bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Survey looks at meaning of “Quality” in AGU publications
Authors: White Catherine
Published: October 2006

What do AGU members value about their publications? If a survey* of nearly 300 active members is any indication, the quality of their scientific content is the most important consideration. Good writing, timeliness, speed of publication, and copyediting complete the list of the top five most important items. Though these data are variable (Table 1), the trends are of importance to the AGU: these same five items, out of 14, and in the same order, were selected by the members as the highest ranking ones (Table 1) . It can be concluded that these are the items which first come to mind when members think about the quality of the Union's publications.
Program focuses attention on continental margins
Authors:   MARGINS Steering Committee
Published: October 2006

Continental margins are the Earth's principal loci for producing hydrocarbon and metal resourcessemi; for earthquake, landslide, volcanic, and climatic hazardssemi; and for the greatest population density. As such, margins are where the action is.

Despite the societal and economic importance of margins, many of the mechanical, fluid, chemical, and biological processes that shape them are poorly understood. Progress is hindered by the sheer scope of the problems and by the spatial‐temporal scale and complexities of the processes. To overcome these obstacles, the margins community has identified the outstanding scientific problems in continental margins research, and the MARGINS Program, a research initiative supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), is promoting research strategies that redirect traditional approaches to margin studies.
Lunar Prospector finds signature for water ice on Moon, NASA announces
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

NASA scientists were overcome with wide‐eyed excitement on March 5 when the agency announced that the Lunar Prospector mission has found evidence of water ice on the Moon.

The finding, based on just the first four weeks of data from the Lunar Prospector's anticipated 18 month mission, is proof, says mission manager Scott Hubbard, that “faster, better, cheaper is not just a slogan: it's a way of life.” It also means that astronauts sometime in the 21st century may find that orb an oasis as well as a refueling pit stop for further Solar System exploration.
Magazine published by IAHS Reaches out to Chinese Hydrologists
Authors: Shensheng Dai
Published: October 2006

IAHS Information, written in Chinese, is published four times per year. It was first published in 1989 with the support of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and other related organizations. The magazine aims to be a bridge between IAHS and Chinese hydrologists. Between 1,300 and 1,500 copies of each issue are distributed.

This year will mark the magazine's 10th anniversary. In the 35 issues from 1989 to 1998 the magazine introduced approximately 172 papers and 1,447 abstracts, which were extracted both from IAHS's Proceedings and Reports and Hydrological Sciences Journal. These papers and abstracts discussed various hydrological specialities, such as surface water, groundwater, and sediment. The magazine also published 83 articles about meeting news and 91 book reviews.
Collins named First Woman Shuttle Commander
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Just a few hours after NASA revealed that there is water ice on the Moon, U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton introduced Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Collins to a packed auditorium at Dunbar Senior High School in Washington, D.C., as the first woman who will command a NASA space shuttle mission. With students at this school, which is noted for its pre‐engineering program, cheering, Clinton said that Collins' selection “is one big step forward for women and one giant step for humanity.” Clinton added, “It doesn't matter if you are a boy or a girl, you can be an astronaut or a pilot, if you get a first‐rate education in math and science.”
Atlas of Venus
Authors: Grinspoon David H.
Published: October 2006

The 1990s have been a tremendously exciting time for exploration and science of the planet Venus, the nearest neighbor and, in many ways, near twin of the Earth. The Magellan spacecraft, launched in May 1989 for an August 1990 arrival, was a stunning success, imaging nearly the entire globe at subkilometer resolution. Before Magellan met its end in October 1994, adding its mass to the planet whose study had been its raison d'etre, its radar imager had transformed our view of the Venusian surface from a smattering of murky images and incomplete, grainy maps provided by earlier Russian probes to a crystal clear global portrait of a planet with a long, complex, and ongoing history of volcanism and tectonism.

Aesthetically, the Magellan images are of superb quality and they contain a wonderful mix of the familiar and the exotic that will fuel Venus science for decades. A rich menagerie of volcanic features including vast plains of flood basalts, towering shield volcanoes, smaller “pancake domes” formed from more viscous magmas, and even volcanic “river channels” that wind across the plains for thousands of kilometers make Venus a dreamworld for planetary volcanologists. Other volcano‐tectonic features, such as the hundreds of crownlike circular “coronae” mapped around the planet, seem unique to Venus.
Outstanding student paper awards
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism (GP) Section presented three Outstanding Student Paper Awards at the AGU 1997 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, last December.
Introduction to Geomagnetic Fields
Authors: Blakely Richard J.
Published: October 2006

With a profusion of excellent books on geomagnetism published or revised during the last few years (one, in fact, by the same publisher as Introduction to Geomagnetic Fields), we might ask why we need yet another on the same subject. I believe the answer is clear. This book fills a gap between the highly mathematical and technical coverage of G. Backus, R. Parker, and C. Constable's Foundations of Geomagnetism (1996) and the solid‐Earth focus provided by R. T. Merrill, M. W. McElhinny, and P. L. McFadden's The Magnetic Field of the Earthsemi; Paleomagnetism, the Core, and the Deep Mantle (1996).

Perhaps Introduction to Geomagnetic Fields is best described by its first sentence: “This book is designed for those who want a condensed and less technical coverage of geomagnetic topics than is afforded by existing textbooks.” The foreword describes the book as a beginning textbook, containing minimal technical jargon without complex mathematical formulas. The author makes a valiant reach for this goal (becoming too elementary in some casessemi; we are provided, for example, with the definition of an arc tangent, a description of scientific notation, and a reminder that sin 90°=1) but is nly partially successful. By page 17, the book has already introduced Maxwell's and Laplace's equations in s pherical coordinates, complete with Legendre polynomials. This is certainly understandable (what could be more instructive than the single equation Δ 2V=0?), and the book does provide plenty of text to illustrate the physical meanings behind important formulations. The book has only five chapters covering the broad range of geomagnetic topics. The first chapter describes the Earth's main magnetic field, emphasizing its dipole and nondipole characteristics via spherical harmonic analysis. Geomagnetic components and charts are described, and there is a brief discussion of paleomagnetism and the fluid‐core source of the internal field.
Workshop focuses on nonlinear waves and turbulence in space plasmas
Authors: Neubauer F. M. , Schwartz S. J. , Tsurutani B. T.
Published: October 2006

Nonlinear waves and turbulence have important implications for the dynamics of the oceans, the atmosphere, the plasma regions of the solar system, comets, the interplanetary medium, and the Sun. As in ocean dynamics and atmospheric physics, turbulence and nonlinear waves in plasmas can be described in the magnetohydrodynamic framework by fluid variables such as velocity, density, and temperature complemented by the electromagnetic field. This approximate description often has to be augmented by a kinetic description that involves velocity space distribution functions, however.

The purpose of a workshop held last year on nonlinear waves and turbulence in space plasmas was to bring together geophysicists, astrophysicists, plasma physicists, and mathematicians to discuss nonlinear waves and turbulence in space plasmas. About 60 scientists attended, with many from the United States, Europe, Israel, India, China, and Japan. The emphasis of the meeting was on general nonlinear wave theory, nonlinear waves and turbulence in the interplanetary medium, the magnetosheath and foreshock of the Earth, and cometary plasmas. A few talks attempted to link astrophysical plasma regions with nonlinear waves and turbulence in space plasmas.
Antarctic Meteorology and Climatology
Authors: Walsh Kevin
Published: October 2006

Antarctica is the coldest of the continents and the most remote. Both of these facts pose problems for meteorologists. The lack of easy access to most of the continent presents significant obstacles to effective data collection, and the often hostile conditions make accurate, believable measurements difficult to obtain. Nonetheless, as the authors point out in the preface of Antarctic Meteorology and Climatology, the last decade has seen a great increase in both the quantity and quality of data available in the Antarctic region, making this book a timely review of the state of knowledge of the Antarctic climate system. The reader will not find extensive discussion of the “ozone hole” or of paleoclimate records here. Rather, what the reader does find is a comprehensive and smoothly written account of the present and recent past climate of the Antarctic troposphere in its many aspects.
With solar max around the corner, workshop looks at preventing space weather interference
Authors: Fremouw Edward J.
Published: October 2006

Natural phenomena taking place on the Sun and in the solar wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere can affect a variety of modern technological systems. Collectively termed “space weather,” these phenomena produce effects ranging from spacecraft charging and radiation damage to geomagnetically induced currents in terrestrial power grids. A subset of space weather phenomena, either generated in direct response to solar disturbances or due to ongoing atmospheric dynamics (ultimately solar driven, as well), takes place in the ionosphere.
Historical Eclipses and Earth's Rotation
Authors: Sonett C. P.
Published: October 2006

The Earth and Moon are a dynamic, closely coupled system. What happens to one is mutually reflected in the motions of the other through an exchange of angular momentum and energy which, even over historical times, has been observed and attracted notable attention. In 1695, Edmund Halley, a contemporary of Newton, discovered a discrepancy between predicted and observed times of solar eclipses. From this, Halley concluded that the Moon's motion in its orbit was accelerated, that is, the Moon would appear ahead in orbit from the expected time, and the Earth's rotation slowed. Later, in 1754, Immanuel Kant, the immortal German philosopher, suggested tidal friction slowing the Earth as the cause. Because of the lack of observational evidence of the expected acceleration in the motion of the Sun and other planets as seen from the rotating platform of the Earth, it was not until 1905 and the discovery of the solar acceleration by P. Cowell that closure of the theory took place.
Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic Circum‐Pacific Events and their global correlation
Authors: Norton Ian O.
Published: October 2006

This book, published as Volume 10 of the World and Regional Geology Series, forms one report of the International Geologic Correlation Project (IGCP) projects, this one on Project 272 of the same title as the book. When the manuscript arrived at Cambridge University Press, I imagine that the following conversation could have taken place between the head of the publication division (PD) and the editor in charge of geologic publications (GE).
Why was Wegener rejected?
Authors: Stern David P.
Published: October 2006

In his “Forum” item (Eos, February 3, 1998), Ron Girdler commented on Alfred Wegener's “continental drift” theory and noted, “What we should be pondering is: Why did the scientific establishment reject such a large amount of evidence for so long?”

A fitting answer whose message still holds was given by Sir Edward Bullard in 1975 in his autobiographical article in Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Flood forecasting reaches new potential
Authors: Juliën Pierre Y. , Molnár Darcy K. , Johnson Billy E. , Combs Phil G.
Published: October 2006

Natural disasters caused by floods challenge scientists to forecast the magnitude and timing of peak flood discharges more accurately. With recent advances in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and in computer technology, scientists have developed large‐scale surface runoff models to improve flood forecasting. The first version of the model CASC2D, developed at Colorado State University, simulates surface runoff from flash floods caused by intense thunderstorms moving across watershed areas. The hydrologic model has been coupled with data from the CSU‐CHILL polarized dual‐Doppler radar in Greeley, Colorado, which accurately tracks the motion of severe thunderstorms.
AGU selects medalists and award winner for 1998
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

AGU is pleased to announce the recipients of AGU's 1998 medals and Flinn Award. The recipients are outstanding scientists who were chosen by committees of their peers for their significant contributions to one or more areas of geophysics. President Sean Solomon will present some of the honors on May 27 at the Honors Ceremony at AGU's Spring Meeting in Boston and President John Knauss will present the remaining awards on December 8 at the Fall Meeting in San Francisco. The ceremonies will be followed by receptions and banquets where colleagues will have an opportunity to meet and congratulate the recipients.
Imminent climate and circulation shift in northeast Pacific Ocean could have major impact on marine resources
Authors: Ingraham W. James , Ebbesmeyer Curtis C. , Hinrichsen Richard A.
Published: October 2006

A climate shift is imminent in the northeast Pacific Ocean, research suggests, and may have a major impact on marine resources, particularly Pacific salmon. Scientists anticipate that the shift, driven by large‐scale changes in the Earth's atmospheric wave pattern, will become evident in the next few years. The most recent shift, characterized by a switch from cold and wet conditions to warm and dry conditions in the Pacific northwest of the United States, occurred in 1977 [e.g., Trenberth and Hurell, 1994].

The expected climate shift is suggested by studies of oscillations in ocean surface water drift and in treering records. Drift trajectories, derived from a new measure of decadal variability, showed well‐defined oscillations in the 20th century, but researchers were concerned that this decadal nature might not be as evident over a considerably longer time. Thus because of the possible rarity of the 30‐year interval since the last climate shift, treering width data was scrutinized for the western juniper for the period from 1500 to 1900 A.D.
Earth rotation measurement yields valuable information about the dynamics of the Earth system
Authors: Clark T. A. , Ma C. , Ryan J. W. , Chao B. F. , Gipson J. M. , MacMillan D. S. , Vandenberg Nancy R. , Eubanks T. M. , Niell A. E.
Published: October 2006

Intensive work in recent years has demonstrated the value of high precision and high temporal resolution in collecting Earth rotation data, paving the way for continuous measurement that will open exciting new research areas in geophysics as the new millennium unfolds. Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) will continue to be a principal technique. However, it will have greatly improved precision and temporal resolution, making possible more in‐depth studies of geophysical phenomena affecting Earth rotation. Originally developed as a radio astronomical technique for high‐resolution mapping of distant radio sources, VLBI, when “turned around,” has become a valuable tool in geodesy. Because of its past success, a new VLBI project, Continuous Observation of the Rotation of the Earth (CORE), was launched last year. It is being implemented in phases by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in collaboration with the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) [see Ma et al., 1997].
Planning cuts risk from many natural hazards, experts say
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

During the United Nations'‐designated International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), which concludes at the end of 1999, much attention has been focused on the issue, and on scientific advances and policy initiatives that are providing new capabilities for dealing with disasters.

Yet, natural disasters continue to cause astronomically high property damages that average about $440 billion per year globally, as well as enormous secondary economic losses, deaths, and social disruption.
Chunk of Antarctic ice shelf breaks off
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

A 200 sq km section of the Larsen‐B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula, that extends northward toward South America, has crumbled away, and about two‐thirds of the 12,000 sq km ice sheet is now at risk of breaking off, a researcher who analyzed recent satellite images announced on April 16.

“This may be the beginning of the end for the Larsen Ice Shelf,” said Ted Scambos, a research associate at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, a joint institute of the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Scambos worked with satellite images collected by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), based at the university.
Fieldwork: A Geologist's Memoir of the Kalahari
Authors: Cunningham Dickson
Published: October 2006

Most geoscientists acknowledge the fundamental importance of field‐based research. Many of us have listened to lectures involving numerical modeling of some geological process and concluded that the speaker should see more outcrops. Some scientists appear to have forgotten that geological and geophysical field data have fueled many, if not most, major developments in Earth science. Christopher Scholz celebrates that point in Fieldwork: A Geologist's Memoir of the Kalahari, a highly readable and entertaining account of a microearthquake survey carried out 23 years ago in the Kalahari region of Botswana to investigate the propagating tip of the southwestern arm of the East African rift system and the effects of ground displacements on the hydrogeology of the Okavango Delta.
Water, Rivers and Creeks
Authors: Mac Robert D.
Published: October 2006

Luna B. Leopold's intent in Water, Rivers and Creeks was to provide a nontechnical primer on hydrology and water resources, and he succeeded admirably. The terse style is reminiscent of the mystery writer Mickey Spillane, though the content is complex science expounded in simple terms. “Part I, Hydrology and Morphology,” makes up the first two thirds of the book, and in this section, Leopold develops hydrologic and geomorphic concepts and principles using analogies with items common to any household. Garden hoses, dishpans, bath tubs, and sieves provide illuminating examples of the effects of channel storage on stream flow, water tables and the movement of groundwater, sustainable yield and the storage equation, and the infiltration/percolation process.
Web Resources Compiled For Terrain Modeling
Authors: Pike Richard J.
Published: October 2006

Terrain modeling, the numerical study of ground‐surface relief and pattern, has become integral to several subdisciplines of geophysics. Its two chief functions are topographic analysis and display. Both have been revolutionized by the computer processing of squaregrid arrays of terrain heights or digital elevation models (DEMs). Internet communication is vital to terrain modelers, who are dispersed worldwide in many occupations.
Major improvements in progress for Southern California Earthquake Monitoring
Authors: Mori Jim , Kanamori Hiroo , Davis James , Hauksson Egill , Clayton Robert , Heaton Thomas , Jones Lucile , Shakal Anthony , Porcella Ron
Published: October 2006

Major improvements in seismic and strong‐motion monitoring networks are being implemented in southern California to better meet the needs of emergency response personnel, structural engineers, and the research community in promoting earthquake hazard reduction. Known as the TriNet project, the improvements are being coordinated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the California Division of Mines and Geology (CDMG) of the state's Department of Conservation. Already the ambitious instrument and system development project has started to record and disseminate ground motions from a spatially dense and robust network of high quality seismographs.
Cities around the globe join voluntary effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Doug Yoder, assistant director of the department of environmental resource management of Miami‐Dade County, Fla., says that concern about climate change was one of several reasons why his county voluntarily pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions a few years ago.

The low‐lying, subtropical coastal communities “are going to feel the effects of climate change probably in advance of other parts of the country,” says Yoder. “Our susceptibility to tropical storms, certainly since Hurricane Andrew [in 1992], has gotten people's attention.” He recognizes that the county's efforts probably will not bring direct or immediate climate benefits to the region, though he says steps taken by every municipality count.
Assessing nonpoint source pollution in the vadose zone
Authors: Corwin Dennis , Loague Keith , Ellsworth Tim
Published: October 2006

Sustainable agriculture is viewed as the only viable means of meeting the food demands of the world's projected population of 11 billion by the year 2050. Sustainable agriculture is predicated on a delicate balance of maximizing crop productivity and maintaining economic stability while minimizing the use of finite natural resources and avoiding the detrimental environmental impacts of associated nonpoint source (NPS) pollutants. NPS pollutants include pesticides, fertilizers, trace elements, salts, sediments, etc., and are known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic. NPS pollutants threaten sustainable agriculture and are recognized as the single greatest threat to surface and subsurface drinking water resources.
Geomorphology–A Systematic Analysis of Late Cenozoic Landforms, 3rd Edition
Authors: Mayer Larry
Published: October 2006

Geomorphology is the study of how landscapes form. This deceptively simple description encompasses a branch of geoscience that is teeming with fundamental questions of how landscapes develop similar or different morphologies, and whether their developments can be explained historically or modeled theoretically. Geomorphology also involves the surface processes that inexorably convert rock into sediment. Because the study of either landforms or landsculpting is linked to active processes commonly occurring on human timescales, it might be fair to classify geomorphologists as the existentialists of geology.
Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution
Authors: Mueller Dietmar
Published: October 2006

Ever since plate tectonics revolutionized Earth science, university courses presenting Earth processes in the framework of plate tectonics have become as plentiful as earthquakes. Consequently, this segment of the textbook market, which includes popular classroom classics such as Keary and Vine's Global Tectonics, is heavily contested. Condie's book attempts to secure a portion of the pie by targeting advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and specialists “who want to keep abreast of scientific advances in this field,” as stated in the preface.
Planetary research has long history in Kazakstan
Authors: Tejfel Victor
Published: October 2006

For many countries, planetary research is an important and significant area of science. This is no less true for Kazakstan, a country nearly the size of India that stretches from the Caspian Sea to China.

The beginning of planetary research in Kazakstan, like the beginning of all astrophysical observations there, is connected closely with the names of two widely known Russian scientists, Vasilij Fessenkov and Gavriil Tikhov. Both came to Alma‐Ata, the capital of Kazakstan, in 1941 to observe the solar eclipse of September 21 , and both stayed. Tikhov organized the astrobotany laboratory, officially named the Astrobotany Sector of the Kazakstan Academy of Sciences. Astrobiology, a term also proposed by Tikhov, was at that time in search of evidence for the possible existence of plant life on Mars that was adapted optically to extremely hard climate conditions. The study of the optical properties (spectral reflectivity and fluorescence in the infrared) of terrestrial plants had given some data about variability of these properties as a function of climate conditions in different geographic zones.
Climate Processes and Change
Authors: Jenkins Gregory S.
Published: October 2006

The 1997 Kyoto summit on climate change demonstrates the world community's desire to protect future generations from harmful effects induced by the anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases. On the other hand, the worldwide impacts of the 1997–1998 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event serve as a reminder of how natural variability can strongly influence weather. In this book, Bryant provides a bird's‐eye view of natural climate change over the last 2 million years, rather than the fish's‐eye view of the more recent possible anthropogenic global warming.

The key feature that sets this text apart is the perspective of climate change on a larger timescale. The author recognizes that climate is not constant, and that only small perturbations are necessary to shift climate into an extreme state. If this is the case, however, anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing may also produce extreme climate change. Climate Processes and Change also differs from other texts by raising the awareness of uncertainties in historical observations, trends, and the complex and nonlinear relationships between observations and theory.
The Dead Sea, The Lake and Its Setting
Authors: Brink Uri ten
Published: October 2006

I cannot think of a subject more befitting the description of interdisciplinary research with societal relevance than the study of the Dead Sea, a terminal lake of the Jordan River in Israel and Jordan. The scientific study of the Dead Sea is intimately connected with politics, religion, archeology, economic development, tourism, and environmental change.

The Dead Sea is a relatively closed geologic and limnologic system with drastic physical changes often occurring on human timescales and with a long human history to observe these changes. Research in this unique area covers diverse aspects such as active subsidence and deformation along strike‐slip faults; vertical stratification and stability of the water column; physical properties of extremely saline and dense (1234 kg/m3) water; spontaneous precipitation of minerals in an oversaturated environment; origin of the unusual chemical composition of the brine; existence of life in extreme environments; use of lake level fluctuations as a paleoclimatic indicator; and effects on the environment of human intervention versus natural climatic variability. Although the Dead Sea covers a small area on a global scale, it is nevertheless one of the largest natural laboratories for these types of research on Earth. These reasons make the Dead Sea a fascinating topic for the curious mind.
Symposium participants assess future of coral reefs
Authors: Kleypas Joan , Opdyke Bradley
Published: October 2006

Coral reef ecosystems are often labeled as “robust,” able to survive disturbance, or “resilient,” able to recover after a disturbance, in terms of their ability to adapt or acclimatize to global change. Those labels are now fading in light of findings of a symposium and workshop to readdress the question, How will coral reefs fare under the increasing stresses associated with global change? In fact, coral reef ecosystems appear to be directly threatened by globally increasing atmospheric CO2. By altering sea surface chemistry, specifically by lowering the carbonate ion activity, rising CO2 levels will most certainly reduce calcification rates of the major reef‐building organisms individually, and coral reef communities overall. A reduction in coral reef carbonate production could have profound ecological effects on these marine ecosystems and organisms associated with them.
New service of Earth Interactions offers sneak peek at work in progress
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

A new service of the all‐electronic journal Earth Interactions (Web site http://EarthInter‐actions.org) now provides online access to abstracts or preprints of selected papers being presented at various Earth system science conferences. The new service, “Earth Abstractions,” is separate from the peer‐reviewed articles in Earth Interactions. The editors select the sessions that will be featured. AGU Spring Meeting abstracts are now highlighted on the site.

The abstract titles in Earth Abstractions will link directly to online extended abstracts or preprints located on the authors' home servers if such abstracts are made available. As the author updates the preprint and posts it to the same URL, Earth Abstractions will continue to feature the most recent information from the author related to that work. Readers can preview an author's work as it evolves prior to the meeting as well as refer to it for a year after the meeting has ended. This exchange also provides a means for authors to receive positive feedback on their papers independent of the conference session, which may help those who plan to submit papers about their work to a peer‐reviewed journal.
Where is El Niño?
Authors: Wooster Warren S.
Published: October 2006

I enjoyed George Philander's note, “Who is El Niño?,” (Eos, March 31, 1998, p. 170) and his effort to rationalize the Nino nomenclature. There is a further complication that he does not mention—the widespread labeling of El Niño as any unusual warming far from the equator, whether or not it is linked to the tropical event. This leads to considerable confusion, since the timings and intensities of these occurrences may be very different. For example, El Niño of 1972–1973 was a major event in the tropics that was associated with the collapse of the Peruvian anchoveta fishery, and yet significant sea‐surface temperature anomalies were barely detectable north of southern California. No one on the Washington coast would have called this El Niño. On the other hand, the minor tropical event of 1976–1977 was associated with the regime shift in the eastern North Pacificsemi; unusual surface warming as far north as the Bering Sea persisted into the early 1980s. Should both the 10‐month tropical event and the 5‐year subarctic event be called El Niño? The current frenzy over the 1997–1998 event, where subarctic warming was contemporaneous with equatorial developments, demonstrates the need to regularize the terminology.
Comment on “Crustal deformation measured in Southern California”
Authors: Rydelek Paul A. , Sacks I. Selwyn
Published: October 2006

From studies of deformation at the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), Shen et al. (Eos, October 28, 1997) found that postseismic effects are both significant and long‐lasting. While this is reassuring, the tone of this article may suggest to the uninformed reader that such effects are a new discovery, and especially since recent SCEC reports [Jackson et al., 1997; Shen et al., 1997] provide little indication of the rich history and literature on the phenomena of postseismic viscoelastic relaxation. While there are limits on the number of references in any article, the reference in Shen et al. [1997] pointing out the significance and persistence of postseismic deformation is a Science Perspective article of Jackson et al. [1997]; the latter article, while expressing excitement about the observation of postseismic effects in GPS data and how such effects may be used to provide information about the crust's inelastic properties, is nonetheless devoid of citations or even of any analysis concerning this phenomena.
The re‐formation of the polar cap during quiet times: The theta aurora
Authors: Chang Shen‐Wu , Burke William J. , Maynard Nelson C. , Scudder Jack D.
Published: October 2006

The theta aurora, a form of auroral arc that stretches across the polar cap roughly parallel to the Sun‐Earth line, was first detected by an optical imager on the Dynamic Explorer 1 satellite [Frank et al., 1982]. But to date, its origin has not been satisfactorily explained. The new availability of nearly continuous measurements of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) by the WIND satellite whenever the POLAR satellite was in a position to observe the presence of these arcs (see Figure 1) has renewed interest in solving the mystery of the theta aurora's origin.

The new data were examined with the notion that some feature of the solar wind's interaction with the magnetosphere must lead to the development of the theta arcs. Conclusions revealed that the theta aurora provides an unexpected way in which the polar cap can grow and reform during or after extended periods when the IMF has a northward component. This new understanding has strong roots in previous observational and theoretical work within the space plasma physics community.
NSF Geosciences Directorate outlines two major planning processes
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

“We want to do more than just evolve into the next decade,” Robert Corell, assistant director for geosciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF), told an audience at a “town meeting” held in May during the AGU Spring Meeting in Boston, Mass.

Corell, along with the Geoscience Directorate Division directors for atmospheric, Earth, and ocean sciences, said that two concurrent planning processes underway at the directorate will help to guide the direction of the science, and also support the annual geosciences science plan and the NSF budget in a competitive fiscal environment.
In brief
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

Honoring a radio astronomy pioneer Fifty‐seven years after Karl Jansky inadvertently helped spawn the field of radio astronomy by becoming the first person to hear radio waves from outer space, the pioneer was honored by Lucent Technologies' Bell Laboratories at a June 8 ceremony that included the unveiling of a 4‐m long replica of his antenna at the exact site of the original 30.5‐m long instrument. This instrument resembled a box kite lying on its side, and was supported by Model T Ford tires.

Jansky's discovery “was ahead of its time,” said Tony Tyson, an astrophysicist with Lucent Technologies' Bell Laboratories in New Jersey. Tyson, who worked with Robert Wilson, a senior scientist at the Harvard‐Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., to determine the location of Jansky's original antenna, said that in the early 1930s “radio waves had nothing to do with astronomy, so it really fell between radio engineering and astronomy.”
South Sandwich slices reveal much about arc structure, geodynamics, and composition
Authors: Larter R. D. , King E. C. , Leat P. T. , Reading A. M. , Smellie J. L. , Smythe D. K.
Published: October 2006

The simple tectonic history of the South Sandwich island arc, a classic intra‐oceanic arc lying in the South Atlantic Ocean, provided excellent opportunities for the Sandwich Lithospheric and Crustal Experiment (SLICE), conducted early in 1997, to investigate how, and at what rates, the Earth's crust is modified by subduction processes. The SLICE investigations of the South Sandwich island arc and the East Scotia Sea back‐arc basin (Figure 1) included onshore and offshore recording of controlled‐source and earthquake seismic data, establishment of geodetic GPS monuments on two islands, a new geological survey of the islands, and sampling of the islands and sea floor. Knowledge of the structure, geodynamics, and composition of this arc system is important because its simple tectonic history will allow estimation of the rates at which subduction processes modify the crust, and because its intra‐oceanic setting makes it ideal for studying the timing and compositions of fluxes from the subducting slab.
Clinton Administration proposes slate of initiatives to protect ocean resources
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore came to Monterey, Calif., in mid‐June bearing gifts for the seas.

With announcements on June 11–12 of a package of initiatives, proposals, and challenges before a select audience that included about 500 participants attending the National Oceans Conference, the Administration at least temporarily propelled ocean resource issues to the top of the national agenda.
Participants examine key issues including conservation and research
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: October 2006

“I've never seen the ocean community so energized,” oceanographer and deep‐sea pioneer Sylvia Earle told participants gathered for the National Oceans Conference in mid‐ June of this year, the International Year of the Ocean.

“It's no wonder,” she said. “After a dry spell spanning many decades, there is an opportunity at last for the ocean frontier to be for the 21st century what space has been to the 20th. And why not? The technology is here, the need is here, the sense of urgency is here. And now, all that has to come is the commitment to go forward and downward.”
Effort to develop magnetic anomaly database aids Antarctic research
Authors: Chiappini Massimo , von Frese Ralph R. B. , Ferris Julie
Published: October 2006

The Antarctic is the subject of considerable international interest because its geology records the evolution of Gondwana and Rodinia. The geology of the Antarctic is poorly understood, however, due to the region's nearly ubiquitous cover of snow, ice, and water and its harsh environment, which severely restricts field investigations.

Magnetic anomaly data greatly aid geologic studies of the Antarctic, and hence many near‐surface magnetic surveys have been carried out by the international community for site‐specific geologic objectives since the International Geophysical Year of 1957–1958. At the first workshop of the Antarctic Digital Magnetic Anomaly Project (ADMAP) in Cambridge, UK, it became clear that the data from these magnetic surveys can also be combined into a regional compilation to extend their usefulness for geologic studies of the Antarctic [Johnson et al., 1996; 1997].
Biogeochemical Cycles: A Computer‐Interactive Study of Earth System Science and Global Change
Authors: Mackenzie Fred T.
Published: October 2006

Global biogeochemistry is the discipline that links various aspects of biology, geology, and chemistry to investigate the surface environment of the Earth. The global biogeochemical cycles of the elements lie at the very core of the subject and involve a myriad of processes that transform and transport various substances throughout the Earth's ecosphere, which consists of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, shallow crust (soils, sediments, and crustal rocks), biosphere, and cryosphere. As the authors of Biogeochemical Cycles: A Computer‐Interactive Study of Earth System Science and Global Change say, “anyone interested in understanding the causes of global environmental change and its implications for life would be well‐advised to begin with an investigation of global biogeochemistry.” This small but illuminating book is an attempt to provide a reasonably integrated and comprehensive text dealing with the study of the life‐essential global biogeochemical cycles of carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen.
Comment [on “Influence of Mediterranean Outflow on climate”]
Authors: Johnson R. G.
Published: October 2006

The Rahmstorf large‐scale circulation model lacks the high resolution needed to reveal the critical fine structure of oceanic circulation, both known and predicted, upon which the ice‐age initiation hypothesis is based [Johnson, 1997]. Consequently, it is unable to correctly evaluate the consequences of presently increasing Mediterranean salinity and Outflow. Rahmstorf also seriously misrepresents important elements of the hypothesis.

1) It is not simply an increase in evaporation rate in the warmer Labrador Sea that initiated the Wisconsinan Glaciation. Instead, the larger temperature contrast between cold land and adjacent warmer sea surfaces steered the northeastward‐moving cyclonic storm systems into the Baffin area and away from their interglacial path toward Iceland and Scandinavia. This switch in circulation is indicated by the sudden onset of heavy precipitation in northeastern Canada, inferred from a large increase in hematite and clay deposited on the Bermuda Rise about 120,000 year ago when the Wisconsinan Glaciation began [Adkins et al., 1997]. This regional circulation switch could be duplicated only in a very high‐resolution model. Note that at this time the Milankovitch insolation was nearly identical to present and there was no CO2 warming or artificial loss of Nile River discharge.
Pulkkinen receives James B. Macelwane Medal
Authors: Baker Daniel N. , Pulkkinen Tuija I.
Published: October 2006

Tuija I. Pulkkinen was awarded the James B. Macelwane Medal at the AGU Spring Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held on May 27, 1998, in Boston, Massachusetts. The James B. Macelwane Medal recognizes young scientists of outstanding ability who have made significant contributions to the geophysical sciences.
Seismic experiment paves way for long‐term seafloor observatories
Authors: Stakes Debra S. , Romanowicz Barbara , Montagner Jean‐Paul , Tarits Pascal , Karczewski Jean‐Francois , Etchemendy Steve , Dawe Craig , Neuhauser Doug , McGill Paul , Koenig Jean Claude , Savary Jean , Begnaud Mike , Pasyanos Mike
Published: October 2006

The Monterey Bay Ocean Bottom International Seismic Experiment (MOISE) has successfully deployed a suite of geophysical and oceanographic instrument packages on the ocean floor using the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's (MBARI) Ventana, a tethered Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV).The goal of this international cooperative experiment is to advance the global Seafloor Observatory effort by developing a prototype suite of instruments and installing them on the western side of the San Andreas fault system offshore of central California. The centerpiece of the instrument suite was a digital broadband seismometer package partially buried within the sediment‐covered floor of Monterey Bay, 40 km offshore and 10 km west of the San Gregorio fault at a depth of 1015 m (Figure 1).
Global Positioning System Project to improve Japanese Weather, earthquake predictions
Authors: Hatanaka Y. , Mannoji N. , Naito I. , Ichikawa R. , Shimada S. , Yabuki T. , Tsuji H. , Tanaka T.
Published: October 2006

The Global Positioning System/Meteorology Project (GPS/MET), a 5‐year project begun in April 1997, will closely monitor atmospheric water vapor over Japan. Using this information, scientists can improve forecasting of catastrophic weather in Japan and also correct transient drifts of a few centimeters per week that occur in estimates of crustal deformation derived from GPS data. Though satellite‐based GPS has become popular for monitoring crustal deformation with mm to cm accuracy, transient drifts, which change seasonally, are probably caused by changing amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere that delay GPS microwave signal propagation. Determining the amount of water vapor will enable scientists to improve the orecasting of catastrophic weather events and also correct GPS data. For example, water vapor data with high space‐time resolution is urgently needed to predict local torrential rain events that cause serious damage in Japan during the rainy season.
Chaos and Structures in Nonlinear Plasmas
Authors: Chen James
Published: October 2006

In recent decades, the concepts and applications of chaos, complexity, and nonlinear dynamics have profoundly influenced scientific as well as literary thinking. Some aspects of these concepts are used in almost all of the geophysical disciplines. Chaos and Structures in Nonlinear Plasmas, written by two respected plasma physicists, focuses on nonlinear phenomena in laboratory and space plasmas, which are rich in nonlinear and complex collective effects. Chaos is treated only insofar as it relates to some aspects of nonlinear plasma physics.

At the outset, the authors note that plasma physics research has made fundamental contributions to modern nonlinear sciences. For example, the Poincare surface of section technique was extensively used in studies of stochastic field lines in magnetically confined plasmas and turbulence. More generally, nonlinearity in plasma waves and wave‐wave and wave‐particle interactions critically determines the propagation of energy through a plasma medium. The book also makes it clear that the importance of understanding nonlinear waves goes beyond plasma physics, extending to such diverse fields as solid state physics, fluid dynamics, atmospheric physics, and optics. In space physics, non‐linear plasma physics is essential for interpreting in situ as well as remote‐sensing data.
A forgotten proposal for determination of the temporal variation of the magnetic declination
Authors: Silverman Sam
Published: October 2006

John Churchman, a now forgotten early American geophysicist (for a brief biographical note, see “First Congress of the United States Tackled Geophysics in 1789,” Eos, June 2, 1998, p. 257), proposed that the temporal variation of the magnetic declination could be determined from early land surveys [Churchman, 1794, 1800], He pointed out that boundary lines in the United States were drawn by the use of the magnetic compass as if there were no deviation from true north. Hence if the then current latitudes and longitudes, determined by other more accurate methods, were compared with the boundary lines as entered in these earlier surveys, then the declination at the time of those initial surveys could be easily determined. Churchman's proposal is perhaps best described in his own words [Churchman, 1800]:
Council focuses on outreach
Authors: Spilhaus Fred
Published: October 2006

The 1996‐1998 Council met for the final time on May 28,1998, in Boston, Mass., USA. At this meeting, the Council adopted three position statements. The first action reaffirms the long‐standing statement opposing the teaching of creationism as science. The second emphasizes the importance of a balanced space program, one in which the Space Station is not the cause of a decline in the key science elements of the U.S. space program. The third succinctlypresents a case for governmental support of the geophysical sciences. These statements have been published in Eos and are available on AGU's Web site (http://www.agu.org, see “Science Policy” under “Science for Everyone.”)
Proposed change to Bylaw 7
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The Statutes and Bylaws Committee has recommended that the bylaw naming the sections of the Union be amended. The proposed change renames the Planetology Section; the amended bylaw would read:

“The American Geophysical Union shall include the following Sections: Atmospheric Sciences; Geodesy; Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism; Hydrology; Ocean Sciences; Planetary Sciences; Seismology; Space Physics and Aeronomy; Tectonophysics; and Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology. All members shall designate the Section or Sections with which they desire to be affiliated and shall designate a Section of primary interest.”