenters, and depths of the earthquakes, as well as the direction of slip and orientation of the fault on which it occurs, among other information.
AGU membership acquires a distinctly international flavor
Authors: Rostoker Gordon
Published: October 2011

AGU was born 80 years ago as an organization designed to serve the geophysics community in the United States. Since that time, the Union has become so successful in fulfilling its mandate that its membership has grown to over 36,000 geoscientists. AGU's greatest successes have been in providing its members with outstanding journals in which to publish their research results and top flight meetings in which to present those results to their colleagues. AGU has been so successful in serving these two needs, that over the years increasing numbers of scientists worldwide have chosen to become members of the Union. In recent times, the number of members in AGU from outside the United States has climbed to over 30% of the total and this has caused the leadership of the Union to begin to carefully examine how it can best serve Earth and Space scientists worldwide.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Werner A. Baum died on September 4,1999, at age 76. He was a retired life member (Atmospheric Sciences) and Fellow who joined in 1947.

Guy A. Franceschini died at age 81. He was a retired life member (Atmospheric Sciences) who joined in 1952.
Northeastern Caribbean topography gets a digital upgrade from laser altimetry
Authors: Jansma Pamela , Mattioli Glen , Matias Audeliz , Harding David
Published: October 2011

An airborne laser altimeter especially designed for profiling topography beneath dense vegetation has collected high‐resolution digital topographic data in the northeastern Caribbean and the Lesser Antilles island arc (Figure 1a) that will be used to assess the tectonic geomorphology of this slowly uplifting, rapidly weathering area. A key aspect of the instrument for tropical regions is its ability to differentiate between canopy and ground returns by recording the full laser backscatter signal, such that true ground elevation and vegetation height are sampled [Harding et al., 1994].

Deployed in 1997, the altimeter, known as the Scanning Lidar Imager of Canopies by Echo Recovery (SLICER),was developed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.The information from SLICER is expected to give insight into the distribution of Neogene displacement zones and to furnish constraints for three‐dimensional elastic models of an obliquely convergent plate boundary It also will permit analysis of the interplay between tectonism and volcanism on the evolution of a tropical oceanic island arc and provide ground verification for digital topography acquired by synoptic methods.
Bouncing back from Hurricane Floyd
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Hurricane Floyd swamped much of coastal North Carolina in October, and many residents are still drying off. In Floyd's aftermath, as the state faces the largest property buyout program in its history U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director James Lee Witt says that people should turn the damage into an opportunity to make their communities disaster‐resistant and better‐planned.

“As you prepare for this buyout, I hope North Carolina will become a model for the rest of the country for converting disaster prevention into an opportunity for community‐wide planning,” Witt said at an October 26 meeting of the North Carolina League of Municipalities in Greensboro.
New mantle convection model may reconcile conflicting evidence
Authors: Albarède Frnacis , van der Hilst Rob D.
Published: October 2011

Recently, a new model for mantle convection was proposed that may be more realistic than previous standard models. Exciting questions remain, of course, but we believe it can be used to reconcile otherwise conflicting evidence from different research fields and thus provide a new framework for further studies of convection.

Drawing on some of our own recent work [Albarède, 1998] and that of others we further explore the model proposed by Kellogg et al. [1999] and Van der Hilst and Karason [1999]. The new view considers that a deep layer, chemically distinct from the overlying layers, occupies roughly the lower third of the mantle. Such a deep layer would host a substantial fraction of the terrestrial heat producing elements and help close the budget of some critical isotopic systems.The subtle trade‐off between chemical and thermal density variations produces significant dynamic topography, which complicates its seismic detection but facilitates downwelling slabs to pierce through it. Thermal plumes would form at the transition between the boundary layer and the overlying part of the convective mantle. Severing the tie between the depleted and less depleted and outgassed reservoirs and the seismologically identified upper and lower mantle, separated by the 660‐km discontinuity, seems to go a long way toward reconciling the otherwise conflicting pieces of evidence.
Nepal prepares for national quake safety day
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

When Nepal's annual Earthquake Safety Day rolls around next January 16, the National Society for Earthquake Technology‐Nepal plans a weeklong program of earthquake drills by school children, a safety exhibitions risk management symposium, and a report on the achievements of the Kathmandu Valley Earthquake Risk Management Project. The 18‐month project of NSET‐Nepal and GeoHazards International has several objectives: assess earthquake risk and devise an action plan to manage the risk; reduce vulnerability of Kathmandu Valley's approximately 650 public schools; raise public awareness; and build local institutions that can sustain the work of the project.
Lost in the ozone
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appeals a May 1999 court order blocking its authority to implement a stringent, 8‐hour standard for ground‐level ozone, the agency in October proposed reinstating its 1‐hour smog standard.

The 1‐hour standard is a “safety net” to guarantee protection of public health during what could be a 2‐year appeals process, according to EPA.The standard would affect nearly 3000 U.S. counties. EPA had revoked the 1‐hour standard in 1998 in areas that had clean air for 3 consecutive years, in order to smooth a transition for the more stringent 8‐hour standard.
Congressional Science Fellow settles in on Capitol Hill
Authors: Folger Peter
Published: October 2011

AGU's 23rd Congressional Science Fellow Bryan Hannegan began his year‐long tenure in Washington on September 1. Together with nearly 30 other Congressional Science Fellows Bryan embarked on an intensive two‐week orientation. Despite the firehose blast of information that the Fellows receive, most find the orientation useful as a first step before they head to Capitol Hill to seek placement for the year. “It was an incredible crash course in everything you ever wanted to know about Washington,” Hannegan commented. Once orientation ended, Bryan contacted a number of House and Senate committee and personal offices to see if his policy interests matched their needs for a Fellow After many interviews, he chose to spend his fellowship year with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which is the key authorizing and oversight committee in the Senate for all energy policy, energy research and development, mining, oil and gas, national parks, and related public land and resource programs in the federal government.
Gas, fire, and water
Authors: Hovland Martin
Published: October 2011

From the detailed report of the International Tsunami Survey Team (ITST) (Eos, March 2, 1999), it seems that we now can add two more hazards to tsunami events [Kawata et al., 1999]: the release of toxic gases and the ignition and combustion of flammable gases.

This conclusion can be drawn from the investigation of last July's Papua New Guinea tsunami disaster: “The team also tried to explain reports of sea bubbling, foul smelling gas, and warm water stinging the eyes.” Among the questions and observations of the local people were “eyewitness descriptions of the tsunami as an ”infernal wall of water with fire sparkles flying.“The inferred conclusion, that the tsunami involved an underwater source of fire, would also be suggested by severe burns widely observed on the dead.” [Kawata et al, 1999].
The Bering Sea in 1998: The second consecutive year of extreme weather‐forced anomalies
Authors: Hunt G. L. , Baduini C. L. , Brodeur R. D. , Coyle K. O. , Kachel N. B. , Napp J. M. , Salo S. A. , Schumacher J. D. , Stabeno P. J. , Stockwell D. A. , Whitledge T. E. , Zeeman S. I.
Published: October 2011

In 1998, anomalous conditions in the Bering Sea included elevated heat content of the water, cross‐shelf advection of zooplankton and larval fish, major changes in the structure of the zooplankton community, and an unprecedented second observation of a large‐scale bloom of the coccolithophorid phytoplankton, Emiliania huxleyi. Some of these anomalies appear to be related to the unusual weather patterns of 1997 and 1998, while the causes of others remain unknown.

The Bering Sea is located in the northernmost part of the North Pacific Ocean, and its broad eastern continental shelf constitutes approximately 44%of its area. Because Pacific water must pass through the Bering Sea before entering the Arctic, climatic events in the Bering affect heat and biogeochemical transport to the Arctic. The Bering Sea, in particular its broad eastern shelf region, is also the site of some of the worlds major fisheries. It contributes over half of the U.S. fishery production, with a commercial catch worth one billion dollars in 1997.
Outstanding student awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The AGU All‐Union Committee for Mineral and Rock Physics will present their 1999 Outstanding Student Awards to Tomoaki Kubo and Daisuke Yamazaki during the M& RP and Nonlinear Geophysics Reception.The reception will be held during the AGU 1999 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., USA. Tomoaki Kubo is being recognized for his work in the experimental transformation kinetics of mantel minerals. Tomoaki received both his B.S.and M.S. in petrology and geochemistry from Tohoku University Japan, in 1994 and 1996, respectively He received his Ph.D. in 1999 from the institute of Mineralogy, Petrology, and Economic Geology, Tohoku University under the supervision of Eiji Ohtani. Tomoaki is being honored for the first in situ determinations of transformation kinetics in some key mantel minerals using a multi‐anvil device and synchrotron radiation. His work is cited as a pioneering effort to understand the effects of mineral kinetics on subduction zone processes.
Challenges add up in quantifying radiative impact of mineral dust
Authors: Sokolik Irina N.
Published: October 2011

Predicting the diverse radiative impact of mineral dust has several significant, related challenges. One is to quantify the complex spatial and temporal variations of dust burden. Another is to quantitatively relate the properties of dust and its radiative effects to dust life cycle in the atmosphere.

The basic physics behind the processes governing the production, transport, and evolution of mineral aerosols are understood. But the state‐of‐the‐art climate and chemistry model predictions rely heavily on oversimplified parameterizations of some of these processes while ignoring others. As a result the magnitude and even the sign of dust net (solar plus IR) direct radiative forcing of climate remains unclear. Interdisciplinary research efforts to integrate modeling with the laboratory, in situ, and satellite measurements could provide a new perspective on improving quantification.
Brownfield showcases
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

A project to reclaim brownfields, or once‐contaminated sites, took a step forward on December 6 with the U.S. federal government expanding its brownfields showcase communities initiative to add 10 additional cities to the 6 previously included.

In cities including Dallas, Texas and Glen Cove, New York, public and private partnerships have helped to clean up brownfields and reuse the areas to revive local economies. These new showcase cities are now eligible for broader federal assistance and coordinated technical support.
Title wave: Some serious fun during the AGU Fall Meeting
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The abstract book for oral and poster sessions at AGU's recent Fall Meeting in mid‐December topped 1,250 pages and weighed in at 1.36 kilograms. More than 8,100 people attended the meeting, with many of them making presentations. And most of the oral and poster presentations bore highly descriptive and traditional titles regarding modeling, measuring, or observing various phenomena.
NASA's down to earth focus
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

“What most people don't know is that our efforts to open the space frontier are largely based on our quest to understand our own planet,” NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said on January 10 at the American Meteorological Society meeting in Long Beach, California.

Goldin said the agency's commitment to studying Earth's climate will help weather forecasters make better predictions.
The look of LaTeX
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

This has always been the major objection to its use by those not driven by the need to typeset mathematics since the “what‐you‐see‐is‐what‐you‐get” (WYSIWYG) packages offered by Microsoft Word and WordPerfect are easy to learn and use. Recently, however, com‐mercial software companies have begun to market almost‐WYSIWYG programs that create LaTeX files. Some commercial software that creates LaTeX files are listed in Table 1. EXP and SWP have some of the “look and feel” of the software that is popular in offices and PCTeX32 allows quick and convenient previews of the translated LaTeX files.
“ProVention” may be the best medicine
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

With human and economic costs of natural disasters rising, a new international initiative launched on February 2 aims to reduce “preventable” costs of natural disasters in the developing world.

“ProVention,” a consortium including the World Bank, governments, and institutions, hopes to promote safety by raising awareness of disaster‐related risks; to support public policies that reduce the risk of natural and technological disasters; to develop governments' ability to anticipate and respond to disasters; and to explore ways to provide low‐income groups with safety nets,such as insurance cover.
Nonlinear Processes/Complex Systems listerv
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A listserv has been created for those interested in nonlinear and complex systems in the Earth sciences. It will be used for disseminating information of interest to those working in the field on meetings, announcements of general interest to researchers, publications, funding opportunities, and for those interested in the work of AGU's Nonlinear Geophysics Technical Committee.
USGS director discusses agency goals, budget, and restructuring
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) lay on life support as a conservative wave in Congress almost swept aside the agency. The Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank, also targeted the USGS for elimination. That bureaucratic scare convinced the Department of the Interior agency to raise its visibility among decision‐makers and highlight the societal benefits of its scientific research.

USGS Director Charles “Chip” Groat sat down with Eos in February for a wide‐ranging, exclusive interview about the agency's goals, budget, administrative restructuring, and other topics.
Not so Great Lakes?
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

In 1965, Frank Sinatra won the Grammy Award for his album, “September of My Years;” “Early Bird,” the first commercial communications satellite, was launched; and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Selma, Alabama, during demonstrations against voter‐registration rules.

The year 1965 was also the last time water levels in the U.S. Great Lakes were as low as they are now.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Lois M. Jones died on March 13,2000, at age 66. She was a life member (Volcanology) who joined in 1967.

William L. Northrop died on February 21, 2000, at age 91. He was a retired life member (Hydrology) who joined in 1942.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

John R. Spreiter died on February 6, 2000, at age 78. He was a member (SPA‐Solar and Heliospheric Physics) who joined in 1959.
Developing powers
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Three new reports commissioned by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change examine the electric power sectors in Argentina, Brazil, and China, and the potential impact that energy use in each country has on climate change.

In 1999, Argentina voluntarily agreed to lower its greenhouse gas emissions to 2 10% below projected emissions for 2012. The report looks at additional steps that could further reduce emissions, including adopting policies that favor renewable energy sources and nuclear power, and increasing energy efficiency by end‐users.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Howard W. Halsey died on March 27,1999, at age 71. He was a member (Planetology) who joined in 1988.

Louis R. Lepp died at age 46. He was a member (Hydrology) who joined in 1993.
Outstanding student paper awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

The Ocean Sciences Section presented nine outstanding student paper awards at the 1999 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, last December.
Remote foreign policy
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Remote sensing has played an important role in U.S. foreign policy at least since 1962, when the Kennedy Administration released images taken from high altitude airplanes of Soviet missiles on Cuban soil. Since then, remote sensing also has helped with environmental monitoring, understanding and responding to severe weather events and natural and industrial disasters, and international law enforcement.

The U.S. State Department on June 6 announced several new initiatives to promote the use of remote sensing in the foreign policy arena. The department requested the National Academy of Sciences to establish a panel of experts from government, industry, and academia to review the role of remote sensing in foreign policy development.
Stream gages threatened by lack of funding
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is hoping that members of the House of Representatives take a careful look at a list it is now circulating that names dozens of specific stream gages that have been scheduled to be constructed, reactivated, or hardened against failure, but that could be delayed if Congress does not appropriate sufficient funding. Forewarned are dozens of congressmen, including those whose districts encompass the Sacramento River at Sacramento, California; Cowskin Creek at Highway 54 at Wichita, Kansas; the Red River at Grand Forks, North Dakota; and the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

The Clinton Administration has requested a fiscal year 2001 increase of $4 million to USGS' $90 million annual budget for stream gages. The Survey funds about half of the cost of the network, with cost‐sharing partners providing the rest. However, a recent House Appropriations Subcommittee mark‐up would result in the loss of about 115 gages, which is about 2% of the 7000 gages in the USGS network, according to a brief prepared by the USGS budget office. The subcommittee provides $1.7 million for water activities under the USGS Real Time Hazards Initiative, but fails to cover $2.3 million in pay raises and anticipated uncontrollable costs, the brief indicates.
Wave support for ocean day resolution
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

While many scientists decry the lack of resources and attention for ocean research and conservation efforts in the United States, there is a good chance that oceans will soon receive at least a symbolic day in the Sun each year in the U.S.

By a vote of 387‐28, the U.S. House of Representatives on July 11 adopted House Resolution 415, expressing the sense of that body that a National Ocean Day should be established “to recognize the significant role the ocean plays in the lives of the nation's people, and the important role the nation's people must play in the continued life of the ocean.”
Law sets up oceans commission
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

In an anticipated move, U.S. President Bill Clinton on August 7 signed into law the Oceans Act of 2000.The bipartisan legislation, which takes effect on January 20,2001, establishes a commission on ocean policy to examine federal ocean policy and environmental and economic trends affecting oceans and coasts.

The act—which grew out of a call issued by Clinton at the National Oceans Conference in Monterey, California in 1998—requires the commission to submit recommendations to Congress and the president within 18 months of its appointment, and for the President to submit proposals to Congress about the use and stewardship of ocean and coastal resources.
Down on the farm
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on August 17 put money down on one of these energy sector innovations, with $8 million in funding over the next 3 years for a dozen projects to encourage the U.S. bio‐based products industry. The agency will fund 6 graduate‐level university programs to support training in bio‐based products.

In addition, 6 research and development projects use biomass—crops, trees, and agricultural residues—for the manufacture of plastics, paints, and adhesives. One project is a joint program of Pittsburg State University in Kansas and B. F. Goodrich to convert vegetable oils into functionalized oils for high‐performance plastics.
Comment [on “Sea level rise shown to drive coastal erosion”]
Authors: Sallenger Asbury H. , Morton Robert , Fletcher Charles , Thieler E. Robert , Howd Peter
Published: October 2011

In a recent article (Eos, Trans., AGU, February 8, 2000, p.55), Leatherman et al. [2000] state that they have confirmed an association between sea‐level rise and coastal erosion. Applying their results to the New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland coasts and using a projected sea‐level rise, the authors predict that by 2050 the shoreline will recede 60 m, about two times the average beach width.

However, Leatherman et al. [2000] have not convincingly quantified a relationship between sea‐level rise and shoreline erosion.We do not agree with their rationale for subsetting their data, and they have not considered other explanations for a background erosion along the U.S. east coast. Furthermore, their future projections are not supported by their analyses.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Kumizi Iida died on July 17, 2000, at age 91. He had been a member (Seismology) since 1961.

William A. Nierenberg died September 10, 2000, at age 81. He was a retired life member (Ocean Sciences) and Fellow who joined in 1965.
In Memoriam
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

Howard Myers died in September 2000, at age 72. He had been a member (Planetology) since 1971.

Richard E. Ewing has been elected to the Board of Directors for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, a consortium of research institutions that focuses on research for human exploration of space. Projects concentrate on space health issues such as bone loss, sleep disturbances, nutrition, and radiation exposure.
Nominations sought for Sullivan and Perlman Journalism Awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

AGU members are encouraged to submit nominations for two journalism awards that recognize excellence in science reporting for the general public: the Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism—Features and the David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism—News.They are open to science writers, producers, editors, and directors for work in any medium (except books) that was first published during 2000.

The difference in criteria for the two awards mainly concerns the amount of time available to produce the work: one week or less for the Perlman Award, and more than one week for the Sullivan Award.The awards consist of a plaque and $2,000, presented at AGU's Spring or Fall Meeting.
Arctic atlases released
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Two atlases of the Arctic region— one dealing with meteorology and climate and the other covering the sea— were released to the public in October.

The Arctic Meteorological and Climate Atlas contains regional maps of air temperature, sea level pressure, precipitation, cloud cover, snow depth, and global solar radiation supply, and includes some previously restricted U.S. and Russian data.
Reply [to “Comments on “Which one is correct, 2000 or 2001? How about 1995?’”]
Authors: Veronis George
Published: October 2011

Reply to Randalls comment: The millennium argument occurs mostly because people ask different questions, one based on numerology (start from 1, add 2000 and get 2001), and the other based on measuring years from the time that Christ was born. The people who base their arguments on numerology invariably refer to the absence of a year zero. That suffices to get 2001. If that is the issue, then there is no arguing against 2001. But in my mind, that is not the issue. So John Randall and I are answering different questions. The arguments used by the numerologists are based on the assumption that the rest of us don't know how to count. They really ought to consider the fact that a different question may be more to the point.
Measuring geologic time on Mars
Authors: Doran Peter T. , Forman Steven L. , Sturchio Neil C. , Clifford Stephen M. , Papanastassiouje Dimitri A.
Published: October 2011

Recent images from Mars show compelling evidence of near‐surface flowing water, aeolian activity, slope processes, and ice cap evolution that underscores the dynamic geologic history of the planet.

Establishing an accurate chronology for Martian planetary features is critical for addressing fundamental questions about the evolution of the planet's surface and atmosphere and the differentiation of its interior. For example, how long was standing water on the surface? If life did evolve on Mars, did it occur before or after the evolution of life on Earth?
Urban seismic experiments investigate Seattle Fault and Basin
Authors: Brocher Thomas M. , Pratt Thomas L. , Creager Ken C. , Crosson Robert S. , Steele William P. , Weaver Craig S. , Frankel Arthur D. , TrØhu, Anne M. , Snelson Catherine M. , Miller Kate C. , Harder Steven H. , ten Brink Uri S.
Published: October 2011

In the past decade, Earth scientists have recognized the seismic hazards that crustal faults and sedimentary basins pose to Seattle, Washington (Figure 1). In 1998, the US. Geological Survey and its collaborators initiated a series of urban seismic studies of the upper crust to better map seismogenic structures and sedimentary basins in the Puget Lowland. These studies are called the Seismic Hazard Investigations of Puget Sound (SHIPS).

In March 1998, we conducted our first SHIPS study, an investigation of the upper crustal structure of the Puget Lowland, using marine airgun sources and land recorders [Fisher et al., 1999].The study was nicknamed Wet SHIPS. In September 1999, we obtained a seismic refraction line to study the upper crustal structure in the Seattle area in a land‐based study nicknamed Dry SHIPS [Brocher et al., 2000] (Figure 1). In March 2000, we recorded the demolition of the Seattle Kingdome sports stadium using a dense array of seismic recorders for a detailed site response study; this study was nicknamed Kingdome SHIPS (Figure 1).
Solar variability and climate change: An historical perspective
Authors: Feldman Theodore S.
Published: October 2011

There is nothing new about the debate over the Sun's influence on terrestrial climate.

As early as the late 18th century, widespread concern for the deterioration of the Earth's climate led to speculation about the Sun's role in climate change [Feldman, 1993; Fleming, 1990]. Drawing analogies with variations in the brightness of stars, the British astronomer William Herschel suggested that greater sunspot activity would result in warmer terrestrial climates. Herschel supported his hypothesis by referring to price series for wheat published in Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations [Hufbauer, 1991]. Later, the eminent American physicist Joseph Henry demonstrated by thermopile measurements that, contrary to Herschel's assumption, sunspots were cooler than the unblemished portions of the solar disk.
Geosciences history online
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2011

A novel experiment is currently underway in the geophysical sciences [Cliver and Bierly, 1997].

Thanks to funding from the Sloan Foundation, sites on the World Wide Web have been established by AGU and the American Meteorological Society to document recent pathbreaking developments in geophysics.
Tracing the origins of the Lamont Geological Observatory
Authors: Worzel J. Lamar
Published: October 2011

In this article, J. Lamar Worzel, an AGU Fellow who worked with Maurice Ewing from 1936 to 1974, provides personal insights into Ewing's work in deep‐ocean seismic research, both before and after World War II; and also into the establishment of the Lamont Geological Observatory of Columbia University. This article is based on a talk presented at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on March 30, 2000, at the ONR History Colloquium Oceanography: The Making of a Science.
Advisory Committee releases U.S. National Assessment on Potential Consequences of Climate Change
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

A newly released, first‐ever US. national assessment on climate change and variability warns about how greenhouse gases might affect human and natural systems in different regions throughout the country, and also suggests that policy makers and the public consider feasible adaptation strategies to cope with potential changes in the United States.

Anticipated effects of climate change in the United States include increased warming that could lead to varying regional impacts and significant problems concerning water resources, ecosystems, coastal areas, and other sectors.
Hague climate talks collapse, new round called for next year
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

When it comes to global greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. slice of the pie amounts to roughly one‐fourth.

For one moment on November 22, though, the U.S. chief negotiator to the Sixth Conference of the Parties (COP 6) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change wore the entire (custard) pie on his face and suit coat, courtesy of a protester pushing for stronger U.S. support to cut industrial emissions.
International Space Station lauded, debated at symposium
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2011

Astronauts labored successfully in early December to unfurl solar wings on the International Space Station, which will help make that craft the third‐largest object in the night sky as seen from Earth, and help power the station for at least 15 years as a continuous small scientific village in space. While astronauts from the “Endeavor” U.S. space shuttle worked on the solar panels, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner (R‐Wis.) praised the International Space Station (ISS), but exchanged shots across the bow during a December 4 symposium in Washington, D.C.

Sensenbrenner, a leading congressional watchdog of the project, said that the United States “should be restructuring relations with Russia on the space station” because of that country's recent, and reportedly short‐lived threat to violate the international Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The regime restricts the export of some delivery systems capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction. Sensenbrenner said Russia's recent announcement [of its intention] to break a secret deal not to sell conventional weapons to Iran after January 1, 2001 is a cause for reconsidering the space station working relationship.
Member receives Premier U.S. Award for Young Scientists
Authors: Grant Shermonta L.
Published: October 2011

Robert P. Dziak, an AGU member and chief seismologist at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), is one of 59 U.S. scientists to receive this year's Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

The award is the highest honor given by the U.S. government to exceptional scientists and engineers who are launching their careers.
Put Your Science to Work: The Take‐Charge Career Guide for Scientists
Authors: Fiske Peter S.
Published: October 2011

This is the first of an occasional column in which the author or authors of a book recently published byAGU will be interviewed and their new book discussed.

In this issue, Eos talks with Peter S. Fiske, the author of Put Your Science to Work: The Take‐Charge Career Guide for Scientists. This is an update to his 1996 best‐seller, To Boldly Go: A Practical Career Guide for Scientists, which became a best‐seller for its comprehensive, hands‐on guidance to scientists and scientistsin‐training about the full range of professional opportunties open to them—including non‐traditional ones—and how best to achieve success in them.
Linking Mediterranean brine pools and mud volcanism
Authors:   MEDINAUT/MEDINETH Shipboard Scientific Parties
Published: October 2011

Methane seepage at mud volcanoes around the world continues to be of broad international interest for a number of reasons.

Among these, seafloor methane is a potentially important contributor to global warming. In addition, dewatering and degassing of sediments and the formation of fluid migration pathways is important not only to sedimentologists, but also to hydrocarbon reservoir engineers and hydrologists.
COMNAP:The National Managers in Antarctica
Authors: Jacobs Judy , Eastman Timothy
Published: October 2011

What is the sole example in human history of unified governance of an entire continent? What is the manifest case of multinational cooperation during the Cold War which affected a large region of the Earth's surface, yet which rarely entered newspaper headlines? For the answer, ask our friends, the penguins; or better yet, read a new book about a remarkable international effort in territorial governance in support of geophysical research and environmental protection, by Captain Alfred N. Fowler, USN (Retired).

COMNAP: The National Managers in Antarctica is a personal account of the formation and development of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (CONMAP), the permanent working group that has operational responsibility and oversight for the many research and other non‐profit activities in Antarctica, carried out under the authority of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. Established in the context of the treaty, CONMAP is the organization responsible for the safe operation and efficient management of national and non‐governmental programs of research, environmental monitoring, and other activities performed under the treaty's key provision. This established Antarctica as offlimits to the sovereignty of individual governments, and instead, set aside the entirety of the continent for scientific research and for preservation, with governance to be a cooperative effort among signatory countries. Fowler served as executive secretary of CONMAP from 1988, the year of its formation, to 1997.