bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Magma under Long Valley Caldera: Reply
Authors: Goldstein Norman E.
Published: October 2006

As the one responsible for submitting the meeting report (“Pre‐Drilling Data Review and Synthesis for the Long Valley Caldera, California,” Eos, January 19, 1988, p. 43), I must also take responsibility for omissions and errors. These may occur for a variety of reasons and despite the fact that the meeting report is reviewed by selected attendees prior to publication. I am pleased that P. B. Dawson et al. have taken the time to set straight the point about the midcrustal low‐velocity anomaly (in “Magma Under Long Valley Caldera,” Eos, March 1, 1988, p. 124). I offer apologies to them and to any other attendees who may feel that their contributions were either omitted or misrepresented. Due to space limitations, many sections of the draft meeting report had to be rather ruthlessly deleted or shortened.
New group advices on Space Station
Authors: Crampton Janet W.
Published: October 2006

Scientific uses o f the proposed space station will be reviewed periodically by a new committee appointed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in February. The Space Station Science and Applications Advisory Subcommittee will channel to NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) views of the scientific community on how the station can be used for scientific research and applications. The focus is equipment development, as well as operational procedures and capabilities.
Essential of Crystallography
Authors: Evans Howard T.
Published: October 2006

This volume is a new edition of an earlier publication (1974) entitled Crystalline Solids. The new volume has been greatly expanded and is the first of a projected two volumes. In this volume, the authors provide a thoroughgoing treatment of the theory and procedures of crystallographic calculations, while the topics of crystal chemistry and crystal physics will be covered in the proposed sequel.

The first half of this work deals with the theory of applied crystallography in five chapters: crystal lattices, stereographic projections, crystal symmetry, space groups, and crystallographic calculations. The second half covers the experimental methods of diffraction and structure analysis. More details of computational methods are outlined in extensive appendices.
Chemistry of Multiphase Atmospheric Systems
Authors: Hov Øystein
Published: October 2006

This book contains the lectures and research papers presented at a NATO Advanced Study Institute on chemistry of multiphase atmospheric systems, which was held on the island of Corfu (Greece) in fall 1983. The objectives of a NATO Advanced Study Institute are, in the words of the NATO Scientific Committee, to “disseminate advanced knowledge not yet taught in regular university courses; leading international experts teach postdoctoral students experienced researchers and discuss recent research results.”
History of Hydrology
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

As George Sarton, generally acknowledged to be the father of the history of science, so elegantly stated, scientific endeavors and understanding are cumulative in nature. Thus it seems appropriate that scientists within a given discipline should occasionally take a backward glance and examine their heritage. With such a view, a series of AGU symposia were organized, beginning in December 1984, to deal with the history of hydrology. Fifteen papers, largely from the first two such sessions, have been compiled as a special volume of the History of Geophysics Series.
Arizona society organizes hydrology
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

In January 1986 the Arizona Hydrological Society (AHS) was incorporated as a nonprofit society under the laws of the State of Arizona. The society now has three chapters, in Flagstaff, Phoenix, and Tucson, with a total of more than 200 members. The purposes of the society may be summarized as follows:

Advancement of the science of hydrology and water resources research, planning, and development;

Establishment of an open forum for information exchange among professionals concerned with hydrology and water resources;

Dissemination of ideas and information about the field of hydrology and other water resources professions to the public; and

Support of the establishment of standards for the practice of hydrology as a profession.
Wolfgang Stedemann 1940–1987
Authors: Baker Daniel N. , Fritz Theodore A. , Korth A. , Kremser G. , Wilken B.
Published: October 2006

Wolfgang Studemann was born on March 25, 1940, in Dortmund (now in the Federal Republic of Germany). He received his Vordiplom in physics from the University of Bonn and completed both his Diplom (1966) and Dr. rer. nat. (1972) in physics at the University of Gottingen. He joined the staff of the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy (MPAE) on June 1, 1966, and served with distinction as a member of the MPAE staff for more than 20 years. Studemann was tragically killed in the crash of PSA flight 1771 en route to the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., on December 7, 1987. He had been a member of AGU since 1972.
Fy 1989 budget proposal: More support for basic geoscience research
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

President Ronald Reagan's Fiscal Year (FY) 1989 budget—the final spending plan of his 8‐year tenure—contains few real surprises, answers a few questions, and does not seem to have offended many in Congress. Hefty increases in money for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are proposed, while many federal programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are trimmed.

After complete silence last year, the White House renewed support for the Space Station with a big request in the new budget, along with an ambitious space program (see Tables 1 and 2). Even though Congress showed lukewarm support for this program and some other parts of the Reagan science agenda, most congressional leaders and observers are predicting that the new spending plan should make it through the legislature without a big fight, partly because of the distractions of an election year.
Determining nonmethane hydrocarbon
Authors: Carsey Thomas P.
Published: October 2006

In May 1987, an intercomparison exercise for the determination of nonmethane hydrocarbon gases in the marine atmosphere was conducted. A preliminary account of the results was presented at the 1987 AGU Fall Meeting (see the abstract “Non‐Methane Hydrocarbons in the Remote Marine Atmsophere: Results of an Intercomparison Exercise,” in Eos, November 3, 1987, p. 1220).

It has subsequently become evident that miscalculations occurred (in the conversion of units) that resulted in incorrect mixing ratios for some data sets as presented. A corrected report is in progress and will be published as soon as possible.
POEM: Physical Oceanography of the Eastern Miditerranean
Authors: Malanotte‐Rizzoli Paola , Robinson Allan R.
Published: October 2006

The Mediterranean as a whole communicates with the Atlantic Ocean through the narrow and shallow Gibraltar Strait. In recent years, scientific interest has been focused on the western Mediterranean and the Strait of Gibraltar through the execution of the Western Mediterranean Circulation Experiment [La Violette, 1987] and the 1985–1986 Gibraltar Experiment [Kinder and Bryden, 1987]. These experiments and other, related investigations, however, do not involve the eastern part from the Strait of Sicily to the easternmost Levantine Basin. The most recent phenomenological materials available about this part of the Mediterranean are the studies by Lacombe and Tchernia [1960, 1972]. More recently, El‐Gindy and El‐Din [1986] produced an analysis of historical oceanographic data available at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, collected in surveys of the Eastern Mediterranean during 1960—1972. Finally, a general survey of past efforts and investigations has just been written [Malanotte‐Rizzoli and Hecht, 1987].
1988 AGU Medalists
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The William Bowie Medal, for outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research, is awarded to Hannes Alfven (University of California, San Diego). Alfven has made basic contributions to plasma physics, space physics, and astrophysics. Among these are the discovery of electromagnetic waves, now called Alfven waves, the development of the concept of electric fields in space, and identification of the critical ionization process. He is known for his generosity with his ideas and time, with everyone from undergraduates to heads of state. Alfven's accomplishments were recognized with the 1970 Nobel Prize for Physics.
COCORP finds thick Proterozoic (?) strata under midcontinent
Authors:   COCORP Reseach Group
Published: October 2006

Thick, laterally extensive stratified rocks lie hidden within the Precambrian basement of the central United States. The layers dwarf the overlying Phanerozoic sedimentary section and may exceed in volume the entire Phanerozoic cover of the continental interior.

The extent of the layered rocks became evident last summer as the Consortium for Continental Reflection Profiling (COCORP) completed a major deep seismic reflection traverse across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and part of Missouri. The survey was conducted partly because industrial seismic data and studies by the Illinois Geological Survey showed basement layering in southern Illinois, partly because earlier COCORP surveys also showed such layering in Oklahoma and Texas, and partly because COCORP's broad program calls for comprehensive exploration of the entire continental basement of the United States.
Sydney Chapman Centennial Celebration
Authors: Akasofu Syun‐Ichi
Published: October 2006

The Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF), paused in its work on the afternoon of January 28, 1988, to honor the memory of Sydney Chapman on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Chapman served as advisory scientific director for the institute from 1953 to 1970 and was instrumental in establishing the research agenda of the institute. His work and fame, however, were international: Essentially, he was the founder of the field of solar‐terrestrial physics. He received AGU's highest honor, the Bowie Medal, in 1962.

Syun‐Ichi Akasofu, director of the Geophysical Institute and first a student, then a collaborator of Chapman, opened the proceedings with a brief review of the life Work of this great pioneer. Chapman was author or coauthor of seven significant books. He also coined many terms now standard in the field (including “aeronomy” and “electrojet”) and led many distinguished organizations, including the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) and the Special Committee for the International Geophysical Year (IGY).
The study of geomagnetism in the late 19th century
Authors: Good Gregory A.
Published: October 2006

Geomagnetic research in the late 19th century differed greatly from such research today. Geomagnetic observations were glaringly incomplete. The basic processes of geomagnetism were still far from being understood. Yet it was a time of much interest and some accomplishment in geomagnetic investigation.
Superconductivity above 125 K is predicted
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

The identification of the latest record‐setting high‐temperature superconductor has led to a prediction of even higher critical temperature in a related compound, but also to some indication that the current drive for room temperature superconductivity may stop short.

For the past year, scientists have been turning out new superconducting compounds at an astounding rate, reaching levels of critical temperature (Tc, the highest temperature of electrical flow without resistance) considered impossible just a few years ago. The field is changing so quickly, commented one researcher, that now the preferred medium of scientific communication is not scholarly journals, but the Fax machine.
New activities for IAHS
Authors: Colenbrander H. J.
Published: October 2006

In view of the emerging large‐scale environmental problems whose solutions will require a deep understanding of the global water cycle, the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) is planning a number of new activities. For instance, a substantial contribution from hydrologists is necessary for the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX), which is planned for the mid‐1990s. This project is under the Joint Science Committee (JSC) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and the World Climate Research Program. A special IAHS‐World Meteorological Organization (WMO) working group for GEWEX has been formed to

turn the attention of hydrologists to the much‐neglected large‐scale hydrologic problems;

foster international collaboration of hydrology with its closest geophysical sister disciplines, i.e., atmospheric and ocean sciences; and

emphasize the potential of the newly developed observation technologies, which so far have been applied in hydrological science only on a very limited scale.
IAHS Workshops and Symposia
Authors: Johnson A. Ivan
Published: October 2006

The Workshop on Remote Data Transmission was sponsored on August 20, 1987, by the International Committee on Remote Sensing and Data Transmission (ICRSDT). Coconvenors of the workshop were Ivan Johnson (A. Ivan Johnson, Inc., Arvada, Colo.), president of ICRSDT, and Richard Paulson (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Reston, Va.), chairman, ICRSDT Division on Remote Data Transmission.

The purpose of the workshop was to present information on remote data transmission techniques — the transmission of hydrologic and climatological data by satellite or reflection from meteor trails — and to relate experiences with such techniques to the needs of potential users, especially those in developing countries. An attempt was made, through a series of papers and an open discussion period evaluating the pros and cons of the various systems, to relate the state of the technology to the needs of the users. The workshop attendees represented 18 countries.
Proterozoic Lithospheric Evolution
Authors: Kröner Alfred
Published: October 2006

Recent years have seen significant new results on the evolution of Proterozoic terranes, and many of these resulted from new techniques, new concepts, and increasing multi‐disciplinary research. In 1981, Working Group (WG) 3 of the International Lithosphere Program (ILP) was established. Its principal tasks were

clarification of the origin and evolution of the Proterozoic rocks and of the magmatic, metamorphic, deformational processes involved in their evolution;

elucidation of the basic patterns of the structure and composition of the Proterozoic lithosphere and their implicatin for the geochemical differentiation of mantle and crust and the growth of continents; and

characterization of Proterozoic tectonic regimes and evaluation of the role of plate tectonics in Proterozoic orogenesis and lithospheric evolution.
A seismic gap past and future
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

A new analysis of data from a seismically quiet section of the Alaska‐Aleutian arc called the Shumagin gap suggests that a large earthquake may be likely to occur there in the next 20 years.

The Aleutian archipelago trails off the end of the Alaska Peninsula like the dots of an ellipsis and lies above one of the most seismically active subduction zones in the world. Some of the largest earthquakes ever recorded have occurred along the arc, which extends from near Kamchatka in the Soviet Union to mainland Alaska and coastal British Columbia (Canada). Earthquakes with magnitudes as large as 9.2 and their aftershocks have caused ruptures along most of the length of t h e Aleutians in the last half‐century. However, some segments of the arc, including areas around Komandorski Island in the Soviet Union, Unalaska Island, and the Shumagin Islands south of the Alaska Peninsula (see figure) show historical evidence of great (Ms⩾7.75) quakes in the past but have not ruptured completely during the 20th century. These zones are called seismic gaps and have been proposed as likely sites of future great earthquakes.
Landsat 6 contract signed
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

A new agreement provides $220 million for development and construction of the Landsat 6 remote sensing satellite and its ground systems. The contract, signed on March 31, 1988, by the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the Earth Observation Satellite (EOSAT) Company of Lanham, Md., came just days after approval of DOC's Landsat commercialization plan by subcommittees of the House and Senate appropriations committees.

The Landsat 6 spacecraft is due to be launched into orbit on a Titan II rocket in June 1991 from Vandenburg Air Force Base, Calif. The satellite will carry an Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) sensor, an instrument sensitive to electromagnetic radiation in seven ranges or bands of wavelengths. The satellite's payload will also include the Sea Wide Field Sensor (Sea‐WiFS), designed to provide information on sea surface temperature and ocean color. The sensor is being developed in a cooperative effort by EOSAT and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A less certain passenger is a proposed 5‐m resolution, three‐band sensor sensitive to visible light. EOSAT is trying to find both private financing for the device and potential buyers of the high‐resolution imagery that it could produce. The company has been actively courting U.S. television networks, which have in the past used imagery from the European Système Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) satellite for news coverage.
Paleomagnetic reunion
Authors: McElhinny Mike
Published: October 2006

In August 1987, in Vancouver, Canada, almost all of those who worked in the paleomagnetic group at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now the University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe) were by chance attending the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics meeting. For 8 years (1958–1966) the scientists in this photograph, taken in Vancouver, formed one of the world's most productive research groups. The paleomagnetic data from central Africa acquired by the group still remain the cornerstone of data for the continent.

The g roup was started by Ian Gough in 1958. In 1960, h e became one of the few foreign grantees of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Mike McElhinny, who took over the group following Gough's departure in 1963, also received an NSF grant. The group broke up in 1966 because of political events in Rhodesia. Since 1968, work has been kept going in that region by Dai Jones.
CEHR activities in 1987
Authors: Sancetta Connie
Published: October 2006

The Committee on Education and Human Resources (CEHR) continued sponsorship of student travel grants, scholarships, and the Job Center in 1987, as well as taking on several new initiatives. AGU was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to provide partial support for students traveling to the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics assembly. Some 50 students, representing all sections of AGU, received between $100 and $200 for travel assistance. CEHR also allocated AGU funds for ∼20 students to attend the AGU Spring and Fall meetings. The primary criteria for this assistance were demonstrated need and economical travel plans.
New outlook for continental scientific drilling
Authors: Stehli Frank G.
Published: October 2006

Plans for continental scientific drilling, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the DOSECC consortium of universities have been given a new direction as a result of the failure of the NSF budget to reach expected levels. Very deep drilling will not be initiated for some time because of its high cost, but an active program of drilling to depths of 1–5 km is being developed in its place. For the next several years, DOSECC (Deep Observation and Sampling o f the Earth's Continental Crust, Inc.) will focus on proposals for drilling experiments to improve our understanding of dynamic processes in the shallow crust. As a result of this change in emphasis, there is now an opportunity to propose experiments of this kind and to have them accepted for drilling over the course of the next few years.
Flow cytometry in oceanography: Status and prospects
Authors: Chisholm Sallie W. , Olson Robert J. , Yentsch Clarice M.
Published: October 2006

The technology of flow cytometry and cell sorting has existed for ∼20 years, and its potential applications to oceanography have been obvious to many for nearly as long. Its introduction into oceanography did not occur, however, until the early 1980s [Yentsch et al. 1983; Olson et al. 1983]. The introduction was made possible largely t hrough the funding of instruments dedicated to oceanographic applications by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and private institutions. In the last 5 years, interest in this new tool has grown significantly, and the number of flow cytometry facilities dedicated to applications in oceanography and limnology in the United States, Canada, and Europe has expanded to a surprising degree (Table 1).
Arctic polynyas
Authors: Alexander Vera , Muench Robin
Published: October 2006

Polynyas are areas of open water that occur at specific, recurrent locations in the polar regions and that are surrounded by ice‐covered waters. They have been of interest historically because they are centers of upper trophic level biological activity and were consequently foci of both commercial whaling activities and of native subsistence hunting. They have more recently become of interest from a basic research viewpoint because they are typified by intensive biological activity and energetic physical processes. They are similar, in many respects, to the marginal ice zones, which are an ongoing focus of considerable oceanographic research. Polynyas can be conceptually envisaged as polar oceanic “oases” in which biological activities are focused locally while they are surrounded by relatively unproductive waters. Polynyas serve as outposts of enhanced production within the pack ice remote from the biologically rich marginal ice zones.
NASA support for solar physics research in FY 1988
Authors: Ahluwalia H.S. , Bohlin J.D.
Published: October 2006

The Solar Physics Branch of the newly formed Space Physics Division in the Office of Space Science and Applications of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters has an ongoing program of Supporting Research and Technology (SR&T) to encourage basic research in solar physics relevant to NASA's flight programs. Grants and contracts are issued to universities, industry, nonprofit institutions, NASA centers, and other government agencies for this purpose. We emphasize that the rationale for funding meritorious, unsolicited research proposals received by NASA is to provide support for its flight missions. The objectives of these space missions are the study of solar phenomena in a comprehensive manner across a variety of solar regimes, starting at the Sun's core, where energy is generated, and extending out through the solar corona , where the solar wind is formed.
PIs rate NSF proposal process
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The proposal evaluation process at the National Science Foundation (NSF) got a mixed review from the scientists that apply to the agency for funds, according to the results o f a new survey.

In 1986, NSF surveyed all o f the more than 14,000 scientists and engineers that had proposals awarded o r declined in 1985. More than 9500 returned the questionnaire, and their responses and comments form a statistical portrait of the people that use the proposal evaluation system—both successfully and unsuccessfully—and their attitudes toward it.
The OSSA budget: Another view
Authors: Lanzerotti L. J.
Published: October 2006

The recent letter by L. H. Meredith commenting on the proposed fiscal year (FY) 1989 budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) fails to recognize the public procedures and planning processes that were involved in the determination of the budget. The letter also ignores the long‐range planning that OSSA has been pursuing in very close consultation with the scientific community in order to achieve, insofar as possible, a rationalization of the budget and programmatic decision‐making process. This planning, which addresses well the issues Meredith seems concerned about, does not absolutely guarantee budgetary success for the long term. However, without the planning, any success will be nearly impossible to achieve. I strongly suggest that Meredith (and any other interested member of AGU) obtain and read carefully copies of the minutes of the last two or three meetings of the OSSA Space and Earth Science Advisory Committee (SESAC) and a copy of the initial OSSA Strategic Plan. These minutes document a portion of the dialog between NASA and the science community which was instrumental in formulating this year's budget and the plans for following years.
Radon levels can be predicted
Authors: Wainger Lisa A.
Published: October 2006

Scientists doing a yearlong study of radon levels in houses have identified several major factors that affect concentrations and have developed a method for predicting indoor radon levels before a house is built. Douglas Mose and George Mushrush (George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.) studied 1500 homes in northern Virginia and central Maryland near Washington, D.C.

Radon is a radioactive decay product of uranium that occurs in many rock types. The gas can accumulate in buildings and pose a serious health hazard. Results from the Washington‐area study show that ∼35% of the houses had average yearly radon concentrations above 4 pico‐Curies per liter (pCi/L), the level at which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that a homeowner should take steps to reduce radon concentrations. At a level of 4–10 pCi/L an estimated 13–120 lung cancer deaths would be expected for every 1000 people exposed. Such a risk is comparable to having 200 chest X rays per year, according to EPA statistics.
Drilling at Santorini Volcano, Greece
Authors: Arvanitides N. , Galanopoulos V. , Kalogeropoulos S. , Skamnelos G. , Papavassiliou C. , Paritsis S. , Boström K.
Published: October 2006

Metalliferous hydrothermal systems and other volcanic manifestations related to subduction zones are well known from areas like the Aegean (Santorini), the Kuriles (at Ebeko volcano, for example), and off the Antarctic Peninsula (Deception Island). Iron‐rich deposits have been encountered at all these sites [Gorshkov, 1958; Elderfield, 1972]. However, direct observations through a cross section of such hydrothermal systems seem to be lacking, despite the existence of extensive studies over the last few decades of processes related to the genesis o f metalliferous hydrothermal systems, made partly through the international seafloor drilling program. It is apparent that such cross‐sectional observations could greatly advance our understanding of ore‐forming processes and hydrothermal systems. The Santorini island group in the southern Aegean Sea (Figure 1) is an ideal site for study, from both scientific and logistical points of view.
The Ice: A Journey to Antarctica
Authors: Ford Arthur B.
Published: October 2006

The title is misleading for a non—“OAE” (Old Antarctic Explorer, to whom “The Ice” is Antarctica) because The Ice is about far more than just ice. It does indeed cover just about all you'd want to know (or more) about Antarctic ice, from the vast south polar sheets and glaciers to the great tabular bergs, bergy bits, brash ice, pancake ice, frazil ice, and the pack of the polar seas; but it also explores nearly every aspect of this “Last of Lands” in an unusually comprehensive coverage. From the “Heroic Ages” of early 20th‐century explorers Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton, and Roald Amundsen to the present “Cruise Ship Age,”Antarctica has produced a wealth of literature in the “Journey to…” style — which Pyne's is not. Instead, his product from one short (3‐month) visit under a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship takes all readers o n a webwork journey through time, space, ice, and rocks for an appreciation of “ The Ice” in a way found in no other book. This, his fifth book (another one is Fire in America, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1982), is a significant contribution to the literature of Antarctica. Pyne's prose cannot be paraphrased for a review, as the reader will be able to appreciate from the excerpts to follow.
The jubilee of plate tectonics
Authors: Glen William , Frankel Henry
Published: October 2006

What should one expect at a birthday gathering for an idea that suffered disdain from birth, but was later transformed overnight into the ruling global theory of the Earth sciences? Tom Hilde and Richard Carlson (Texas A&M University, College Station, Tex.), under the auspices of the Texas A&M Geodynamics Research Institute, with the cooperation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) , the Inter‐Union Commission on the Lithosphere, and the U.S. Geodynamics Committee, convened an unprecedented gathering of the makers of Earth science's modern revolution and a large number of their foremost disciples at Texas A&M April 22– 24 , 1987.

Those who missed the show will have to read for weeks to learn of the panoply of profound new developments across the broad front of research bearing on plate tectonics, but those with an interest in their own intellectual genealogy will not be able to recapture the sense of historic moment that pervaded Rudder Tower Conference Center as many of the old revolutionaries opened windows on the past. Of the 20 key participants or originators who were invited to speak, all but four sent abstracts. Pleased and surprised by this strong response, the convenors found themselves in the rather difficult position of having to limit the number of talks by nonoriginators to 20. The unique assembly also provided the first opportunity to video interviews with more than a dozen of the originators.
Solicited endorsements
Authors: Baker D.N.
Published: October 2006

Writing endorsements of university promotions is getting way out of hand. I have been getting quite specific and demanding requests for opinions of individuals. The following letter is a recent instance of the kind of response I was forced to give:

Dear Prof. Smith: Thank you for your letter of 25 January asking my opinion of Assoc. Research Scientist M. King Doe. I would, of course, be happy to provide a frank assessment of Dr. Doe's capabilities since I have known him for over six weeks — ever since we were trapped together in the Cathedral Hills Hotel elevator in December.
CGU takes off
Authors: Vaníĉek Petr
Published: October 2006

Any frequent reader of Eos has probably noticed fairly regular reports from annual meetings of a mysterious organization called the “Canadian Geophysical Union” (CGU). Yet even the most ardent observer of the Canadian scene may have been somewhat puzzled about whether CGU is striving to project the proverbial Canadian “low profile” or whether this organization simply hibernates during the long Canadian winters.

The explanation for CGU's relative obscurity is more prosaic. The organization, which was conceived some 15 years ago, was born with two umbilical cords. These tied it to its two “mother societies”: the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) and the Geological Association of Canada (GAC). These maternal ties were never cut, so CGU was never forced to stand on its own feet and to fend for itself. This act of maturity has now been completed—with some friendly help from the two parents—and CGU has become an independent society.
Storms and the solar cycle
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

Last fall, meteorologists Karin Labitzke and Harry van Loon announced a discovery sought by scientists for many years—a linkbetween the 11‐year sunspot cycle and conditions in Earth's stratosphere. Now a new study extends that correlation to day‐to‐day changes in weather at the planet's surface.

Previous attempts to relate temperatures and pressures at different levels of the atmosphere to the periodically varying flux of radiation from the Sun have been unsuccessful. But Labitzke (Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany) and van Loon (National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.) found a criterion on which to sort data that revealed strong correlations: the direction of stratospheric winds in the tropics. The directions of the winds change from east to west every other year or so, and this quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO) has been hypothetically related to sunspot cycles. Labitzke and van Loon found that temperatures and pressures during the west phase of the QBO varied with the solar cycle. At a solar maximum, for instance, stratospheric temperature near the North Pole is high, while at a solar maximum it is low. The same positive correlation exists between solar cycle and sea level pressure over North America.
Graedel named to AIP Board
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

Thomas E. Graedel, an atmospheric scientist at AT&T Bell Laboratories (Murray Hill, N.J.), has been made an AGU representative to the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics (AIP). The board oversees the operations of AIP, a nonprofit umbrella organization for 10 member societies, including AGU. Other AGU members currently on the governing board include Orson Anderson, a geophysicist at the University of California, Los Angeles; AGU General Secretary Peter M. Bell of the Norton Company, Worcester, Mass.; AGU Executive Director A. F. Spilhaus, Jr.; and Martin Walt, a geophysicist with the Lockheed Corporation in Palo Alto, Calif.

All AGU members receive the benefits of membership in AIP, including the monthly magazine Physics Today. Other AIP services available to AGU members include access to an employment service, AIP's electronic network Pi‐NET, and an insurance program. AGU members can also subscribe to journals published by the American Physical Society, another AIP member society, at discounted rates.—WWM
Earthquake Source Mechanics
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

The past 2 decades have seen substantial progress in our understanding of the nature of the earthquake faulting process, but increasingly, the subject has become an interdisciplinary one. Thus, although the observation of radiated seismic waves remains the primary tool for studying earthquakes (and has been increasingly focused on extracting the physical processes occurring in the “source”), geological studies have also begun to play a more important role in understanding the faulting process. Additionally, defining the physical underpinning for these phenomena has come to be an important subject in experimental and theoretical rock mechanics.

In recognition of this, a Maurice Ewing Symposium was held at Arden House, Harriman, N.Y. (the former home of the great American statesman Averill Harriman), May 20–23, 1985. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together the international community of experimentalists, theoreticians, and observationalists who are engaged in the study of various aspects of earthquake source mechanics. The conference was attended by more than 60 scientists from nine countries (France, Italy, Japan, Poland, China, the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and the Federal Republic of Germany).
Coping with all the Earth science data
Authors: Kahn Ralph
Published: October 2006

Even today, the volume of data collected by remote sensing instruments challenges the processing and interpretation capabilities of the Earth science community. By the mid‐1990s an additional terabit (1012 bits) per day is expected from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observing System (EOS) spacecraft alone. The Washington, D.C., phone book (white pages) contains only about 1/10,000 this amount (108 bits) of information. To put this another way, if you could read and absorb a quantity of data comparable to two 200‐page books per week, it would take over 5000 years to ingest a single day's data (Moses lived about 3300 years ago!).

However, there is a growing appreciation for the interconnected nature of processes shaping the terrestrial environment [e.g., Earth System Science Committee, 1988]. This is driving the need to collect and study such large data sets. A range of time and space scales must be sampled if critical phenomena affecting the surface of Earth are to be captured by the observations. Data from multiple sources, measuring different aspects of the phenomena, must be intercompared. As a result, many of the important new insights that we hope to gain with future Earth‐observing spacecraft can only be achieved if there are data‐handling tools that are adequate for coping with the volume of new information.
OSSA queues space projects
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

For the first time, a new 5‐year blueprint for space science research developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contains an ordered list of proposed projects. The list includes specific plans for modest programs in anticipation of potentially austere budgets.

The strategic plan, prepared by the Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA), establishes several categories of mission programs and basic rules for their operation. The strategy places the highest priority on the completion of NASA's existing program of launches from the Space Shuttle and expendable vehicles; the plan also calls for one new start per year for both major missions like the Advanced X Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) and small missions like the Explorer Program. The OSSA document also expresses strong support for the Space Station, stating that NASA should “move aggressively, but sensibly, to build science instruments for the Space Station.”
Is Mexico part of North America?
Authors: Urrutia‐Fucugauchi Jaime
Published: October 2006

This question was raised by AGU Foreign Secretary Juan Roederer during an honors banquet at a recent AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. It is an interesting question, hard to answer, or perhaps with too many individual answers.

We are not geographically a part of Central America or South America, although we do share language, Indian culture, Spanish heritage, and other characteristics, and these factors do play a role, as do economics and politics. However, geographically, Mexico is part of the North American continent.
Sun and Earth
Authors: Dessler A. J.
Published: October 2006

This book is a gem! It is written in an easy, lucid style, at a popular level, and yet it is filled with the sorts of insights and relationships that any AGU member would find fresh and informative. This is a book containing ideas to talk about over lunch. It also is useful as a primer to quickly learn or review diverse matters starting at the center of the Sun and continuing to the surface of Earth. (There is an appendix of references should one wish more information on any topic.) The most important attribute of this book, however, is that these diverse matters are tied together in a masterful way. With simple declarative sentences and bountiful illustrations, Friedman gives us an inspiring overview of the Sun‐Earth system.
Spatial Objective Analysis With Applications in Atmospheric Sciences
Authors: Guiot J.
Published: October 2006

As the authors themselves remark, little review literature concerning spatial data analysis in atmospheric science has been published in the last 25 years. This book must thus be acknowledged as the only up‐to‐date review available. It should be of interest to meteorologists and climatologists, who are often faced with map analysis, gridpoint analysis, interpolation, spatial correlations, spatial objective analysis, analysis of vector field, or spatial stochastic models.

After the first introductory chapter, the authors review, in chapter 2, the nonstatistical objective techniques based on function surfaces fitted to data arrays. These procedures involve least squares adjustment of linear or polynomial surfaces, orthogonal polynomials, Fourier harmonics, or spline surfaces. The methods are very sensitive to observation errors and erroneous model specification. Chapter 3 is concerned with empirical linear interpolation, eventually refined with a successive correction process, with an adequate definition of the weights, or with a careful examination of the frequency responses.
Meteorites and Their Parent Planets
Authors: Goodrich Cyrena Anne
Published: October 2006

Harry Y. McSween's latest book, Meteorites and Their Parent Planets, is not intended primarily as a textbook or a technical reference for the dedicated researcher in meteoritics. Several up‐to‐date books along these lines already exist (Meteorites: A Petrologic‐Chemical Synthesis, by R. T. Dodd, Cambridge University Press, London, 1981; Meteorites: Their Record of Early Solar System History, by J. T. Wasson, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, Calif., 1985; Meteorites and the Early Solar System, edited by J. F. Kerridge and M. Matthews, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, in press, 1988). Rather, it is intended as an introduction of the field of meteoritics and the study of the formation and evolution of the Solar System, and it is aimed at a broad spectrum of scientists and nonscientists.

McSween has undertaken a difficult task. Many problems in meteoritics require synthesis of information and lines of reasoning from such diverse and highly specialized areas of study as celestial mechanics, astrophysics, cratering dynamics, spectrophotometry, igneous petrology, and isotope geochemistry. Hence these problems are often difficult for the student, or even the advanced researcher, to grasp and are rarely appreciated by the nonscientist. McSween, however, succeeds remarkably well in presenting this complex subject in a way that any curious, intelligent person can understand.
Eastern U.S. crustal structure
Authors: Hatcher Robert D. , Phillips Jeffrey D. , Zietz Isidore
Published: October 2006

The Fifth Friends of Aeromagnetic Mapping (FOAM) Workshop was convened April 28–29, 1987, at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Center (Reston, Va.) by Isidore Zietz (George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.), Jeff Phillips (USGS, Reston, Va.), and Bob Hatcher (University of Tennessee, Knoxville/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn.). The purpose of this workshop was to discuss the crustal structure of the Appalachian region, including elements onshore covered by Coastal Plain sediments, as well as the continental shelf, slope, and rise offshore. The meeting was structured to maximize discussion. As in earlier FOAM workshops, the emphasis was upon thorough integration of potential field data, with seismic reflection, surface geology, and other data sets.

The opening lecture by Hatcher outlined a block structure for the U.S. and Maritime Appalachians based primarily upon potential field data. Possible origins of the Appalachian gravity gradient, as a suture or post‐Paleozoic extensional feature, were mentioned, and it was noted that the Ouachitas have a similar gravity gradient. Hatcher also discussed the Late Paleozoic collisional tectonics of the Appalachians, which produce the huge Blue Ridge‐Piedmont thrust sheet, with 200‐500 km of displacement. The idea that the bend in the central Appalachians resulted from the collision of a promontory of Africa prior to the main collision during the late Paleozoic Alleghanian event was shown to be supported by evidence for large‐scale dextral motion along faults in the Southern Appalachians. Questions remain on the timing of motions and the continuity of deformation.
Transatlantic link
Authors: Anonymous
Published: October 2006

(left) European Geophysical Society (EGS) President Rolf Meissner at AGU Headquarters with (center) Executive Director Fred Spilhaus and (right) Foreign Secretary Juan Roederer. Meissner attended the meeting of AGU's Committee on International Participation (CIP) on February 26, 1988. At that meeting, specific ways of fostering close links between AGU and EGS were discussed.

A few weeks later, Roederer and AGU staff, working with EGS Secretary‐General Arne Richter at the EGS meeting in Bologna, Italy, March 21–25, planned details of the establishment of an AGU office in Europe. The Copernicus Gesellschaft, a new entity located on the premises of the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy in Lindau, Federal Republic of Germany, will provide the administrative staff and handle logistics.
The dilemma of the golden age
Authors: Press Frank
Published: October 2006

These are confused and troubling times for science and the scientific community. Limits on resources have made visible serious differences within our community, differences that may weaken the nation's scientific enterprise if they are not resolved without acrimony.

We face the dilemma of living in both the best and worst of times. In all fields of science, the journals and professional meetings are filled with exciting and challenging reports of new discoveries, new ideas, new applications. At the same time, President Reagan's proposed budget for 1989 is the strongest budget in support of science and technology in recent history. Yet that budget is in difficulty with an essentially proscience Congress, and it has divided the scientific community. The United States supports more scientific research than Western Europe and Japan combined, and our system of universities and national and industrial laboratories is the envy of the world. Why then is our community in an unprecedented state of stress and internal dissension? That is the issue I want to confront. That is the issue that we as an academy must confront.
On mitigating rapid onset natural disasters: Project THRUST (Tsunami Hazards Reduction Utilizing Systems Technology)
Authors: Bernard E. N. , Behn R. R. , Hebenstreit G. T. , Gonzalez F. I. , Krumpe P. , Lander J. F. , Lorca E. , McManamon P. M. , Milburn H. B.
Published: October 2006

Rapid onset natural hazards have claimed more than 2.8 million lives worldwide in the past 20 years. This category includes such events as earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes, tornados, floods, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and tsunamis. Effective hazard mitigation is particularly difficult in such cases, since the time available to issue warnings can be very short or even nonexistent. This paper presents the concept of a local warning system that exploits and integrates the existing technologies of risk evaluation, environmental measurement, and telecommunications. We describe Project THRUST, a successful implementation of this general, systematic approach to tsunamis. The general approach includes pre‐event emergency planning, real‐time hazard assessment, and rapid warning via satellite communication links.
Mining neutrinos
Authors: Maggs William Ward
Published: October 2006

Ore from a mine nearly a mile deep may hold a record of stellar collapses in our galaxy over millions of years, say two physicists in a new study. The results of their work could place constraints on the rate of supernova formation and the evolution of matter.

Neutrinos are a key to many stellar processes, from the life of the Sun to the death of the Sanduleak star in the large Magellanic Cloud, reincarnated last year as Supernova SN 1987A. Most scientists now agree that when a supernova forms, 99% of the energy that held the atoms in the star together is released as neutrinos, virtually massless particles that interact very weakly with matter. In the few seconds after SN 1987A was born, ∼1058 neutrinos passed through Earth. Neutrinos are also continually produced in the Sun by nuclear reactions like electron capture and beta decay; by one estimate, ∼3×1029 solar neutrinos go through Earth each second. In addition, the collapse of stars elsewhere in the galaxy releases neutrinos that eventually reach Earth.