bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Global weather experiment fills in world gaps
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

Gaps in the vast panorama of world weather are being filled in as the Global Weather Experiment, a unique year‐long scientific effort to monitor the earth's oceans and atmosphere, enters its final phase. During a recently ended 2‐month ‘special observing period,’ an array of ships, aircraft, satellites, buoys, and balloons supplied massive amounts of new information from the water‐covered expanses of the tropics and southern hemisphere. Conditions in these regions, largely unobserved until now, have a profound impact on weather elsewhere in the world.By the time the experiment winds up this year, meteorologists will have the most complete global weather record ever assembled. Using this day‐by‐day account, they will try to calculate the practical limits of forecasting and design a world weather observing system to achieve these limits.
NOAA deploys two new buoys
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

A deep ocean data buoy has been deployed recently in the Gulf of Mexico, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard, to provide additional meteorological data for forecasting the drift of oil from the Campeche oil spill.The NOAA buoy will be anchored 65 miles off the Texas coast, in 4800 feet of water at 26.5°N, 96°W, in front of the expected drift of oil.
More on SI units
Authors: Merriam John L. 
Published: October 2011

May I contribute some water to the ‘tempest in a teapot’ about SI units. In L K. Coachman in the September 4,1979, EOS, I found a kindred spirit. Other SI units, in addition to pascals, also lack the capability of being visualized and hence more comprehensible.My work in irrigation is primarily at the application level on the farm. The units of depth are commonly used, e.g. 23 mm of rain, 8 mm per day evapotranspiration, irrigation application of 100 mm, etc. Similarly, it is very practical to use a volume unit that involves depth, so the hectare meter is very logical. It also has many of the advantages of the old acre foot unit. The SI unit for volume is the m3. However, to say to a farmer to apply 7.5 x 103 m3 is rather abstract. To tell him to apply 100 mm on his 7.5 hectare field conveys a visual concept and is very understandable.
Post‐IPOD science
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

Recently, a 'blue ribbon' committee was appointed by Richard C. Atkinson, director of the National Science Foundation, to advise on the merits of a program of post‐IPOD (International Phase of Ocean Drilling) scientific exploration. The new program is outlined for the next 10 years, building upon the great successes of the DSDP (deep sea drilling project).The proposed project is largely formulated on the basis of results of the DSDP that raised fundamental questions about the transition between ocean and continent, and thus the 10‐year program has been earmarked ‘OMD,’ for ocean margin drilling. The mission of the OMD is much broader than this name would imply, and it includes significantly different aims and targets than that of its predecessor, DSDP. For now and for the next decade, the emphasis will be on resource evaluation, although it should be clarified that the extent, and in most instances even the existence, of ocean margin resources remains to be proven, and it will not be evaluated in the near future unless a substantial program is initiated. For example, the potentially rich petroleum reserves thought to be trapped along sedimentary structures of the continental margins and slopes may not be explored actively by industry for a decade or two. Hydrocarbon sources that have a shorter‐term payoff will be the focus of investigations for the next few years.
The Southern California “bulge”
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

The huge land uplift, or ‘bulge,’ astride a section of California's San Andreas fault—one of the most puzzling of geologic phenomena in recent years—continues to deflate or subside, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey.The shrinkage in elevation of the bulge, however, has been accompanied by other changes—an increase of horizontal ‘strain’ and an increase in the emission of radon (a rare inert gas) in some wells in the region. These latest changes, revealed only recently by intensive monitoring, have only deepened the puzzle for scientists who are trying to determine the significance of the bulge as a possible precursor to a large earthquake.
Federal Policy for Support of Research: Real growth?
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

An interesting assessment of the so‐called real growth trend of support by the federal government for research and development has emerged from recent compilations of government research expenditures over the past decade. The National Science Foundation has released data on all types of research support, separated from what the government considers development. Within the scope of research is the division of effort and funding between applied and basic research, but the distinctions are not always clear.Research, as viewed by the National Science Foundation, generally involves studies that are less structured or specific [than ‘development’] and are oriented toward obtaining a fuller knowledge of the properties, structures, and relationships of natural and social phenomena required for a deeper understanding of the world we live in and in particular applications of that knowledge and understanding (quoted from the July/August issue of the NSF magazine Mosaic).
Nominees for section presidents
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

(Statements from all candidates for the office of section president will be published this month. The Oceanography and Seismology sections appeared in the December 4 issue of EOS, and the statements for the Geodesy; Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology, and Solar‐Planetary Relations appear below.)The Section of Geodesy has a prime responsibility to encourage and promote geodetic activities of its members. These activities become highly visible at the Spring and Fall meetings and in the publications of the AGU, primarily the red JGR, Geophysical Research Letters, and EOS. We need to continue to promote these meetings as a way in which current research activity can be rapidly conveyed to the interested audience. We should arrange special sessions in areas of topical interest, with plans to announce these sessions in sufficient time for meeting the abstract submission deadline. We should encourage persons to prepare written papers for such meetings so that the interested persons have descriptions of the speaker's research.
The Fram I expedition
Authors: Hunkins Kenneth , Kristoffersen Yngve , Johnson G. Leonard , Heiberg Andreas 
Published: October 2011

Geophysical and oceanographical exploration of the Arctic Ocean has progressed largely with the aid of drifting research stations established on pack ice. The earliest drift expedition was carried out between 1893 and 1896 by the Norwegian scientist and explorer, Fridtjof Nansen, who allowed his especially constructed vessel, Fram, to freeze into the ice to be carried by winds and currents. During this time Nansen and his men conducted a remarkable and wide‐ranging program of scientific studies.Over the past three decades, a number of manned scientific research stations have been established by the United States on arctic sea ice in the Amerasia Basin of the Arctic Ocean. These stations were supported by aircraft which w e r e based at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory in Barrow, Alaska. Increasingly, however, scientific interest has grown in the Eurasia Basin of the Arctic Ocean, which is not readily accessible by air from Alaska. The Eurasia Basin contains the Arctic Midoceanic Ridge, which extends in a straight line for 2000 km between the Greenland‐Spits bergen Passage and the Laptev Shelf. The Eurasia Basin is also the region within w h i c h the waters of the Atlantic Ocean mix with those of the Arctic. A number of geophysical, oceanographic, and climatic questions center around these two features of the Eurasia Basin.
Ethics and science awards
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

The National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities have announced two programs to support projects that investigate ethics and values in science and technology.The first category of awards, Interdisciplinary Incentive Awards, are intended to permit scholars and practitioners to pursue specific, problem‐oriented activities, in association with specialists in fields other than one's own. The yearly stipend is $20,000. Up to 20 such awards will be made.
First heat maps of Earth's surface available
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

Data from NASA's Heat Capacity Mapping Mission (HCMM), an Explorer applications satellite used to acquire thermal imagery of the earth's surface, are now available to the public. The data consist of black‐and‐white imagery (prints and transparencies with a scale of 1:4,000,000) and computer compatible tapes of the United States, southern Canada, western Europe, and eastern Australia.This information, a user's guide, and data catalogs are available to U.S. concerns by writing National Space Science Data Center, Code 601, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771.
Energetic particles and collisionless shocks
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

The interplanetary medium provides three generic types of collisionless shocks, all of which play an important role in the acceleration and modulation of energetic electrons and ions found in the solar wind. These types are (1) standing bow shock waves found in front of some planetary objects (e.g., Earth and Jupiter); (2) shocks propagating outward from the sun in association with solar mass ejection events; and (3) shocks formed at heliocentric distances greater than ∼ 2.5 AU by the steepening of high‐speed solar wind streams.Traditionally, the study of particle acceleration processes active within the solar system has focused on the more energetic particles (above ∼200 keV and extending well up into the MeV range). This is at least in part attributable to the fact that most of the observations were made at high energy. Recently, however, sensitive instruments have been exploring the region below 200 keV, where most of the accelerated particles are found. These new measurements are providing fresh insights into the acceleration processes involved and are reviving interest in the subject.
Deep Ocean Drilling Program
Authors: Heirtzler J. R. 
Published: October 2011

The next few weeks and months should see the development of major new programs of drilling for scientific purposes in the deep oceans. The main thrust will be a new 10‐year program to use the Glomar Explorer to drill holes with up to 10 km of drill string. Budget constraints on this effort, entitled the Ocean Margin Drilling (OMD) Program, were reported in a recent issue of EOS (December 18, 1979).Although details of the program and its funding have yet to be worked out, a few things are sure: it will be expensive, costing about $700 million, and it will include a comprehensive science program to support the drilling effort.
Continental margin drilling program
Authors: Bell Peter M. 
Published: October 2011

The initial responses from OMB, Congress, and industry have been overwhelmingly positive in support of a proposed major drilling program along the U.S. offshore coastal areas in deep water.The extensive sedimentary deposits located along the U.S. continental slopes are, as yet, unexplored. There have been numerous suggestions that there is a significant potential for extensive reserves of hydrocarbons, but these suggestions are largely speculative. At the same time, there is a great amount of scientific interest in the geology of the continental margins, so it has been logical in recent months to propose a combined scientific and commercial study offshore. Such a proposal is being made to Congress by the National Science Foundation for the purpose of obtaining funds to convert the government‐owned Glomar Explorer (the ship that was originally built for the use of the C.I.A.) into a vessel capable of performing deep drilling operations and for other costs of running the program over the next 10 years. Industry is being approached to contribute 50% of the costs.
Summary of '79 Midwest regional AGU meeting
Authors: Noltimier Hal 
Published: October 2011

The Midwestern Region of the American Geophysical Union met in Columbus, Ohio, for two full‐day sessions on September 13 and 14, 1979. Registrants totaled 111, including approximately 20 nonmembers of the AGU. There were eight sessions in which 64 papers were presented, and nine poster presentations provided interesting conversation foci throughout the meeting.The session on Geology and Geophysics of the Central United States, chaired by Hal Noltimier of Ohio State, focused on the basement structure from western New York across the midcontinent to the Rio Grande Rift. The poster presentations which concluded the session were impressive magnetic and Bouguer anomaly maps of the greater New Madrid Seismic Zone. Except for the paper by Steele on anomalous levels of radon emission prior to recent earthquakes in Missouri, the papers were generally concerned with gravimetric and geomagnetic data that illuminated details of crustal structure on a local and regional basis. At least two papers were concerned with basement intrusives of late Phanerozoic and early Mesozoic origin.
Geophysical events
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

The following item is a reprint of the geophysical section of the SEAN Bulletin of the Smithsonian Institution.Volcanic ActivityKrafla Caldera, Mývatn Area, Iceland (65.71°N, 16.75°W). The following is a report from Karl Grönvold.The relatively slow but steady inflation of Krafla was interrupted by a minor deflation event 3–10 December. This deflation was very slow and no volcanic tremor was observed. Inflation resumed on 10 December, and on 15 December the previous ground level had been reached.The number of earthquakes in the vicinity of the magma chambers had increased gradually in November, but during the mini‐deflation, earthquake activity decreased to background levels. When the previous ground level was exceeded in the second half of December, the number of recorded earthquakes started to increase again. The largest, of estimated magnitude 4, took place on 3 January and was widely felt in the area.
Protecting stratospheric ozone: The halocarbon problem persists
Authors: Greathouse Lee 
Published: October 2011

Recent advances in computer‐processed models and in atmospheric chemistry and physics ‘have not altered the principal conclusion… that continued release of halocarbons into the atmosphere will result in a significant decrease in the amount of stratospheric ozone,’ a National Research Council panel report warns. Stratospheric ozone keeps excessive amounts of biologically harmful portions of solar ultraviolet radiation from reaching the earth's surface.‘The best current data suggest that the potential effects’ of supersonic air transports on stratospheric ozone ‘are smaller than previously predicted but that those of halocarbon releases are greater,’ the report states. The report, Stratospheric Ozone Depletion by Halocarbons: Chemistry and Transport (Panel on Stratospheric Chemistry and Transport, Committee on Impacts of Stratospheric Change, Assembly of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Research Council, 249 pp., 1979), describes changes in the past 3 years in the understanding of the ozone problem.
Guidelines consolidated for developing nation grants
Authors: Greathouse Lee 
Published: October 2011

Cooperative research projects between scientists from the United States and developing nations have been funded for more than a decade through a variety of programs of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Agency for International Development (AID). Uniform guidelines for such projects have now been established and are grouped under a new NSF program called Science in Developing Countries (SDC).Under the program, grants will be made to U.S. institutions for science and engineering projects that are mutually beneficial to both the United States and the developing country. Activities that contribute to the capacity of the developing country to train and utilize scientists and engineers will be especially sought. Evidence of local support in the form of relevant correspondence must be incorporated into proposals.
Space shuttle main engine meets test objectives
Authors: Bell Peter M. 
Published: October 2011

The second, full‐duration test of the space shuttle's main propulsion system was conducted successfully on February 28, at the NASA test site in Mississippi. Officials responsible for shuttle propulsion system development said afterwards that all test objectives had been met during the 555‐second firing.Cited as noteworthy was the fact that the three main engines used in the test were successfully gimballed (steered) while they were being throttled back from 100% to 70% thrust, the first time that maneuver had been attempted.
Geophysical events
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

Bulusan Volcano, Luzon Island, Philippines (12.77°N, 124.05°E). Bulusan began to erupt at 1301 local time (GMT + 8 hours) on December 27, ejecting significant amounts of ash to about 1 km above the summit. Ash was blown to the WSW by the prevailing wind. The eruption lasted for 1 hour 13 minutes and was accompanied by hissing and rumbling. As of early January, some activity was continuing.Bulusan's last eruption, in July and August 1978, produced voluminous ash‐laden clouds 2.5–3 km high (see Sean Bulletins, 3, 7–8).
Earthquake hazards reduction
Authors: Greathouse Lee 
Published: October 2011

Only minor changes were made in the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program at a recent markup of reauthorizing legislation by the House Science, Research, and Technology subcommittee. The subcommittee's action would increase funding slightly above the FY 1980 level, expedite planning for earthquake preparedness, and eliminate some fuzzy areas in administration of the program.Extra money would be provided for a number of areas, including public education, disaster planning and preparedness, and studies to improve the resistance of buildings to earthquakes. The bill gives special attention to ‘policy research,’ a part of the NSF Problem‐Focused Research Division's effort to assess the social consequences of predicting, and preparing for, earthquakes—an area formerly given short shrift by a practical‐minded Congress.
Report from the IUGG Assembly: IAGA session on planetary dynamo theory
Authors: Busse F. H. 
Published: October 2011

Four invited and seven contributed papers were presented in this full‐day session. The proceedings of the session can be conveniently divided into two parts: a first part dealing with the observational constraints and the physical environment in which planetary dynamos operate and a second part addressed to the theory of the dynamo process of the generation of magnetic fields by fluid motions.The geophysical and astronomical evidence for the dynamical properties of the earth's core and for the coupling between core and mantle was reviewed by M. G. Rochester. The observed correlation between changes of the length of the day and the westward drift of the nondipole geomagnetic field indicate the importance of the core‐mantle coupling process. But because of the uncertainty of the electrical conductivity in the lowermost mantle, it has not yet been possible to decide whether electromagnetic coupling is sufficiently strong to explain the observations or whether the inertial coupling mechanism, by bumps on the core‐mantle boundary, is required, as proposed by Hide. The increasing accuracy of seismic and other geophysical measurements suggests that detailed information about the bumps and about other dynamically important properties of the core will become available in the near future. The discovery of the Slichter mode of the inner core and perhaps even the measurement of subseismic internal modes of the outer core would greatly improve our knowledge of the physical conditions in this part of the earth. The interpretation of the more accurate measurements will required improved earth's models and intimate cooperation between astronomers and geophysicists. Rochester expressed regret that the astronomical community has adopted the old model of Molodenskii instead of the recently improved models by Wahr and others, which are preferred by geophysicists. New results were also presented concerning the possible implications, both for antidynamo theorems and for the Proudman‐Taylor theorem, of the finite compressibility of planetary liquid cores.
NSF budget revisions
Authors: Greathouse Lee 
Published: October 2011

The revised FY 1981 budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF) reduces the agency's request by 6.9%. According to the first detailed information on cuts that has been released by the agency, the original budget of $1.148 billion will be reduced to $1.074 billion.An additional $18 million, for applied research, is to be deferred from the FY 1980 request until a later time. As a result, Engineering and Applied Sciences will be shorn of $9.5 million; the remaining $8.5 million is spread over most other programs.
FY 81 R & D: Atmospheric and oceanic sciences
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

Frequently, one can assess the level and growth of activity in a field of science by means of fiscal figures which reflect the financial support of the federal government. Assessment of the levels of activity of the atmospheric and oceanic sciences for the 1981 fiscal year should be possible because most projects are funded by the government; the problem is that research in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences is closely interrelated, parts of one being supported by the others. Furthermore, at least nine federal agencies support atmospheric and oceanic research, including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Interior, and Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation.Total federal expenditures in FY 1981 for research and development in both sciences will be about $575 million. A few of the federal agencies' or departments' programs are included as follows, in millions of dollars (from F. D. White, Intersociety Preliminary Analyses of R & D in the FY 1981 Budget, report, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1980).
Effects of budget cuts on R & D
Authors: Greathouse Lee 
Published: October 2011

President Carter's proposed budget cuts would reduce total obligations for federal research and development (R & D) by $355 million in FY 1980 and $1.054 billion in FY 1981, according to figures released by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). That is a 1.1% reduction from the $31.96 billion originally scheduled for FY 1980 and a 2.9% reduction from the $36.14 billion set for FY 1981.Support for basic research will drop $16 million in FY 1980 (down 0.3% from the $4.531 billion in the January budget) and $194 million in FY 1981 (down 3.8% from the January figure of $5,074 billion).