bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Constraining fault growth rates and fault evolution in New Zealand
Authors: Lamarche Geoffroy , Bull Jonathan M. , Barnes Phil M. , Taylor Susanna K. , Horgan Huw 
Published: October 2006

Understanding how faults propagate, grow, and interact in fault systems is important because they are primarily responsible for distributing strain in the upper crust. They localize deformation and stress release, often producing surface displacements that control sedimentation and fluid flow, either by acting as conduits or barriers. Identifying fault spatial distribution, quantifying activity, evaluating linkage mechanisms, and estimating fault growth rates are key components in seismic risk evaluation.Scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), New Zealand, and the Southampton Oceanography Centre, United Kingdom, are working on a collaborative project that aims to improve understanding of faulting processes in the Earth's crust.The program comprises two research cruises to survey the Whakatane Graben, New Zealand, which is a zone of intense seismicity active extensional faulting, and rapid subsidence within the back‐arc region of the Pacific‐Australia plate boundary zone (Figure 1). Few places in the world offer the same opportunity to study the mechanisms by which major crustal faults have grown from small‐ to large‐scale structures capable of generating moderate to large‐magnitude earthquakes.
U.S.‐Russia venture probes Siberian peatlands' sensitivity to climate
Authors: Smith Laurence C. , MacDonald Glen A. , Frey Karen E. , Velichko Andrei , Kremenetski Konstantine , Borisova Olga , Dubinin Petr , Forster Richard R. 
Published: October 2006

The extent to which northern peatlands respond to or influence climate change is an unresolved question in Arctic science. Recent studies in Alaska, Canada, and Fennoscandia have raised concerns that northern peatlands, while currently a net sink or minor source of atmospheric CO2 , may become a significant CO2 source under a warming climate.Expanding peatlands emit methane but sequester atmospheric carbon through long‐term accumulation of undecomposed plant matter. Drier conditions may reverse this process by increasing temperatures and lowering the peatland water table, causing anaerobic decomposition of stored peat and subsequent outgassing of CO2.While this process would likely reduce methane emissions and possibly enhance C uptake from increased soil nutrient mineralization rates [Oechel and Vourlitis, 1994], many scientists now believe that warming and drying of northern peatlands will liberate stored C for uptake by the atmosphere and biosphere.
Experiment will examine gravity waves in the middle atmosphere
Authors: Hamilton Kevin , Vincent Robert A. 
Published: October 2006

Over the last 4 decades, the study of high‐frequency gravity waves with periods from minutes to several hours in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere has been a leading area of research in both meteorology and aeronomy. This interest has been natural, since gravity wave motions often dominate the variance observed in the upper mesospheric and thermospheric wind field, and since the vertical transport of mean flow momentum by gravity waves is now thought to play a key role in maintaining global‐scale circulation throughout the middle atmosphere.Part of the spectrum of the gravity waves propagating upward through the mesosphere will reach F‐layer heights, where the gravity waves account for temporal and spatial variability in electron density Electron density, in turn, can affect aspects of radio wave propagation. Gravity waves in the equatorial F‐region may also trigger large‐scale ionospheric instabilities, which account for the “spread‐F” phenomenon. Late next year, investigators involved in the Darwin Area Wave Experiment (DAWEX) will make detailed coordinated observations of the gravity wave field in the mesosphere and thermosphere with unprecedented areal coverage, and will attempt to relate these observations to a particularly well‐defined and intense tropospheric source.
Cruise reveals history of Holocene Larsen Ice Shelf
Authors: Domack Eugene , Leventer Amy , Gilbert Robert , Brachfeld Stefanie , Ishman Scott , Camerlenghi Angelo , Gavahan Kathleen , Carlson David , Barkoukis Athen 
Published: October 2006

In May 2000 the U.S. Antarctic Research Vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer braved extensive ice and the frigid temperatures of the Northwest Weddell Sea to penetrate the coastal leads along the Nordenskold Coast (Figures 1–3). The scientific objective of this international endeavor was to understand the natural variability of the Larsen Ice Shelf, the largest of several ice shelves along the northern extremities of the Antarctic Peninsula to have undergone catastrophic decay over recent years (Figure 2) [Vaughan and Doake, 1996; Skvarca et al., 1999].The study sought to determine the history of the Larsen Ice Shelf beyond the limits of our historical observations. Such knowledge is needed in order to assess the potentially unique nature of the current disintegration pattern and to determine the role of regional versus global warming scenarios on the future of the break‐up trend.
Forensic seismology and the sinking of the Kursk
Authors: Koper Keith D. , Wallace Terry C. , Taylor Steven R. , Hartse Hans E. 
Published: October 2006

On August 10, 2000, Russia's Northern Fleet began its largest naval exercise in more than a decade. Among the vessels taking part was the heavily‐armed Kursk, an Oscar class submarine that was the most modern cruise‐missile sub in the fleet.Beginning on August 14, a series of reports in the press indicated that the Kursk had been severely damaged during the exercise and that the crew were likely dead. By August 17, news agencies were reporting that seismic networks in the Baltic area had detected two seismic events which appeared to correspond to the Kursk disaster in time and space (Figure 1). Specifically the seismic events were consistent with reports from the British Broadcasting Corporation on the location of ongoing rescue efforts. The fact that this section of the Barents Sea is essentially aseismic added credence to the assertion that the seismic events were directly related to the sinking of the Kursk.
Updated New Madrid analysis better defines the uncertainty in seismic hazard maps
Authors: Cramer Chris H. , Gomberg Joan S. 
Published: October 2006

Although we are uncertain about how and when earthquakes will occur and the intensity of the associated ground‐shaking, forecasts of the level of expected earthquake groundshaking are important to society for planning purposes. These forecasts are conveyed in probabilistic seismic hazard maps.Probabilistic seismic hazard maps may be viewed as the earthquake analog to long‐term weather forecasts. Most people accept that the weather cannot be predicted accurately and instead accept the idea of a forecast that states the likelihood of a climatic condition occurring during some time period. In the absence of abundant observations over the full range of climatic conditions, for example, from drought to flood, models of extremes in climate must be employed to estimate the probabilities of the hazardous conditions. Just as these probabilities can be used by society to prepare for extreme weather conditions, seismic hazard maps can be used to prepare for the damaging ground‐shaking caused by earthquakes.
Weighing the risks
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

"I'm thinking,'Yeah, right,'" Janet Babb recalled reacting upon hearing the oddball message left on her tele phone answering machine on January 25.But a little more than a month later, on March 1–2, the freelance geologist took up the offer. Outfitted in her yellow raincoat, gloves, and gas mask, she used her rock hammer to sample hot lava near the active vent of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, and drove along the nearby Chain of Craters Road.However, Babb was not up there alone. Accompanying her was a 30‐person film crew, two helicopters, and, of course, her car insurance agent.
Reply [to “Comment on ‘Forensic seismology and the sinking of the Kursk’”]
Authors: Koper Keith D. , Wallace Terry C. , Taylor Steven R. , Hartse Hans E. 
Published: October 2006

We thank John Northrop for his interest in our recent Eos article and for providing us with the opportunity to clarify some important points.Before commenting on the particulars of Northrop's letter, we must emphasize that we are not claiming to be the originators of a new field called forensic seismology. To the best of our knowledge, the term “forensic seismology” was coined by the British seismologist H.I.S. Thirlaway in the late 1950s to describe what is now known as verification seismology [Thirlaway, 1979]. We are merely extending this catchy phrase to include the investigation of non‐nuclear, man‐made seismic sources that are accidental or unanticipated.
It takes a rocket scientist
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Even if the U.S. military had missed in shooting down a Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile and mock warhead above the Pacific Ocean on July 14, Raymond Askew, director of space research development at the Texas Engineering Experiment Station of the Texas A&M University System, would not have considered the $100‐million national missile defense test a failure.“Any new product development goes through a series of tests,” he said. “The fact that they don't meet the ultimate goal on the first or second test doesn't stop [the testing]."
Congress grapples with the search for extraterrestrial life
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Once the laughter had subsided over jokes about the search for intelligent life on Capitol Hill, the U.S. House of Representatives Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics got down to business with a July 12 hearing about the possible existence of extraterrestrial organisms.“I don't know if little green men exist,” said Subcommittee Chair Dana Rohrabacher (R‐Calif.). “I do know that the science community is attempting to determine the existence of basic life on planets neighboring Earth, as well as planets beyond our Solar system. With the help of scientific methods, we are just now beginning to answer a question that has existed since the dawn of humankind: are we alone?”
Initiative to protect Canada's western boreal forest faces challenges from resource development
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

Gary Stewart pointed on the map of Canada to a brown swath of western boreal forest that stretches from the border of Ontario and Manitoba, across four provinces and several territories, and up through Alaska. Canada's 2.0 million square kilometers of western boreal forest includes 20–30% of wetlands—bogs, fens, marshes, shallow lakes, and river deltas. The forest of spruce, aspen, poplar, and other trees historically has been heavily and naturally disturbed by fires.Until recently, though, this vast region was fairly undisturbed by human activity, according to Stewart, manager of conservation programs for the western boreal forest region for the non‐profit Ducks Unlimited Canada (DU). A 1986 North American Waterfowl Management Plan did not even include any perceived threats to Canada's western boreal forest, which DU says is the second‐most important waterfowl breeding area in North America, after the Prairie Pot‐holes region in Canada and the United States. The 13 million breeding ducks supported by the boreal forest are a primary reason for DU's interest, though the group's concern extend to habitat, wetlands, and other biodiversity
GIS plays key role in NYC Rescue and Relief Operation
Authors: Showstack Randy 
Published: October 2006

New York City, Sept. 17—The posters of missing loved ones are pasted onto New York City walls and street signs six days after 2 hijacked commercial airlines destroyed the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan on September 11. Several miles uptown from “ground zero,” heightened security hovers around the city's Office of Emergency Management rescue and relief command center, an around‐the‐clock operation. Police, firefighters, military, officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, communications technicians, and a beehive of others work in controlled chaos in this cavernous, convention center‐sized hall, lined with computers and adorned with several American flags.After the original command center at 7 World Trade Center collapsed to rubble as an after‐effect of the plane strikes, city officials scrambled to recreate it. Alan Leidner, director of New York's citywide geographic information systems (GIS), and who is with the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, knew that maps would be an integral component of the rescue and relief efforts. Maps provide emergency workers and others with accurate and detailed scientific data in the form of visual aids upon which they can make informed decisions.
Global ice and land climate studies using scatterometer image data
Authors: Long David G. , Drinkwater Mark R. , Holt Benjamin , Saatchi Sasan , Bertoia Cheryl 
Published: October 2006

Scatterometers have provided continuous synoptic microwave radar coverage of the Earth from space for nearly a decade. NASA launched three scatterometers: the current SeaWinds scatterometer onboard QuikSCAT (QSCAT, 13.4 GHz) launched in 1999; the NASA scatterometer (NSCAT, 14.0 GHz), which flew on the Japanese Space Agency's ADEOS‐1 platform during 1996–1997; and the Seasat‐A scatterometer system (SASS, 14.6 GHz), which flew in 1978. The European Space Agency's (ESA) 5.3‐GHz scatterometer (ESCAT) has been carried onboard both the ERS‐1 and ERS‐2 satellites since 1991.properties, including the phase state, of a particular surface type. Varying response from the surface also results from different polarizations, viewing angles and orientations, and radar frequencies. The wide swath of scatterometers provides near daily global coverage at intrinsic sensor resolutions that are generally between 25–50 km.
Seismic waves generated by aircraft impacts and building collapses at World Trade Center, New York City
Authors: Kim Won‐Young , Sykes L. R. , Armitage J. H. , Xie J. K. , Jacob K. H. , Richards P. G. , West M. , Waldhauser F. , Armbruster J. , Seeber L. , Du W. X. , Lerner‐Lam A. 
Published: October 2006

Seismologists sometimes do their work of data acquisition and analysis against a tragic background. Usually, the context is fieldwork far from home, in an area subjected to the natural but sometimes devastating effects of an earthquake. But in the present case, we are in our own New York City area; that is, the Lamont‐Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, in Palisades, N.Y; and the context is inhuman actions against people and the fabric of our society.As the appalling events of September 11 unfolded, we found that we had recorded numerous seismic signals from two plane impacts and building collapses of the two World Trade Center (WTC) towers, often at times different than those being reported elsewhere. Collapses of the two WTC towers generated large seismic waves, observed in five states and up to 428 km away The north tower collapse was the largest seismic source and had local magnitude ML 2.3. From this, we infer that ground shaking of the WTC towers was not a major contributor to the collapse or damage to surrounding buildings. But unfortunately, we also conclude that from the distance at which our own detections were made (the nearest station is 34 km away at Palisades) it is not possible to infer (with detail sufficient to meet the demands of civil engineers in an emergency situation) just what the near‐in ground motions must have been.
Fishing trawler nets Massive “Catch” of methane hydrates
Authors: Spence G. D. , Chapman N. R. , Hyndman R. D. , Cleary C. 
Published: October 2006

In November 2000, the commercial fishing vessel Ocean Selector recovered over 1000 kg of gas hydrate in a trawl net. The catch occurred in 800 m near the head of the deeply‐incised Barcley Canyon off Vancouver Island (Figure 1). This is probably the largest recovery of gas hydrate ever reported from a marine setting.Although methane hydrate is known to be stable at the sea floor for water depths greater than 500–600 m at temperate latitudes, observed outcrops of hydrate at the sea floor are rare and poorly understood. There is a very large disequilibrium between the concentration of methane in gas hydrate and in seawater. Therefore, one would expect that gas hydrate would sublime and dissociate when it comes in contact with seawater. Nevertheless, massive hydrate outcrops have been observed and sampled, most prominently at the Hydrate Ridge off Oregon [Suess et al., 1999] and in the Gulf of Mexico [MacDonald et al., 1994; Sassen et al., 2001].
Did the Italian Government approve an obsolete project to save Venice?
Authors: Pirazzoli Paolo Antonio 
Published: October 2006

The government of Silvio Berlusconi of Italy decided on 6 December 2001, to move forward with a project called the Experimental Electromechanical Module (MOSE) for mobile flood barriers at the inlets of the lagoon of Venice to protect the city from storm surges. This project is not only much debated for its environmental impacts, but it could also become rapidly obsolete in the event of a near‐future sea‐level rise.The Experimental Electromechanical Module project consists of 79 mobile gates at the three inlets to the lagoon. These will be closed when the tide height threatens to reach the level of 1.10 m above the mean sea level (MSL) of the period 1884–1909; that is, about 0.87 m above present MSL. The 20‐m‐long gates will lie on the floor of the lagoon inlets in normal times, but can be raised to partially seal the openings by injecting compressed air.
Chelungpu fault drilling could resolve seismological issues
Authors: Mori James , Ito Hisao , Wang Chien‐Ying 
Published: October 2006

The 1999 Mw 7.7 Chi‐chi earthquake in Taiwan produced spectacular surface faulting, with vertical displacements of up to 8 m on the Chelungpu fault. The large amount of fault slip at or near the surface provides a unique opportunity to study first‐hand the physical mechanisms involved in faulting during large earthquakes. Intriguingly the portions of the fault in the north that had the largest amount of displacement produced relatively low levels of damage. The slip and slip velocity were very large, but the high‐frequency acceleration was relatively low, suggesting that somehow the northern portion of the fault slipped rather smoothlyThis clearly‐recorded behavior of the Chleungpu fault provides clues for unraveling an important research topic in seismology: What physical properties or dynamic processes control the distribution of large slip during an earthquake? It is well known that the amount of slip during a large earthquake varies considerably at different locations along the fault. However, little is known about why this is so. Understanding what controls the amount of slip that occurs on the fault would improve our understanding of the earthquake rupture process.
Lidar studies of atmospheric dynamics near polar mesopause
Authors: She C. Y. , Vance Joe D. , Williams B. P. , Krueger David A. , Moosmüller Hans , Gibson‐Wilde Dorothy , Fritts Dave 
Published: October 2006

Global change, space weather, and their possible adverse impacts on human activities are not only of scientific interest, but also of great public concern. Since the Arctic middle and upper atmosphere exhibits significant sensitivity to internal and external perturbations, systematic studies at high latitudes have become a scientific priority.Several international research programs are being conducted at the Arctic Light Detection and Ranging Observatory for Middle Atmosphere Research (ALOMAR), which was established at Andøya, Norway (69°N, 16°E) in 1994 to perform regular Arctic light detection and ranging (lidar) observations in tandem with other radio and optical instrumentation, as well as with in situ rocket and balloon measurements [von Zahn, 1997].
Improved estimates of coastal population and exposure to hazards released
Authors: Nicholls Robert J. , Small Christopher 
Published: October 2006

Though it is well known that the world's coastlines are heavily populated, the combined implications of population growth and climate change are still subject to debate. Models of hazard impact, adaptation, and vulnerability stress the importance of understanding both exposure and adaptive capacity of the threatened systems [e.g.,Smit et al., 2001]. Combining geophysical and socio‐economic data sets can greatly improve our understanding of exposure at a range of scales from local to global.Here we estimate an upper bound on the global exposure to coastal hazards based on 1990 population distribution. The focus is on exposure to natural hazards, but these estimates also provide an indication of the direct human pressure on the coastal zone. Data from 1990 were used, as this global population distribution was the most robust currently available.
HoPE receives the 2002 Excellence in Geophysical Education Award
Authors: Duba Al ,   American Museum of Natural History's HoPE Team
Published: October 2006

“A little over a year ago, I decided to nominate the American Museum of Natural History's Hall of Planet Earth (HoPE) for the AGU Excellence in Geophysical Education Award.”“I took this step with some trepidation, knowing that I had some conflict of interest, having just started to work there on leave from LLNL. However, I had taken the job because of the opportunity to communicate my science to the general public, and I was inordinately pleased with the many opportunities that abounded, thanks to the hard work and foresight of the people who had built HoPE. So when Deane Rink suggested we nominate HoPE for this award, I decided to go for it, nominating the four people most responsible for putting it all together: Ed Mathez, Heather Sloan, Jim Webster, and Ro Kinzler.
El Niño‐induced flooding in the U.S. West: What can we expect?
Authors: Pizarro Gonzalo , Lall Upmanu 
Published: October 2006

Ocean conditions in the tropical Pacific seem to be signaling the emergence of another El Niño event. Even though it is uncertain what will happen in the next two to three seasons, climate forecasting centers are beginning to advise planners in ENSO‐sensitive regions to review their contingency plans. Here, we examine the potential for floods in the western United States as measured by the annual maximum flood in the region.The timing (figure 1) and causes of the annual maximum flood vary across the western United States. Nevertheless, correlations of the annual maximum flood with January‐April averages of the NIN03 and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) indices are statistically significant over large, contiguous areas in the region, irrespective of the dominant season of occurrence and the operative climate mechanism.