bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Visiting Congress: Can AGU members make a difference?
Authors: Basu Sunanda 
Published: October 2006

Having recently discovered tne value ot a Congressional Visit experience, I would like to invite other AGU members to participate in the 2006 Science Engineering and Technology Congressional Visits Day (CVD), 28–29 March 2006. My experience at an AGU CVD last fall taught me that participating in the policy process and visiting your Congressional delegation can make a difference.On 14 September 2005, I was part of a group of more than 70 scientists that fanned out to meet members of Congress and their staffs as part of a CVD organized by the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF).CNSF is an alliance of more than 100 organizations, including AGU, that supports the goal of increasing national investment in the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) research and education programs.
NASA science budget choices criticized
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

NASA's decision to focus its science efforts on large missions at the expense of smaller missions and research is misguided and will have a long‐term negative impact on attracting and retaining scientists and engineers to NASA‐related science, several scientists testified at a 2 March hearing.Witnesses at the hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee included NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate Mary Cleave and members or chairs of four U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) decadal surveys of various aspects of NASA science. The witnesses discussed cuts and delays to NASA projects proposed in the agency's Fiscal Year 2007 budget request. NASAs science budget would grow by 1.5 percent in FY2007,and then by just one percent per year in 2008–2011 (see Eos 87(9),2006).
Covering science as a Mass Media Fellow
Authors: McMeeking Gavin R. 
Published: October 2006

I remember my first unpleasant biology lab dissection in high school. I am not sure if the experience was worse for me or for the unfortunate fetal pig we dissected that day. The sights and smells of that fateful morning forever put me on a path toward the physical sciences, and probably have a lot to do with my ending up as a graduate student in atmospheric chemistry instead of at some medical school cutting up dead bodies.So imagine my horror after encountering the leg of a dead horse as I walked into a bioengineering laboratory to report on a story about artificial joint research. Subjecting myself to such biological horrors, though, was part of my duties as an AGU‐sponsored American Association for the Advancement of Science Mass Media Fellow. The program places graduate students and recent graduates from scientific fields in major media outlets throughout the country. The aim of the program is to give science‐trained individuals a taste of a career in science journalism as well as to help scientists develop better communication skills.
Research aircraft helps scientists study troposphere
Authors: Kumar Mohi 
Published: October 2006

A newly developed advanced research aircraft will allow researchers to directly study the atmosphere for extended periods of time at altitudes that approach the troposphere‐stratosphere boundary.The plane, called the High‐performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER),can carry nearly 3000 kilograms of scientific instrumentation, reach an altitude of more than 15,500 meters, and cruise without refueling for over 11,200 kilometers. Owned by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., HIAPER will be used to collect detailed information on the meteorology of the upper edges of hurricanes and thunderstorms, high‐altitude chemical reactions that are believed to affect climate, and other research concerns.
EPA hearing sparks controversy
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not investing enough money in the science needed for the agency to make sound environmental policy decisions, according to several witnesses who testified before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on 16 March.The House Science Subcommittee on Environment.Technology, and Standards brought together George Gray, EPA associate administrator for research and development, and three other witnesses to discuss the proposed cuts to EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD).the agency's primary research arm. The Bush Administration has proposed cutting the ORD budget by six percent in Fiscal Year 2007, to $557 million. This would continue a trend of decreases for ORD, whose budget would decline by 14 percent from FY2004 to FY2007 if the cuts are approved by the U.S. Congress.
Reply [to “Lake Agassiz meltwater”]
Authors: Fisher Thomas V. , Fisher Timothy G. 
Published: October 2006

We thank Eric Steig for his thoughtful comments, and we would like to reply to his three points. First, Steig notes that our results may challenge the assumed importance of meltwater in abrupt climate change. Although this may be one possible outcome of our work, the ongoing nature of our work on a Lake Agassiz meltwater source makes us offer that conclusion only tentatively.Second, Steig wonders if trying to understand the beginning of the Younger Dryas is the best approach to solving the puzzle of abrupt climate change. It may well be that cooling and warming phases of abrupt climate changes are driven by separate mechanisms. If we lack understanding, though, of the processes pushing the climate system into the cold phase, we are unlikely to have proper insight about the global boundary conditions under which the warming takes place. Because drainage rerouting from glacial Lake Agassiz has been a prime suspect for Younger Dryas climate change, it provides an appropriate first test.
Protoplanets mission reinstated
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

NASA announced on 27 March that it will go forward with its Dawn mission to Ceres and Vesta, two protoplanets in the solar system.Dawn had been put on hold last fall for a three‐month review, and NASA canceled the mission on 2 March.The agency cited a 20 percent cost overrun (from $373 million to $446 million) and technical issues, including problems with the ion propulsion system. All of the science instruments and half of the spacecraft had been built by that time.
Micro‐satellites study Earth's magnetosphere
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

NASA launched on 22 March a constellation of three micro‐satellites to measure the Earth's magnetic field.The 90‐day Space Technology 5 (ST5) mission is testing technology to study the effect of the Sun on the Earth's magnetosphere—the magnetic field that surrounds the planet and protects it from space radiation—and testing NASA's ability to operate and coordinate a constellation of micro‐satellites
On quantifying freshwater sustainability through multiscale mapping
Authors: Gordon Wendy , Richter Brian , Kanivetsky Roman , Shmagin Boris 
Published: October 2006

We agree with Kanivetsky and Shmagin (Eos, 86(50) 2005) that better accounting of flows comprising the hydrologic cycle is needed and that better quantification of recharge (into groundwater) and discharge (i.e.,streamflow) is important from human and environmental perspectives. However, because these authors promote their approach as being useful in assessing “sustainability” we feel compelled to offer words of caution about its applicability.The authors suggest that the ratio of renewable water supply to water use by humans and the environment is a “key indicator” of sustainability. We think that these authors got it half right. The ratio described above is a useful indicator because it quantifies how much strain a natural system may be experiencing. However, all ecosystem water is not equivalent. The river science literature strongly indicates the need for the full range of natural intra‐annual and interannual variation of river flows, along with associated characteristics of timing, duration, frequency, and rate of change, to sustain the biotic integrity of aquatic ecosystems [Postel and Richter, 2003]. In this context, only when an adequate assessment of ecosystem needs is performed and compared to net water availability after subtracting human uses will we know if we are truly managing for sustainability.
Satellite maps show Chesapeake Bay urban development
Authors: Goetz Scott J. , Jantz Patrick 
Published: October 2006

The extent, density, and configuration of the built environment—such as buildings, roads, parking lots, and other materials constructed for human use—have an impact on a wide range of biogeochemical and hydrological processes. These built areas, which are impervious to water infiltration, modify hydrology through the combined influence of increased peak flows, reduced base flows, flashier stream hydrographs (decreased lag times between storm events and peak discharge), and changes in bank and streambed erosion [Nilsson et al., 2003]. Additionally, increasing impervious cover has long been known to amplify point source pollution discharges into streams, including chemical runoff from parking lots and roads [Schuelen 1994].Two maps of the built environment, expressed in terms of impervious surface area, have been derived for areas that encompass the 168,000‐square‐kilometer Chesapeake Bay watershed (Figure l), a region that has been highly altered by human land use [Goetz et al., 2004; Jantz et al., 2005]. One map was developed for the region at fine (30‐square‐meter) spatial resolution, and the other covers the extent of the conterminous United States at one‐square‐kilometer resolution [Elvidge et al., 2004].A finer‐resolution regional map was used to assess the quality of the national map, demonstrating the utility the latter map for a range of applications related to monitoring land transformation and assessing watershed impacts.
Monitoring 2005 corn belt yields from space
Authors: Zhang Ping , Anderson Bruce T. , Myneni Ranga 
Published: October 2006

The U.S. corn belt, centered on Illinois, suffered extreme drought conditions during the 2005 growing season (Figure l).The April–September rainfall ranked 10th lowest of the past 113 years (see http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/monitoring.html#state). Throughout Illinois, counties were declared agricultural disaster areas and corn yields were predicted to be 30 percent less than the record year of 2004, which had the highest corn yields in the last 50 years [Christian Science Monitor, 2005].However, the Illinois Agricultural Statistics Service estimated the overall corn yield was 145 bushels per acre, or just seven percent below the previous five‐year average, with “many farmers…surprised by the better than expected yields after the drought conditions” (see http://www.agstats.state.il.us/releases/crop.pdf and http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/field/pcp‐bb/2005/crop 1005.pdf).This better‐than‐expected yield has been attributed to advancements in seed genetics, equipment, and water‐management practices [Barrionuevo and Bradsher, 2005].
NASA issues media rules
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

NASA scientists will be able to speak freely about their work to the media and the public, under a newly revised policy announced 30 March by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. Earlier in the year, the agency had been widely criticized after allegations were published that scientists had been prevented from speaking about controversial topics, such as climate change (see Eos 97(9) 2006).The policy is intended to establish a ‘culture of openness,’ in which scientists may communicate the results and conclusions of their scientific research to the public without hindrance. However, NASA scientists will be required to distinguish personal views from those of the agency. The revised policy also outlines the responsibilities of the public affairs staff, who will be prohibited from altering or editing scientific information.
Enigmatic Eastern Laurentide Ice Sheet deglaciation
Authors: Peteet Dorothy , Schaefer Joerg , Stute Martin 
Published: October 2006

The retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at the end of the last ice age represents a dramatic sequence of environmental change that is evident in geological records across North America. The details of when, where, how, and why the Laurentide Ice Sheet collapsed are critical to understanding ocean‐atmosphere‐ice dynamics during this period of significant global climate change.The retreat sequence along the eastern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet is especially relevant for understanding climate variability. Enormous amounts of freshwater were released into the North Atlantic following deglaciation, and an influx of freshwater into the North Atlantic Deep Water formation zone can potentially trigger abrupt climate changes. Determining the mechanisms and feedbacks involved in climate change at the end of the last ice age therefore requires an understanding of the relationship between the southern margin ice retreat and connected meltwater events to atmospheric and sea surface temperatures, ice‐rafting Heinrich events, sea level rise, and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
Inventory of U.S. levees planned
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

New legislation to create an inventory of U.S. levees was supported by witnesses at a 6 April hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.The Levee Safety Program Act of 2005, H.R. 4650, would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to inspect levees constructed or maintained by the Corps or other levees upon a governor's request. The Corps would create and maintain an inventory of levees and issue safety guidelines.
Paleoclimate and human evolution workshop
Authors: Cohen Andrew S. , Ashley Gail M. , Potts Richard , Behrensmeyer Anna K. , Feibel Craig , Quade Jay 
Published: October 2006

Over the past two and a half decades, new techniques for studying climate change, applied especially to deep‐sea drill core records, have driven the development of environmental forcing hypotheses of human evolution.These hypotheses link specific climate transitions in the Neogene (23 to 2 million years ago) or changes in Neogene climate variability to events in hominin physical and adaptive evolution and species diversification [e.g., Vrba, 1988; Potts, 1996; Bobe and Behrensmeyer, 2004].Key developments in hominin evolution, and especially in the human genus Homo with its unique array of behavioral characteristics, may be tied to specific climate ‘events’ or to the increase or decrease in climate variability in particular time intervals. The key forcing factors might include the stepwise aridification of Africa during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene (about 3 to 1.5 million years ago), or changes in the variability of climate (and the food and water resources affected by the new climate regime) driven by changes in the Earth's orbital precession, obliquity, and eccentricity, (Milankovich insolation forcing) or millennial‐scale climate fluctuations.
Joint Assembly Sessions focus on urbanization
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

The urban environment has grown to encompass not just the downtown area of a city but also the suburbs and rapidly growing exurban areas.This growth can affect a wide range of geological, physical, and biological processes. Several sessions at the 23–26 May 2006 Joint Assembly in Baltimore, Md., will explore this topic.Two union sessions on the “Impact of Urbanization on Environmental Systems” (U31A and U32A) will take place on Wednesday morning, 24 May at 8:30 AM. and 10:45 A.M.The sessions are designed to be a wide‐ranging exploration of the different, multiple roles that urbanization, and the changes in the environment that accompany urbanization, have on biological and geophysical processes, said session co‐convener Larry Band. Brand is Voit Gilmore distinguished professor and chair of the department of geography at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
High resolution simulations of atmospheric and oceanic circulation
Authors: Hamilton Kent , Ohfuchi Wataru 
Published: October 2006

The pursuit of fine spatial representation in models of the atmospheric and oceanic circulation has been a theme running through the development of the field of numerical simulation. For example, in studies of the global ocean circulation, a longstanding concern has been the issue of adequately resolving particularly energetic eddies, such as Gulf Stream rings. In global and regional atmospheric models, a key issue has been resolving mesoscale circulations that organize clouds and convection.With the recent advent of a new generation of high‐performance computing systems, such as the Japan Agency for Marine‐Earth Science and Technology's (JAMSTEC) Earth Simulator, some notable thresholds in terms of model resolution have been approached or, in some cases, surpassed. For example, the first long integrations with genuine eddy‐resolving global ocean models were reported in 2003. On the atmospheric side, decadal integrations with global models with effective horizontal resolution of approximately 20 kilometers have now become possible, and very short integrations of models that explicitly resolve scales approaching those of individual convective elements were first reported in 2005. These developments in global models have been paralleled by rising research activity with increasingly fine resolution regional atmospheric models for climate and shortrange forecasting applications.
Source of climate change becomes focus of Senate hearing
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

A 26 April Senate subcommittee hearing on the possible effects of climate change developed into a discussion about the extent to which the climate warming can be explained by natural or anthropogenic causesThe hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Global Climate Change and Impacts began with subcommittee chair Sen. David Vitter (R‐La.) acknowledging that the planet is experiencing a warming trend and that understanding the potential changes that may accompany the warming is an important task.“Tor once, we are not here to argue about the causes of observed warming trends,” he said.
Experimental Multi‐University Graduate Class in Volcanology
Authors: Rose William I. , Stix John 
Published: October 2006

Graduate students in volcanology need a wide variety of scientific and cultural perspectives to become proficient at understanding volcanoes and their moods. With this in mind, a six‐university consortium in Earth hazards organized an advanced graduate class on supereruptions during the 2006 winter semester.The Earth Hazards (EHaz) university consortium consists of Michigan Technological University (Houghton, Mich.), the University at Buffalo (N.Y), McGill University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM; Mexico City), and the Universidad de Colima (Colima, Mexico), and it is funded by the U. S. Department of Education and counterpart agencies in Mexico and Canada as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Bill would expand U.S. drought monitoring
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

The collection and dissemination of drought information would be centralized within the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under a newly proposed bill, which received support at a 4 May hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Science Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards.The economic costs of drought average $6 to $8 billion each year in the United States, according to NOAA. The effects of prolonged drought include extreme wildfire conditions, water restrictions, and reduced crop yields.
Global aspects of magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling
Authors: Goldstein Jerry , Spasojevic Maria , Fuselier Stephen 
Published: October 2006

The near‐Earth space environment is a complex, ever‐changing system of magnetized plasmas whose behavior has a profound impact upon our technology‐dependent society. The recent 2006 Yosemite Workshop examined the interaction of these plasmas from a systems‐level perspective, focusing on how the Earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere are physically coupled together into a single global system.The most dynamic behavior of the magnetosphere‐ionosphere (MI) system comes ultimately from the Sun. Solar wind pressure confines the Earth's magnetic field to a cometshaped cavity called the magnetosphere. Solar wind energy input initiates a large‐scale convective flow in the magnetosphere, and often triggers geomagnetic storms that dramatically alter the near‐Earth plasma environment.
Weather satellite launched
Authors: Zielinski Sarah 
Published: October 2006

NASA launched on 24 May the weather satellite GOES‐N, the first of the new N series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites. The satellite, which becomes GOES‐13 once it reaches its final orbit, joins the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's collection of weather satellites that provide the agency with data for weather forecasts and warnings.The GOES‐N series has several improvements over previous GOES satellites. A highly stable pointing platform will allow improved performance from the satellite's sounder—which gathers atmospheric data—and its imager. In addition, the satellite will enable NOAA to improve forecasts and warnings of solar disturbances.
Education and science connect at sea
Authors: Leckie R. Mark , St. John Kristen , Peart Leslie , Klaus Ann , Slough Scott , Niemitz Matt 
Published: October 2006

In the past several decades, the scientific community's collective understanding of Earth's history and the processes that shape this dynamic planet has grown exponentially. Yet communicating the current understanding of Earth systems to the community outside of science (educators and students, policy makers, and the general public) has lagged.In 1995, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) led the effort to establish National Science Education Standards (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/),with the goal of helping all students achieve scientific literacy. Earth and space sciences are one of the eight categories of content standards. Clearly the establishment of science education standards alone will not foster a scientifically literate society, as indicated in the NAS report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” (http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html). This report, released last fall, warns that without strong steps to improve federal support for science and technology research, and science and technology education, the quality of life in the United States is threatened as the country loses its competitive edge.
Storm‐substorm relations workshop
Authors: Kan Joe 
Published: October 2006

Magnetic storms in the magnetosphere can cause damage to communication satellites and large‐scale power outages.The concept that a magnetic storm is a compilation of a series of substorms was proposed by Akasofu [1968]. However, Kamide [1992] showed that substorms are not a necessary condition for the occurrence of a magnetic storm. This controversy initiated a new era of research on the storm‐substorm relation, which was the subject of a recent workshop in Banff, Alberta, Canada.The main topics discussed during the meeting included a brief overview of what a substorm is, how quasiperiodic substorm events and steady magnetospheric convection (SMC) events without substorms contribute to storms, and how plasma flows enhanced by magnetic reconnection in the plasma sheet contribute to substorms and storms.