bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Arnold B. Arons (1916–2001)
Authors: Warren Bruce A. 
Published: October 2006

Arnold B. Arons died of a heart attack at his home in Seattle on February 28, 2001, aged 84. He was a long‐time member of the American Geophysical Union (1950; Ocean Sciences) and of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), of which he was president in 1961. He was a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.Arnold Arons was a teacher of physics. He taught it to the freshmen at Amherst College from 1952 to 1968, and then, at the University of Washington, he taught prospective teachers of physics how to teach it. He stressed meaning in physical concepts: how it is derived from shared experience, is founded on operational definitions, and is deepened and broadened with growing sophistication, individual and historical. He derided glib chatter about complex ideas (“Gibberish!”), or mere manipulation of symbols and formulas, and insisted—fiercely—that students know what they were talking about. His presence in the lecture hall at Amherst was sometimes terrifying; that technique might not be readily accepted in present, more tender times, but it was effective in shaking high school hotshots loose from some of their delusions. Despite perceived indignities, they usually gave him a standing ovation at the end of the spring semester.
[Comment on “Tracing the origins of the Lamont Observatory”]An Added perspective on the development of the “B.T.”
Authors: Abel Robert B. 
Published: October 2006

I am writing in response to J. Lamar Worzel's superb biographical article about Maurice Ewing and the Lamont‐Doherty Geological Observatory (Eos, Nov. 14, 2000). “Doc” Ewing was a hero to me as well as to all the sea people with whom he came in contact, owing to his initiation of so many ingenious and productive projects and his founding of one of the world's most important geophysical institutions.In the interests of perspective, I would like to add a minor note on the contribution to the original development of the bathythermograph; i.e., by Athelstan Spilhaus. Spilhaus was another of the small group of original founders of America's Ocean Program, mainly in the 1930s and leading up to—and through—World War II.
U.K. proceeds with NEO plan
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

The British National Space Centre (BNSC) is moving ahead with implementing a series of recommendations it has received about how the United Kingdom can best contribute to international efforts concerning “near‐Earth objects,” or NEOs. These are objects in the solar system that are believed to be fragments from planet formation.On August 20, BNSC announced that it is inviting proposals from organizations concerning the establishment of a Near Earth Object Information Center. The U.K.Task Force on Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Objects, which was announced by Science Minister Lord David Sainsbury of Turville, had included the creation of this facility among its August 2000 recommendations.
NOAA set to wrap up most of its hurricane assistance to Central America
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Before tropical storm Mitch had transformed itself into a hurricane on October 24, 1998, some U.S. disaster assistance to Central America had focused on drought and fire outbreaks then affecting the region.However, Mitch—which ranks among the most intense hurricanes to strike the Atlantic basin in the past several hundred years—caused 11,000 deaths. The hurricane devastated several countries and their economies, as well as their fledgling hydrological and meteorological capabilities. According to several sources, these capabilities had been less than adequate to begin with, and had been slowly falling apart over the years, due to eroding budgets or political strife. Along with Hurricane Georges in September 1998, which also struck the Caribbean, Mitch prompted U.S. disaster assistance to quickly shift gears to deal with the new emergency.
Questions raised about benefits of artificial reefs
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Twenty‐seven subway cars lined on a barge awaited their fate off the coast of Delaware, about 26 kilometers east of the Indian River Inlet, on August 22.A priest blessed the dark‐red cars donated by the New York City Transit Authority, and prayed for the safety of all creatures using them. The song, “Sidewalks of New York” filled the festivities: “East side, west side, all around the town…” A woman tossed tokens from those subway lines into the sea. Then, down went the cars, having first been scrubbed clean, with windows removed for better circulation. Shoved by a bulldozer, the cars were deployed in 35 minutes to join a heap of military vehicles, old tires, and other used materials already accumulated at Reef Site 11, a 1.3‐square‐nautical‐mile artificial reef.
Congressional Science Fellow tackles science policy for U.K.
Authors: Moses Julie J. 
Published: October 2006

After an AGU Congressional Science Fellowship in 1997–1998,I decided to pursue science policy further. I spied an ad in the Sunday Washington Post advertising for someone with a science degree, who also had knowledge of the United Kingdom, and science policy experience on Capitol Hill. In addition to my Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles and the Congressional Science Fellowship, I had spent two years in the U.K. as a post‐doc at Queen Mary and Westfield College in London.I applied for the job, which was at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and was hired. The UK Foreign Office has a tradition of hiring many of its embassy staff locally; they consider knowledge of local politics and issues very use ful for their interests. Now I cover hard science issues, including space and the Internet for Her Majesty's Government.
Lobbying Congress about oceans
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

The Congressional Oceans Day on September 25 provided an opportunity for scientists, researchers, and explorers to educate staff members from the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate about ocean science, and update them about hot policy issues such as climate change and the fate of coral reefs, and key ocean‐related projects.Among the major projects is the Census of Marine Life, an international research program conceived in 1997. The 10‐year, $l‐billion program aims to assess and explore the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life, according to Jesse Ausubel of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a project funder. The census, which plans to support 30 field projects over a decade, already has a commitment for $15 million in start‐up funding, and work has started on a half‐dozen projects. These include a study of the history of marine animal populations, and the development of an ocean biogeographical information system.
Efforts to elevate EPA to cabinet level raise concerns
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Congressional efforts to elevate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to presidential cabinet level ran into some opposition during a September 21 hearing of the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources, and Regulatory Affairs.While House Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert (R‐N.Y) testified in favor of a “clean” bill that does not get bogged down with potentially controversial amendments, others said that legislation elevating the $7.5‐billion‐a‐year agency should include requirements for the EPA to improve substantively its operations in several areas, such as its use of sound science and economic analyses.
Boehlert optimistic about science budget
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R‐N.Y), chair of the Science Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, said on October 1 that while the tragic airplane attacks in New York City and on the Pentagon change the nation's priorites in many ways, U.S. research and development and education needs remain much the same as they had been before.Boehlert, speaking in Washington, D.C. to campus presidents of the State University of New York, argued against fundamental changes in the structure or nature of U.S. academic institutions, such as restricting their openness to students, instructors, and researchers from overseas.
Concerns aired over benefits, costs of reducing arsenic in drinking water
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

After years of trying to determine acceptable standards, followed by backpedaling, and further study and debate, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in November is planning to re‐propose its rule for safe arsenic levels in drinking water, and issue a final rule by February 22, 2002.Before the agency can take those steps, however, it needs to determine levels for arsenic that are safe, technically achievable, and economically feasible. A widely‐distributed, naturally‐occurring element, arsenic can enter groundwater, largely as a result of minerals dissolving from weathered rocks and soils. Arsenic also can enter water sources due to its use as a wood preservative, and through operations such as mining and semi‐conductor manufacturing.
Lester Machta (1919–2001)
Authors: Seidel Dian , Angell Jim 
Published: October 2006

Lester Machta, the former director of the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory and an AGU Fellow, died August 31, 2001, of leukemia. For more than half a century, he led pioneering research programs in air quality that addressed some of the key environmental issues of our times, and he did so with a rare devotion to both science and public service. He had been an AGU member since 1950 (Atmospheric Sciences).A native New Yorker, he obtained a B.A. in mathematics (cum laude) from Brooklyn College and, after the war, he completed an M.S. in meteorology at NYU and an ScD. in meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Section workshop, field trips
Authors: McKnight Diane 
Published: October 2006

The formation of a new Membership Committee to strengthen recruitment of members to the Biogeosciences Section was one of the outcomes of the “Biogeosciences on the Threshold” workshop held March 23–25, 2001. Eighteen biogeoscientists gathered near Baltimore, Maryland, to discuss future research themes, as well as the direction and structure of the new section.The Membership Committee is chaired by Max Holmes and will coordinate with AGU staff in recruiting scientists from the biogeosciences to join AGU. If you are interested in being involved in recruitment or have suggestions for groups to contact, please get in touch with Max Holmes (rholmes@mbl.edu).
Workshop explores seismogenic zone drilling in the Nankai trough
Authors: Taira A. , Moore G. , Tobin H. , Kimura G. , Kodaira S. 
Published: October 2006

Drilling into the seismogenic zone of an active convergent plate margin and installing a deep borehole observatory in its subduction megathrust are high priorities for the early stages of the new Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). The Nankai Trough off southwest Japan is one of the most active great earthquake‐generating regions on Earth. Nankai has long been treated as a focused study area in the Deep Sea Drilling Program (DSDP) and ODF, representing a type locality for forearcs with well‐developed accretionary prisms.Fifty scientists from seven countries recently met in Tokyo to prepare a preliminary proposal for IODP seismogenic zone drilling in the Nankai Trough to characterize the composition, deformation microstructures, and physical properties of the seismogenic zone rocks at in situ conditions.
Budget increases for U.S. science agencies
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

The majority of the appropriations bills for the U.S. federal budget for fiscal year 2002 have been signed by President George W. Bush, and the overall outlook for science looks good. A number of science agencies received healthy increases that are above the figures proposed by the Bush administration earlier this year.The appropriations bill for Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies (H.R. 2620) is one of the most important, as it funds both NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Signed into law by the president on November 26, the “VA‐HUD” bill provides NASA with a budget of $14.8 billion. This is an increase of $540 million, or 3.8%, above FY01 levels, and 1.9% above the administration's request of $14.51 billion. The increment for NSF's $4.79‐billion budget for FY02 is $372.5 million, an increase of 8.4% above the previous year's funding. This amount is $319 million more than the agency requested. The Bush administration requested an increase of only 1.3%.
New triumvirate to guide JGR‐Space Physics
Authors: Grant Shermonta L. 
Published: October 2006

On 1 January 2002, Arthur Richmond, Shadia Habbal,and Lou‐Chuang Lee assumed the editorial duties for the Space Physics section of the Journal of Geophysical Research. Located around the globe, the trio will offer a blend of scientific interests covering the entire spectrum of the journal.Richmond told Eos, “JGR‐Space Physics is the premier journal in the field of space physics, and we must strive to maintain its excellence.” He added that in his view, the biggest challenge for the new team is to ensure that the accepted manuscripts are “interesting and useful to the scientific community.”
Helioseismologists release new findings about the solar subsurface
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Helioseismologists, using an instrument onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, have found that there is something new under the Sun, or at least beneath the Sun's surface.Two teams of scientists working with SOHO's Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) presented their findings on the formation and growth of active regions of solar activity and on spinning sunspots at the AGU Fall Meeting in December in San Francisco, California. The findings help to better understand solar activity that can result in solar flares and coronal mass ejections that disrupt communication and energy systems on Earth.
New concerns raised about thinning glaciers
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Several large glaciers in the West Antarctic are thinning at a dramatic rate and one of them could disappear in as little as 150 years if the current trend continues, according to new findings announced at a briefing at the AGU Fall Meeting in December in San Francisco. CaliforniaUsing satellite radar altimetry and satellite radar interferometry, Andrew Shepherd, a research fellow at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modeling at University College London, studied the Pine Island,Thwaites, and Smith glaciers, which are the principal ice drainage channels for the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
New “Editor's choice”: Online journals debut
Authors: Cole Stephen 
Published: October 2006

With all AGU journal articles now published online in advance of the printed journal, AGU members have new options, in terms of how they access the latest research results. An innovative option for those with specific research interests that are covered in several journals is the “ Editor's Choice” virtual journal. The first two “Editor's Choice” journals—Biogeosciences and Atmospheric Electricity— debuted in January and are, for a limited time, freely accessible to members on the AGU Web site.An “Editor's Choice” virtual journal is a collection of electronic articles recently published by AGU that have been specially selected for their relevance to a particular topic area. Everett Shock of Washington University St. Louis, is serving as the Collection Editor for “Editor's Choice: Biogeosciences.” The “Editor's Choice: Atmospheric Electricity” Collection Editor is Richard E. Orville of Texas A&M University College Station, who is being assisted by advisors David Sentman, University of Alaska, and Vladimir Rakov, University of Florida.
Kerry Kelts (1947–2001)
Authors: Johnson Thomas C. , Talbot Michael R. , Myrbo Amy 
Published: October 2006

Kerry Kelts died on 8 February 2001 at the age of 54 from Hodgkin's disease. A professor in the department of geology and geophysics at the University of Minnesota, he was also director of that university's Limnological Research Center from 1990 to 2000. Kerry had been a member of AGU since 1982 (Ocean Sciences).Kerry was a leader in establishing the utility of lake sedimentary records as archives, not only of past climate, but of past biogeochemical, tectonic, and anthropogenic processes. He educated us on the daunting complexity and individuality of lake systems, and demonstrated that lacustrine sequences can be interpreted as profitably as marine sequences. Kerry believed that terrestrial paleoclimate records are an essential complement to those from the ocean: while the ocean plays a substantial role in driving climate, lakes respond to actual conditions on the continents.
New U.S. icebreaker to advance Arctic Marine Science
Authors: Swift Jim , Clough Lisa , Berkson Jonathan , DuPree George , Falkner Kelly 
Published: October 2006

The decades‐long planning for a U.S. icebreaking vessel dedicated to Arctic marine science reached its goal with the entry into service of the UGCGC Healy, a polar research vessel operated by the U.S. Coast Guard for the U.S. science community. The ship is named for Captain Michael A. Healy, a legendary figure of Alaskan history who served as commanding officer of the U.S. Revenue Cutters Corwin (1884–1885) and Bear (1886–1895).Healy is 128 m long, 25 m wide, displaces 14,900 metric tons, and traverses up to 1.4 m ice at 1.65 m s−1, propelled by two 11.1‐MW AC synchronous motors fed from DC diesel electric engines through cycloconverters. Thus, Healy is more powerful and somewhat larger than the German polar research vessel Polarstern or the Canadian icebreaker Louis S. St‐Laurent. Healy's power system responds quickly to the load changes common in icebreaking. The ship has a conventional icebreaker bow. The hull provides a sea‐kindly ride and more stable work conditions in open water than do the U.S. Coast Guard Polar‐class icebreakers. The ship is designed to work in any Arctic season.
Proposed transfer of Sea Grant Program a controversial issue in NOAA, NSF budget requests
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

The Bush administration's fiscal year 2003 budgets for two leading U.S. federal science agencies—the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF)—proposes the transfer of the National Sea Grant College Program from NOAA to NSF. Informed sources told Eos the transfer is worrisome, though unlikely to survive Congressional action.Nevertheless, the transfer clouds the budget picture for the NSF Geosciences Directorate and particularly, its Ocean Sciences Division. The proposal also raises questions about how much of the current Sea Grant program could effectively continue under NSR since the two agencies have different modes of operation.
No major increase for NASA under Bush budget plan
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

The Bush Administration's proposed 15.1‐ billion budget for NASA for fiscal year 2003 represents an increase of just .7% ($98 million) above the current 2002 budget level. While the budget proposal reflects an effort by the administration to encourage improvements in the agency's financial management and other performance metrics, scientists have questioned how changes in the budget would affect several programs.These changes include NASA's proposal to halt funding for the New Horizons Pluto‐Kuiper Belt Mission (see Eos, 5 March 2002) and a temporary moratorium on significant new Earth science mission starts.
Earl G. Droessler (1920–2001)
Authors: Malone Thomas F. 
Published: October 2006

When Earl Droessler died peacefully on 30 December 2001, it marked the close of an illustrious and productive career in which, as an imaginative agent of change, he contributed substantially to the growth of the geosciences in the United States, as well as to the growth of AGU. Droessler was one of the “midwives” who opened new avenues of cooperation between the federal government and the university community thereby elevating geophysics to its current pre‐eminence in the scientific community. A recipient of the Waldo E.Smith Medal in 1992, he had been a member of the Atmospheric Sciences Section since 1947.Earl Droessler's footprints are evident at every step in the elevation of geophysics in the United States over the past 40 years; and in the transformation of AGU, from a committee in the National Research Council, to a leading scientific society with an impressive array of publications, outstanding meetings, and a magnificent headquarters building in Washington, D.C. His extraordinary services are summarized in the citation for the Smith Medal, which read, in part:“With consummate wisdom, unfettered imagination, boundless enthusiasm, and gentle persuasion, Earl Droessler has been one of the prime movers in the elevation of geophysics to prominence in the scientific community during the second half of the twentieth century.”
Bush administration proposes criteria for basic research programs
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Concerns about a tight economy, an increasing number of Congressional earmarks for research and development, and a desire to better justify the spending of taxpayer dollars on research has led the Bush administration to propose preliminary criteria for federal basic research programs.The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) presented the proposal with its three broad principles—quality, relevance, and performance—at an overflow meeting at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on 27 February.
GRACE Mission Promises improved maps of Earth gravity
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Twin satellites, each the size of a sub‐compact car, flying in formation around the Earth 16 times each day in a polar orbit, are set to revolutionize our knowledge about gravity on the planet.Launched on 17 March from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) promises to produce 60 gravity maps of the Earth, one each month for 5 years. Scientists estimate the maps will be 100–1,000 times more accurate than those currently used. In addition to providing basic gravity information, the mapping information will be used to study oceanography hydrology glaciology and other fields.
John I. Ewing (1924–2001)
Authors: Purdy G. M. 
Published: October 2006

John I. Ewing died on 15 November 2001, in Falmouth, Massachusetts. An AGU Fellow and a recipient of the Maurice Ewing Medal (1982), he had been a member since 1958 (Seismology). He contributed significantly to key developments in marine seismology for more than two decades.Near the entrance to the Houston Area Research Center (HARC), where John Ewing worked for many years in the 1980s and 1990s, there is a statue of Isaac Newton that bears his familiar quotation: “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Federal science funding priorities, anti‐terrorism debated at AAAS Colloquium
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

John Marburger, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has said that some federal science agencies not slated to receive big increases in the administration's proposed fiscal year 2003 budget could do better in upcoming years.In remarks on 11 April at a colloquium on science and technology policy, Marburger defended the Bush administration's push for increasing research funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other administration priorities, and he cautioned that tough budget decisions have to be made in light of the current tight economic climate and the large number of potential scientific opportunities. But he also said that funding levels for some agencies and science areas could increase at a later date during the administration's tenure.