Editor: Jim Elliott
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The House Appropriations Committee has approved the VA/HUD appropriations bill for FY2000 that would cut the agency’s Earth Science program by $285.0 million (19.5%) from the administration's request and $239.7 million (16.9%) from FY99. The Space Science program also faces a reduction of $240.8 million (11.0%) from the FY2000 request and $163.4 million (7.7%) below FY99 funding. Under this bill, the Explorer, Discovery, and other programs would be curtailed.
Overall, the House Appropriations Committee cut NASA's budget about 10% below the president's request for FY2000. The bill provides total funding for NASA at $12 653.8 million for FY2000 compared to $13 665.0 million in FY99. The FY2000 Appropriations Committee amount also is 6.8% less than the FY2000 request of $13 578.4 million (see related story).
The proposed cuts would impact many NASA Earth Science missions that play an important role in understanding the planet. Specifically, the Earth Science System Pathfinders, including the Vegetation Canopy Lidar, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, CLOUDSAT and PICASSO/CENA missions, would all be eliminated. This eliminates NASA’s ability to conduct select experimental missions that investigate unfamiliar Earth processes.
In addition, the GLOBE, Triana, and LightSAR programs would be terminated, and Earth Observing System (EOS), Earth Observing System Data Information System (EOSDIS), and Earth Probes all would be seriously reduced. The $150 million reductions in the EOS would cripple this program’s ability to provide a dataset of key parameters needed to understand global climate change with many practical applications ranging from drought and flood prediction to an early warning system for infectious disease trends. The $50 million reduction to EOSDIS seriously limit the ability to adequately process, archive, and distribute the maximum amounts of critical measurement data available from NASA’s Earth Science satellites, which will be launched over the next three years.
Additionally, the bill contains $20 million in unrequested earmarks that would have the effect of circumventing the competitive, peer review process. This bill will virtually eliminate future spaceborne remote sensing capabilities, while seriously impairing NASA’s ability to provide Earth science data from present efforts to the science community, policy makers, and the American public.
In the full committee markup $400 million was restored to the budget by an amendment by VA/HUD subcommittee chairman James Walsh (R-NY). The additional funding was earmarked for space science within NASA. Of that amount, $100 million would go to restore SIRTF (FY99 funding: $119.7 million; FY00 request: $125.0 million). Another $75 million would reverse the subcommittee's cut to future MARS missions. The remaining $225 million would go to Supporting Research and Technology, which the subcommittee had cut by $300 million. That amount still would leave Space Science with a reduction of $240.8 million (11.0%) from the FY2000 request and $163.4 million (7.7%) below FY99 funding. Explorer, Discovery, and other programs would be curtailed. Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications would get an increase of $7 million (2.7%) to its request, bringing it to its current funding level.
The International Space Station would get $2 382.7 million, a cut of $100.0 million from the request, and the space shuttle would be reduced by $150.0 million. The Mission Support Account would be cut by $225.6 million (9.0%) from the request and $241.8 million (9.6%) from FY99. Academic programs would receive an increase of $26.3 million to the request.
Full floor action will be taken when Congress returns from its August recess. The Senate has not drafted its bill yet. A breakdown of the budget as passed by the committee shows:
| Account | Committee bill (in millions) | FY99 Approp. | FY2000 Req. |
| Space Science | $1 955.8 | $2 119.2 | $2 196.6 |
| Earth Science | $1 174.1 | $1 413.8 | $1 459.1 |
| Life and Microgravity S&A | $263.2 | $263.5 | $256.2 |
| Space Station | $2 382.7 | $2 304.7 | $2 482.7 |
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A House Appropriations Committee subcommittee action that cut $1.3 billion from President Clinton's request for $13.57 billion for NASA in FY2000 stirred up controversy in the nation's capital in July (see related story). Even though the full House Appropriations Committee later restored $400 million to the space agency coffers, arguments persisted on both sides.
NASA Administrator Dan Goldin characterized the cutback as "devastating" and complained that the 11% subcommittee reduction was not a very nice way to treat an agency that "has done more with less...and still significantly increased productivity." "Up until now," he continued, "NASA has always stepped up to the budgetary challenge. This time the NASA team plans to fight. "These cuts would gut space exploration. They may force the closure of one to three NASA centers, and significant layoffs would most certainly follow."
In the meantime, House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. responded, calling Goldin's predictions "scare tactics, pure and simple..." and suggesting they should be rejected as such. "The claims that NASA will have to close centers and initiate layoffs...are disingenuous at best and inflammatory at worst," he said.
The Wisconsin Republican chairman noted that in 1996 the Clinton budget proposal cut NASA's budget to $13.8 billion for FY97, cut it again to $13.1 billion in FY98, cut it again to $12.4 billion in FY99, and cut it a fourth time in FY2000 to $11.6 billion. "When faced with these cuts," he explained, "Administrator Goldin claimed that President Clinton's budget signified the president's 'strong commitment to the research and development that's so crucial to America.'"
Sensenbrenner went on to note, "What's best for NASA is everyone calmly taking another look at the budget and working the democratic process to make space a higher priority. Playing politics with our nation's space program and threatening NASA employees' jobs is an ugly scare tactic. I recall 600 Kennedy Space Center jobs being lost at the same time NASA was moving forward with Vice President Gore's pet satellite project dreamed up in the middle of the night.
"I'm disappointed, too, in NASA's portion of the funding pie as it now stands. For the last five years, we've resisted continual budget cuts from the Clinton–Gore Administration, and Congress has added money above the administration's request each of the last two years. Regardless, I remain committed to working with my colleagues in Congress from both sides of the aisle to ensure that our civil space program stays on a positive track."
In response to Sensenbrenner's comments, two Democrats on the Science Committee condemned the billion dollar cut in NASA funding. They are Rep. Ralph Hall (TX), acting ranking member of the Science Committee, and Rep. Bert Gordon (TN), ranking member of the committee's Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee. The White House has promised to continue to fight for the president's original request.
Following Congress's summer recess that began 6 August, the House floor action, which had been planned before the recess, will be resumed. The Senate has not drafted its bill yet.
The $400 million that was restored to the NASA budget came in an amendment offered by Rep. James Walsh (NY), chairman of the VA/HUD subcommittee. A Walsh aide said the lawmaker expects additional money to come the agency's way later in the appropriations process.
Much of the funding cutback would impact activities at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Goddard is the lead center for earth science and also has responsibility for many of the agency's science programs. Approximately 2000 jobs at the center would be affected by the cuts, primarily among the center's support contractors, according to a center official. He said the earth science program, with the budget cuts, would be "decimated to the point of extinction.” The reductions also would impact Goddard's space science efforts, its Explorer program of space physics missions affected primarily. The House appropriators called for termination of Goddard's Earth System Science Pathfinder program, a series of small environmental probes costing about $120 million. That termination would force the cancellation of several projects already underway, including CloudSAt, the Vegetation Canopy Lidar, and Picasso-Cena.
The House bill also would halt all planning for future Earth Observing System (EOS) missions beyond those already under contract at Greenbelt. The EOS missions are designed to make comprehensive, coordinated studies of global climate using several satellites over a 15-year period.
Additionally, Goldin said the $150 million proposed cut in space shuttle operations will reduce the orbiter's number of flights. Also, he said, a $100 million cutback in the request for international space station funding will delay the deployment of the orbiting laboratory.
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The House Appropriations Committee approved the VA/HUD appropriations bill for FY2000 on 30 July, including funding for NSF that provided $3 646.8 million for the new year, a reduction of 0.7% from FY99 funding of $3,671.2 million and 7.0% below the request of $3 921.5 million.
Research and Related Activities (R&RA), the committee would provide $2,778.5 million for FY2000, an increase by 0.3% over the FY99 or 7.5% less than requested. Within the R&RA account, the following are provided: $735.0 million for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; $473.0 million for Geosciences; $391.0 million for Biological Sciences; $369.0 million for Engineering; $312.7 million for Computer and Information Science and Engineering; $138.0 million for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences; $183.0 million for the U.S. Polar Research Programs; $62.6 million for U.S. Antarctic Logistical Support Activities, and $114.2 million for Integrative Activities.
Major Research Equipment (MRE) would be cut by 37.2% from current funding and 33.5% from the request to $56.5 million. Within MRE, the committee would provide funding equal to the budget requests for the Millimeter Array ($8.0 million), the Large Haldron Collider ($15.9 million), continued construction of the new South Pole Station ($5.4 million), Polar support aircraft upgrades ($12.0 million), and Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation ($7.7 million). The committee provided $7.5 million to enable production to begin on a High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research and $35.0 million for the Information Technology Initiative. The committee said that because of budgetary constraints it is "not prepared at this time to commit resources to the construction of a single site, five teraflop computing facility as requested in the budget submission...The committee expects to consider this request in future year budget submissions..."
Education and Human Resources (E&HR) would see a reduction of 0.3% from current funding and 2.7% from the request to $660.0 million. The committee's recommendation includes $114.2 million for Educational System Reform; $48.4 million for EPSCoR; $193.5 million for Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education; $103.5 million for Undergraduate Education; $69.7 million for Graduate Education; $73.7 million for Human Resource Development, and $57.0 million for Research Evaluation and Communication.
The bill now goes to the full House floor, where it will be considered when Congress reconvenes after its August recess.
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House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) released a new General Accounting Office (GAO) draft report in late July showing that Advanced Technology Program (ATP) reforms designed to ensure federal grants are not displacing private capital still have not been implemented. The Advanced Technology Program is managed by the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Specifically, GAO found that for the FY99 grant competition, ATP applicants were asked to describe why full private funding is not available and to describe their efforts to secure internal funding as well as external private funds.
However, the GAO report notes, program officials stated that ATP would not immediately disqualify an applicant if the applicant did not complete the new section 16 as long as the rest of the application was "in order." "I'm deeply discouraged by the GAO's finding," Sensenbrenner said. "Year after year, administration officials assure Congress that ATP has been reformed and federal funds are not being wasted. Yet, we now find applicants are in good standing regardless of whether they comply with the new application requirement—making the whole reform exercise a sham."
In 1996, GAO reported that 63% of ATP applicants surveyed had not sought private sector funding before applying for an ATP grant. GAO also found that roughly half of the ATP applicants surveyed reported that they would go forward with their projects even in the absence of ATP grant funding.
At the strong prodding of Sensenbrenner and others, NIST announced changes to the application process in December 1997. Sensenbrenner then requested GAO to investigate whether the change to the ATP Proposal Preparation Kit were being used in the applicant selection process. "ATP grants should be limited to long-term, high-risk projects that could not successfully proceed without federal assistance," Sensenbrenner said. "We simply cannot afford to continue displacing private sector investment with taxpayer-financed spending. If the Commerce Department won't reform the ATP on its own, then Congress must act before we spend another dime on this program."
Last Congress, the House Science Committee and later the full House, passed legislation that precludes funding of ATP grants unless the applicant demonstrates to the review panel's satisfaction that the proposed project would not proceed without government funds. This year, Technology Subcommittee Chairman Connie Morella (R-MD) introduced legislation to reauthorize the programs of the Technology Administration, including ATP. The bill includes the reform language passed by the House last year.
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Basic environmental research is essential to the nation's wellbeing and economic growth, according to a report released in late July by the National Science Board (NSB), the policy-making body of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The interim report, “Environmental Science and Engineering for the Twenty-First Century: The Role of the National Science Foundation,” discusses the need for the United States to make a significant new investment in the basic science and engineering discovery necessary to understanding the environment. It maintains that NSF is uniquely positioned to provide leadership in basic environmental research in the future.
"Discoveries over the past decade or more have revealed new linkages between the environment and human health, our nation's prosperity and the well being of our citizens," says Eamon Kelly, chair of the NSB. "But just as we are beginning to better understand these linkages, the rate and scale of modifications to the environment are increasing. These alterations will present formidable challenges in the new century—challenges which we are now only minimally equipped to meet."
The report states, "Within the broad portfolio of science and engineering for the new century, the environment is emerging as a vigorous, essential, and central focus." The report was produced by the NSB Task Force on the Environment, established in August 1998, to help NSF to define the scope of its role regarding environmental research, education, and scientific assessment, and to determine the best means of implementing activities in this area. The Task Force, chaired by Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., was charged with reviewing the scope of current NSF activities related to basic research, education, and scientific assessment on the environment. The Task Force was also asked to develop policy guidance for NSF that will be used to design activities consistent with the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) strategy, the goals of the NSF Strategic Plan, and the activities of other agencies and organizations. Recommendations of the report include:
The National Science Board serves as the governing board of the National Science Foundation and provides advice to the president and the Congress on matters of national science and engineering policy.
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Nature does not align itself neatly into the pigeonholes of biology, chemistry, math, physics, or engineering. Rather, the natural world crisscrosses disciplinary boundaries with complex abandon. And as the body of knowledge of this complexity increases, so does the requirement for a higher threshold of scientific competency and greater interdisciplinary skill among researchers and educators.
To stimulate and cultivate more well-rounded scientists and engineers with greater interdisciplinary competence, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) awards to 21 doctorate-granting institutions, totaling $54.5 million over five years. "NSF has long recognized the demand for a high level of cross-disciplinary knowledge and expertise and is cultivating a 'new breed' of scientist and engineer through the IGERT program," said NSF’s Assistant Director for Education and Human Resources, Luther S. Williams.
This is the second year for these NSF training grants. Their intent is to produce scientists and engineers who are well prepared for a broad spectrum of emerging career opportunities in industry, government, and academia. IGERT allows students an in-depth, multidisciplinary education through coursework and research experience. A high priority is placed on students' communication and teamwork skills, international awareness, experience with modern instrumentation, and responsible conduct of research.
Rita Colwell, NSF director, says that the IGERT program is generating a culture change and new perspectives, for both students and faculty, on the role of researchers and their career opportunities. "The interdisciplinary programs, and student internships in industry, government and abroad, provide new opportunities for students, faculty, and institutions," Colwell told IGERT grantees at a recent meeting at NSF. "By building on the strengths of different departments and institutions, we are making graduate education more useful to students and more responsive to national needs."
"IGERT is the first program to integrate education and research at the graduate level," Williams added. In 1998, the National Science Board recommended changes to the federal government–university partnership in graduate education, including tightening the integration of research and education, in part, to broaden the career options of graduates to extend beyond traditional academic positions. The National Academy of Science’s Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP), also recommended repairing the "misalignment" between how graduate students are trained and what employers seek. COSEPUP's 1995 report, “Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers,” also recommended that communication and teamwork skills, multidisciplinary and applied research experience, and adaptability, be essential elements in training.
Graduate students supported under IGERT will be exposed to multidisciplinary graduate programs developed by the awardee institutions in emerging areas of science and engineering, areas that percolate through traditional boundaries and unite faculty from several departments or institutions. Supported projects are based upon a multidisciplinary research theme and are organized around a diverse group of investigators. The projects will also offer experiences relevant to both academic and nonacademic careers by linking graduate research with research in industry, national laboratories, and other nonacademic settings. For more details about IGERT seehttp://www.nsf.gov/igert/.
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The NOAA Corps ships Rude and Whiting and their crews were honored by the U.S. Coast Guard, along with other government agencies, in ceremonies in Boston on 30 July for their participation in the search and recovery operations involved with the plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr.; his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. James M. Loy presented the Unified Command Award to the Dept. of Transportation, FAA, NOAA, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Massachusetts State Police.
The NOAA awards were presented to Cmdr. Sam DeBow, on-scene hydrographer for the search and recovery operation, and to Lt. Cmdr. James Verlaque, commander of the NOAA Corps ship Rude, one of the two NOAA Corps ships, diverted to the scene. The other vessel, the Whiting, is commanded by Lt. Cmdr. Gerd Glang.
The award noted that the operation "demonstrated balance among operational issues, family needs, and public information demands when the operation switched from a search and rescue operation. The effectiveness of the recovery efforts provided a sense of closure for the families, facilitated investigations into the cause of the accident, curtailed unwarranted speculation, and precluded unsafe and unauthorized private salvage efforts."
The ships were dispatched to Massachusetts waters following the disappearance of the Kennedy plane on a flight from New York to Massachusetts on 16 July. The 90-foot Rude, one of the smaller ships in the NOAA Corps fleet, was conducting survey work in the Montauk, New York, area when it was diverted, and the 163-foot Whiting was operating in the Delaware Bay.
The ships were equipped with side-scan sonar, which is used to map the sea floor for the nation's nautical charts. The side-scan sonar is housed in a torpedo-shaped "fish" that is dragged by the ship, used primarily for surveying for data to be used in the nation's nautical charts. The side-scan sonar can provide an accurate acoustical image of the sea bottom up to 600 meters on each side of the ship.
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NASA launched a touring exhibit of NASA art at Washington's Union Station in July, along with Artrain, the nation's only traveling art museum on a train. The three-year exhibit, entitled "Artistry of Space," will travel to more than 120 communities in 48 states. The exhibit features 78 paintings, prints and drawings, including works such as Norman Rockwell's "Man's First Step on the Moon," a painting commissioned by Look Magazine in which Rockwell predicted with remarkable foresight the monumental event that would transpire later when Neil Armstrong became the first human to step onto the moon;" Andy Warhol's "Moonwalk," the famous image of Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon; Henry Casselli's "When Thoughts Turn Inward," a painting communicating the introspective sensitivity of astronaut John Young during suit-up prior to Columbia's launch in April 1981; and Lonny Schiff's "Satellite in Space," an abstract of a satellite deployed as a space station/shuttle-docking station for the International Space Station project. Other artists represented include Paul Calle, Lamar Dodd, Wilson Hurley, Peter Max, Robert McCall, Robert Rauschenberg, and James Wyeth.
The NASA art program began in 1962. Since then the agency has invited more than 250 American artists to witness first hand the U.S. space missions and to interpret space flight through their art, according to Paula Cleggett, NASA deputy associate administrator for Public Affairs, speaking at the inaugural cermonies at Union Station.
Four rail cars house the arts exhibition, while other cars have an interactive area, a gift shop, artist's studio, and staff administrative space. Daimler Chrysler is a cosponsor on the project.
The concept behind the project is to bring visual art exhibition and programs directly to communities that do not have access to museums or collections. Artrain was launched in 1971 by the Michigan Council for the Arts and proved such a success that it was invited to tour outside the state. In 1973, Artrain launched its first national tour with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and it has toured nationally ever since.
A typical Artrain visit is five days, Wednesday through Sunday. Generally, the train arrives on Wednesday for an opening reception. Thursdays and Fridays are reserved for scheduled school tours during the school year, and the exhibition is open to the general public on Saturdays and Sundays.
The "Artistry in Space" tour coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Apollo ll moon landing, which occurred on 20 July 1969. The train will begin its tour in the northeastern United States following its Washington, D.C. (20–25 July) and Tabeytown, Maryland. (5–8 August.) visits. The exhibit will stop in: Betlehem, Pennsylvania, 13–22 August; Munhall/Homestead, Pennsylvania, 2–6 September; Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 9–12 September; Atlantic City, New Jersey, 16–19 September; Seymour, Connecticut, 14–17 October; Lawrence, Massachusetts, 21–24 October; St. Albans, Vermont, 28–31 October, and sites to be determined in Vermont 4–7 and 11–14 November.
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The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) plan to establish a new Joint Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) in response to the clear need to enhance integrated observation of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans.
The recent 20th Session of the IOC Assembly and the 13th World Meteorological Congress have both given approval to a proposal for the new Joint Commission, which will be a high-level intergovernmental body of experts in oceanography and meteorology and which will represent a culmination of more than 30 years of IOC/WMO cooperation on ocean observing systems and services.
The new commissions will undertake coordination, regulation and management of cooperative operational marine observing programs, develop global exchange mechanisms for ocean data, and coordinate the provision of enhanced ocean services for all marine users. It is expected to eventually develop a worldwide system for ocean monitoring and forecasting similar to that now in place for many years for atmospheric monitoring.
The new commission will address such problems as El Ninõ/La Niña prediction, as well as more general studies of global climate and climate change. Such enhanced monitoring was identified by the Fourth Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 1998) as a priority issue for governments. The work of JCOMM will also lead to improved maritime safety services, as well as new meteorological and oceanographic data and services to support sustainable national development and the protection and management of the marine environment.
This initiative represents a new paradigm for cooperation between United Nations System agencies, involving a pooling of resources and expertise to address common issues. It will lead to enhanced efficiency and cost-effectiveness at the intergovernmental level, and to greater cooperation between national agencies and institutions dealing with the disciplines of meteorology and oceanography.
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Japan's National Space Development Agency (NASDA) hopes to start research next year for the development of a $600 million, four-satellite climate monitoring program, according to Space News.
In the 9 August issue, the publication noted that NASDA had requested roughly 120 milion yen ($1 million) for research on two Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM) satellites to be launched in 2005. The article reported that the project must receive approval from Japan's Space Activities Commission before it can proceed.
The first satellite, GCOM-A1, would emphasize atmospheric monitoring, while GCOM-B1 would carry up to five sensors and concentrate on Earth observation. The two succeeding satellites, GCOM-A2 and B2, would fly in 2010.
Quoting Chu Ishida, senior engineer of NASDA's Earth Observation Planning Department, the article read that NASDA plans to keep the total cost of the initial two satellites, including launch and mission expenses, below $600 million. NASDA's original Advanced Earth Observing Satellite, Midori, cost $800 million, and the follow-on Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-2 will cost an estimated $690 million.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp., NEC Corp., and Toshiba Corp., all in Japan, are participating in the initial design of the first two satellites, according to the article. It noted that NASDA plans to to issue a request for proposals by next spring to determine who would build what components.
The decision to split the mission into two satellites stems in part from the June 1997 failure of Midori. Among the immediate consequences was that NASDA had to delay and redesign Midori's successor, the 44 billion yen, 3.7 metric ton Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-2, to be launched next year.
International victims of Midori's loss included NASA, which lost its ocean sea win NSCAT scatterometer and was forced to launch the QuikSCAT satellite. The French space agency's solar radiation monitoring Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances sensor also was lost on Midori.
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The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya, issued a memorandum recently calling the world's attention to International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer on 16 September.
Theme for this year's focus is "Save Our Sky: Be Ozone Friendly." UNEP passed a resolution in 1994 calling for the world to recognize this observance "considering the urgent need to preserve the ozone layer that filters sunlight and prevents the adverse effects of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface" and to highlight the importance of the implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, concluded in Montreal on 16 September 1987.
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With the 1999 drought bringing the worst conditions in the Northeast in the 105-year history of keeping records, President Clinton established a task force to face the problem. The president announced his action on 6 August, the same day a news conference was called by NOAA, the Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Geological Survey to provide a detailed analysis of the extent of the drought.
Deputy Secretary of Commerce Robert Mallett, under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere D. James Baker, and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman emphasized in their presentations what the president had announced earlier in the day. That was that Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island were experiencing the worst drought since records were initiated 105 years ago.
Four other states, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and West Virginia, also experienced their second driest growing season during the period April– July, they said. A number of other states have applied for emergency assistance.
They emphasized, there appears to be no sign of alleviating the situation in the days ahead. "We need two feet of rain to overcome the deficit," Mallett explained. "The normal amount of rainfall is not going to erase that deficit." He pointed out that while natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes attract more public attention, droughts are just as much a natural disaster with damages reaching the same epic proportions.
Baker pointed out that the drought did not happen "overnight." Instead, he said, this started last summer and has continued ever since. In addition to the lack of precipitation, he explained, temperatures have been on the rise, increasing evaporation of what moisture there is and contributing further to the drought.
"Since July 1998, rainfall in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and the upper Ohio Valley has been 8 to 18 inches below average," he said. "To make matters worse, since April, a lingering and irregular jetstream pattern also caused a persistent heatwave that provided another crushing blow."
"The forecast for the future of normal rainfall...will not alleviate the deficit," Baker said. "This drought can continue for some time." He also added that while a higher number of hurricanes than normal are predicted for this year's hurricane season, they are not expected to produce enough precipitation to overcome the impact of the drought.
Glickman said the drought had not yet had a major impact on commodity prices, although corn, soy beans, new crops, and livestock prices are threatened. He said Congressional action to assist farmers and others with low-interest loans does not provide the necessary assistance needed and more specific disaster help should be considered.
He drew an analysis from the health industry in comparing natural disasters. Tornadoes and floods, he explained, are like heart attacks: fast, quick. Droughts, he said, are like cancer, slow and devastating. In a release distributed by the USGS, USGS Chief Meteorologist Robert Hirsch agreed "conditions do not look positive for any improvement in the immediate future."
In New England, he noted, 70% of streams have recorded below normal flows and record lows have been set in 13% of those streams. "In the Southeast," he said, " nearly 75% of streamflows are below normal...”
In contrast to the droughts, the North Central portion of the country continued its long-term wetness, with North Dakota having its second wettest and Minnesota its fourth wettest August–July period, officials said. Temperature-wise, they explained, nearly the entire country from the Great Basin eastward experienced exceptional warmth, with a majority of states ranking within the top five warmest such 12 months since records began.
The National Climatic Data Center defines the Northeast as: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
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In response to overwhelming interest in the drought currently facing parts of the nation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has set up a drought Web site at http://www.drought.noaa.gov.
Categories on the site include: National Drought Summary (updated weekly); Palmer Drought Severity Index; All About Droughts; All About the Palmer Index; Normal Precipitation for U.S. Stations; Billion Dollar Weather Disasters; All About Heat Waves; Fire Potential; Vegetation and Temperature Condition Index. In addition, there are links to The National Geophysical Data Center; The National Climatic Data Center; NOAA's Climate Diagnostics Center Drought Monitoring; and NOAA's Office of Hydrology.
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Even though the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season has produced one named tropical storm to date, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists still expect a busier-than-normal hurricane season across the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea during the peak period from mid-August through mid-October. In an update to the hurricane outlook NOAA released in May, scientists still say three or more intense Atlantic storms are possible this season, and residents living in communities along the East and Gulf coasts should remain prepared.
"Last year we had 14 named storms, and the first hurricane (Bonnie) didn't develop until mid-August," said Gerald Bell, a research meteorologist at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. "This year, many of the most prominent atmospheric and oceanic factors that can generate tropical storm and hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin are already in place, and are expected to persist through the season. Just because we haven't seen a hurricane yet this year, don't get fooled into thinking that this will be a light season."
Those factors, Bell said, include: low wind shear across the tropical Atlantic, below-average air pressure across the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, a structure and location of the African easterly jet, which may provide energy to developing storm systems, and above-average sea surface temperatures across the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
Bell added that "the expected continuation of these conditions is based on their strong link to existing patterns of tropical rainfall and cooler-than-average tropical Pacific Ocean temperatures (La Niña), both of which are expected to persist through the remainder of the hurricane season." La Niña refers to cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, which historically have contributed to a greater number of hurricanes in the Atlantic.
Last year, the CPC issued its first-ever Atlantic hurricane outlook in August and accurately forecast an above-normal number of tropical storms and hurricanes for the remainder of the season. In all, the 1998 hurricane season produced 14 tropical storms, including three major hurricanes. These storms inflicted $7.3 billion in damages and 23 fatalities in the United States alone. In an average season, the United States experiences between five and six hurricanes, two of which are severe and 1.5 storms make land fall.
Bell said two additional factors—reduced wind shear over the Caribbean Sea and a northward extension of deep tropical moisture and rainfall to the hurricane development region—that are typically observed during active hurricane seasons are not yet in place, but are expected to develop during the coming weeks.
Residents living in hurricane-vulnerable areas should remain vigilant, said Jerry Jarrell, director of NOAA's National Hurricane Center. "With only one tropical storm so far, the potential remains high for considerable activity in the 10 weeks remaining in the most active part of the typical season."
The latest hurricane outlook and hurricane information is available on the Internet at http:// www.noaa.gov
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Rapid intensification of hurricanes just before landfall presents a serious problem to National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasters and regional emergency managers. Hurricanes that pass over deep warm-water pools can become grave threats to human life and property, as happened when 1995's Opal intensified from a category 2 to a category 4 hurricane in only 14 hours. This hurricane season, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and University of Miami scientists will study rapid intensification caused by evaporation from a large warm-water eddy in the Gulf of Mexico.
On 3 August, Dr. Peter Black, of NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami, Florida, and Dr. Lynn Shay of the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) began directing a joint effort to study the warm eddy by deploying expendable ocean sensors from NOAA airplanes flying over the Gulf of Mexico. The 3–5 August aircraft flights took the eddy's pulse, deploying probes funded by the National Science Foundation to measure ocean currents, density, and temperature to a depth of 3000 ft.
"Major hurricanes (winds stronger than 115 mph) cause 80% of all hurricane-related damage, and rapid intensification causes major hurricanes. What we don't know are all the factors that can cause rapid intensification," says Dr. Hugh Willoughby, director of the Hurricane Research Division at AOML. "But what we do know is that warm eddies were a factor in some memorable Gulf storms."
The reason the eddies cause rapid hurricane intensification in the Gulf of Mexico is that they are pockets of heat energy stored in the warm ocean waters. Black and Shay want to study the deep warm water eddy now forming from the Loop Current, a stream of warm Caribbean water that enters the Yucatan Straits, meanders northward almost to the Gulf Coast, and exits into the Florida Straits after a sharp turn around the Florida Keys.
"We believe that eddies like this one were the cause of rapid intensification in Opal ('95), Camille ('69), and several other Gulf hurricanes," said Black. "Should a hurricane cross this year's eddy, we will measure not only the change in eddy characteristics, but the physical characteristics of the atmospheric environment around the storm. In this way we hope to discover the relative importance of the ocean eddy and environmental wind shear in determining hurricane intensity change."
A warm eddy such as the one present in the Gulf this summer is a tremendous source of energy to a storm that passes over it. The hurricane winds draw heat from the water to fuel the storm, mixing the warm upper water with the cooler waters below as the storm passes by. Because the layer of warm water is so thick in the eddy, the ocean surface there is less susceptible to storm-induced cooling than it is outside the eddy.
Black and Shay hope that data gathered during this study will enhance knowledge and predictability of major hurricanes, which translates to increased warning time and better coastline preparedness. "We look at a major hurricane in the Gulf with mixed emotions. It can't get out without destroying some coastal real estate. On the other hand, the only way to learn exactly how the ring affects rapid intensification requires that a hurricane passes over the eddy," said Willoughby.
The study entailed several flights in WP-3D aircraft, operated by NOAA'a Aircraft Operation Center. This plane has been used by NOAA scientists for 25 years to study atmospheric conditions in and around hurricanes. Dropwindsonde instruments launched in the storm's environment from NOAA's new Gulf Stream-IV jet surveillance aircraft will measure atmospheric winds, pressure, temperature, and humidity as they fall to the ocean's surface (see related story).
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Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, are once again climbing aboard NOAA's two WP-3D Orion airplanes and begin a season of experiments aimed at improving hurricane track and intensity forecasting (see related story).
The first experiment will use new ocean measurement probes to study a large eddy of warm water now located in the Gulf of Mexico and the role these warm water energy pockets play in the rapid intensification of hurricanes. These results will be contrasted with the role of large-scale weather systems, such as wind shear, in hurricane intensification. Scientists believe that deep, warm-water eddies have caused Gulf hurricanes such as Camille in 1969, and Opal in 1995, to become more intense just hours before landfall.
The second test will measure winds around the hurricanes and incorporate the measurements in computer forecasting models. The 1999 experiments build upon 17 previous years' results, which showed that forecast accuracy increased by as much as 31% when compared to models run without the observations. By targeting specific points around the storm that provide the most crucial data for accurate forecasting, this project aims to further increase forecast accuracy.
The third major experiment is designed to increase accuracy of analyzed surface winds at hurricane landfall. The same information is used to define the extent of evacuation zones along the shoreline. Data is collected from instruments dropped from the planes, airborne and land-based Doppler radars, satellites, and buoys.
Since 1956 NOAA scientists and NOAA Corps researchers and aviators have made arduous research flights directly through the centers of Atlantic hurricanes in winds sometimes as high as 180 mph. The goals of these airborne experiments are more accurate hurricane predictions and more timely warnings. NOAA's Hurricane Center, Climate Prediction Center, and Hurricane Research Division expect the 1999 hurricane season to be above average during its peak from 1 August–31 October.
The 1999 Hurricane Program Field Plan can be found on the World Wide Web at http://queue/hrd/HFP/1999/index.html
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With a greater number of hurricanes than normal expected for this year's hurricane season—thanks to the influence of La Niña and other factors—UCAR has released a range of Web sites and experts that can be reached for answers to questions about the devastating storms.
They include:
Related sites:
· http://www.dir.ucar.edu.esig/HP_roger/sourcebook/hurricane.html—NCAR/ESIG Extreme Weather Sourcebook.
· http://www.nhc.noaa.gov— NOAA Tropical Prediction Center (TPC).
· http://banzai.neosoft.com/citylink/blake/tropical.html— Atlantic Tropical Weather Center.
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It's official—Mount Baker, Washington, has set a new record for the most snowfall ever measured in the United States in a single season, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on 3 August.
The Mount Baker Ski Area in northwestern Washington State reported 1140 inches of snowfall for the 1998–99 snowfall season. The figure was scrutinized by the National Climate Extremes Committee, which is responsible for evaluating potential national record-setting extreme events. The committee, composed of experts from NOAA, the American Association of State Climatologists, and a regional expert from the Western Regional Climate Center, made a unanimous recommendation to the director of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center to accept the figure.
"In accepting the validity of the 1140 inches of snowfall at Mount Baker, the National Climatic Data Center recognizes that a new record has been set," said Tom Karl, director of the center. "The previous U.S. seasonal snowfall record was 1122 inches, set during the 1971–1972 snowfall season at Mount Rainer/Paradise, a location located at 5500 feet on the slopes of Mount Rainer, about 150 miles south of Mount Baker."
Snowfall can be extremely difficult to measure accurately because it settles, melts, and during times of wind, drifts from place to place. The committee reports that the measurements met snowfall observation standards and practices prescribed by the National Weather Service, and were thus considered to be an accurate depiction of snowfall amounts that fell.
"The measurement frequency was once a day; a flat surface was used to measure daily snowfall amounts; and a snow stake for snow-depth measurement was also in place," said Raymond Downs, an observations standards expert on the committee. "Both snowfall and snow depth were measured in acceptable locations. The bottom line is the observations were taken in a manner that meets official observation standards."
Robert Leffler, team leader for the evaluation, said, "Committee members voted to recognize the amount as a new U.S. record because of several factors. These include acceptable snowfall measurement methods, detailed record-keeping, and other corroborative evidence such as independent snow data from other sources, eyewitness accounts, and unusual damage to trees and structures resulting from the crushing weight of the deep snow pack and avalanches."
The Mount Baker Ski Area is located at an elevation of 4200 feet, nine miles northeast of the summit of the Mount Baker volcano. The snowfall season is for the period from 1 July 1998 through 30 June 1999. The committee was concerned only with national records for the United States. However, this total also stands as a world record for a verifiable amount.
The heavy snowfalls normally experienced in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State are the result of several factors. Winter is naturally the wettest season as the west–east planetary circulations expands southward and strengthens in speed, with storms striking the Pacific Northwest every few days. Air laden with moisture after its journey across the Pacific is forced to ascent the Cascade Range, dropping abundant precipitation. Freezing levels average about 4000 feet over the winter months, so that near this altitude snowfall amounts increase very rapidly with just small increases in elevation. This season, a moderately strong La Niña pattern is credited with accentuating this stormy pattern, with a much higher frequency of wet and cold weather systems affecting especially the area from the Cascade Range westward. Freezing levels remained abnormally consistently low throughout the winter.
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The current La Niña episode will last through the winter of 1999–2000, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Prediction. This means the nation will continue to experience a meteorological mix of drier-than-normal conditions on the East Coast and greater amounts of precipitation in the Northwest, and the threat of a busier-than-normal Atlantic hurricane season.
La Niña is characterized by unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific, which trigger atmospheric patterns that influence weather around the world. For states in the Pacific Northwest, that means wetter-than-normal conditions. Along the southern tier, states typically experience drier, warmer conditions. While its strength has diminished from the potency it had last winter, La Niña will continue to influence weather around the United States, including a continuation of drought conditions in some states, excessive precipitation in others, and a more active hurricane season with at least three major storms.
A recent weakening of the easterly trade winds in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific increased sea surface temperatures slightly, but the overall upper- ocean temperature structure still indicates La Niña conditions. "In the late spring, or early summer, it's common to see some weakening in La Niña, or El Niño, but it is not an indication that the episode is going away," cautions Dr. Louis Uccellini, director of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction.
Using three of its own forecast models and the data from several others, along with information from weather satellites and data buoys in the Pacific, NOAA scientists have improved their understanding of oceanic and atmospheric connections and their skills predicting the El Niño and La Niña phenomena. NOAA accurately forecasted months in advance the impacts of the 1997–98 El Niño, called the "Event of the Century," as well as the current La Niña event. These long-range forecasts helped communities, including farmers, city planners, emergency and utility managers, prepare for potential, often damaging impacts.
For regular updates about La Niña on the Internet at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov.
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The National Weather Service (NWS) marked the completion of its 12-year, $4.5 billion modernization program on 26 July.
In ceremonies at the NWS Sterling (VA) Forecast Office, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Robert L. Mallett, NOAA Administrator D. James Baker, NWS Director John J. Kelly Jr., and Leonard Pomata, president, PRC, Inc. praised individuals and groups that had made completion of the project possible and outlined the advantages that would accrue in forecasting as a result of the integration of 150 AWIPS—Advance Weather Interactive Processing Systems—to the NWS operations.
Prior even to the completion of the modernization program, the use of AWIPS had proved itself, speakers pointed out. That was on 3 May when a series of deadly tornadoes swept through Oklahoma and Kansas. With the new equipment, forecasters were able to study the storm with an integrated system of satellite information, radar and surface observations, and provide at least 13 minutes of warning in some cases. Although 45 lives were lost in those storms, the early warnings provided by the weather service and the media were instrumental in saving what most persons believe would have been hundreds of lives.
This technology, explained Mallett, will pay big dividends in saving lives and reducing property damage in the future. He explained that "this is one time the government made a promise and kept it." He was referring to documents signed by Commerce Secretary promising completion of the modernization on time and on budget. The reason the modernization is so important, he continued, is that the United States has the most violent weather in the world, with the possible exception of China. The weather events, he explained, affect a great many of the nation's industries, such as airlines, trucking, and farming, to name a few.
Calling AWIPS "truly the jewel in the crown" of the modernization program, Mallett said the completion of the installation of AWIPS throughout NWS is a "milestone" in the revolution of weather services for our country. Mallett cited how warning times had improved over the years and predicted how they are expected to improve in the future. With tornadoes, he said, average warning times in 1998 were only three minutes. In 1999, they are 11 minutes. In the year 2000, they are expected to be 16 minutes, and by 2005 a full 20 minutes. With flash floods, warning times have risen from 22 minutes in 1993 to 54 minutes in 1999 and are expected to go to 62 minutes in 2005.
The modernization program incorporates the high-technology AWIPS system at 152 locations across the country. Combined with that are 164 Doppler radar facilities, Automatic Surface Observing Sysems (ASOS) at nearly 1000 sites, and both geostationary and polar-orbiting weather satellites.
"The modernization process we've been engaged in for the past decade is not just a Weather Service success story, but an NOAA success story," Baker continued. "Many NOAA scientists have contributed research and development expertise to the systems the Weather Service uses, and NOAA's satellite and data management branches are critical elements in the weather services provided to the nation."
"Our vision is to be America's no-surprise weather service, and we are well on our way," said Kelly. He cited how the modernization program had helped in the earlier warnings in the tornado outbreaks last May and how, in July 1998, AWIPS helped forecasters in Salt Lake City see heavy rains in Zion National Park in time to warn of flash floods that resulted in at least 40 hikers being saved.
Pomata, speaking for Litton and PRC, of McLean, Virginia, the prime AWIPS contractor, said, "We are most proud to be an integral part of this important national program and look forward to continuing to work with the weather service to constantly improve the life-saving capabilities of the AWIPS system."
Kelly stressed in his remarks that while the modernization had been completed, improvement will continue and emphasized that the system is designed so that improvements can be integrated easily in the future as they become available and without necessitating a major overhaul like the just-completed modernization program. Kelly praised the NOAA and NWS employees for their roles in the development and implementation of the modernization program, particularly citing Mary Glackin, the AWIPS program manager. He also underscored the assistance the media, particularly the television weathercasters, play in bringing warnings to the public. He emphasized, too, that while the weather service can improve warning times, the final element in the picture is that citizens must heed those warnings if they are to be successful.
During the ceremonies, speakers said that for an investment that costs each American about $4 a year, the NWS issues more than 734 000 weather forecasts and 850 000 river and flood forecasts, in addition to between 45 000 and 50 000 potentially life-saving severe weather warnings annually.
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The Environmental Protection Agency is issuing a new Air Quality Index that provides critical information about precautions Americans should take on days when air pollution poses threats to human health.
The improved index was announced by Vice President Gore in ceremonies during ground-breaking ceremonies for the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York in July. The new index, for the first time, includes special precautions Americans with sensitive health conditions should take, particularly the six million children with asthma.
"The new Air Quality Index will provide a uniform format nationwide as well as new health messages for sensitive groups, such as children with asthma," Gore said. "This new index will be used by local weather forecasters throughout the country to provide improved information about levels of local air pollution and the precautions people should take to protect themselves on days when air pollution exceeds health standards and poses threats to public health."
In addition to the new Air Quality Index, EPA is making information about summer smog available on its Internet Web site, which currently shows animated maps of smog dispersion in real time in 25 states. This Ozone Mapping Project is expected to be expanded to all 50 states in two years. The Web site is at http://www.epa.gov/airnow.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a handbook to help state and local government officials to implement ozone monitoring, mapping and outreach programs.
The handbook, called "Ozone Monitoring, Mapping and Public Outreach: Delivering Real-Time Ozone Information to Your Community," provides step-by- step instructions on how to:
The handbook was developed by EPA's EMPACT program. That program takes advantage of new technologies that make it possible to provide environmental information to the public in real time. EMPACT is working with the 86 largest metropolitan areas of the country to help communities in these areas.
Ground-level ozone, a major component of smog, is an air pollutant that can cause several types of short-term health effects to the lungs. It is distinct from ozone in the upper atmosphere, which protects the Earth from the sun's harmful; ultraviolet rays. In September, both print and CD-ROM versions of the handbook will be available for direct online ordering from EPA's Office of Research and Development Technology Transfer Web site at http://www.epa.gov//ttbnrmrl/.
The handbook can be downloaded from EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards AirNow Web site at http://www.epa.gov/aairnow. One also can obtain a copy by contacting the EMPACT program office at (202) 564-6791 or fax (202) 565-1966.
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The U.S. Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center West and the Typhoon Tracking Center at Guam have moved to new quarters. The move closed a significant chapter in history, beginning with the establishment of the Typhoon Tracking Center on the Pacific Island following devastating fleet losses in the typhoons of 1944 and 1945.
Recent advances in satellite technology creating the ability to monitor weather and track typhoons over large areas of ocean, made the move practical, according to an article in the May/June issue of Naval Meteorology & Oceanography Command.
The Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center West has moved to Yokosuka, Japan, the article reported, while the Typhoon Warning Center has shifted to the Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The new upgraded facility at Yokosuka is responsible for providing environmental support for Department of Defense operations over 53 million square miles in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, an area nearly twice the size of any other support center in the Navy's meteorology and oceanography community.
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The National Science Board (NSB) recently approved five new National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Centers (STCs), agreeing to commit almost $94 million over five years in a range of important scientific and technological areas. The new centers will embark upon five-year cooperative agreements with NSF. "We are delighted to have this wide range of projects before us that hold so much promise for discovery, while creating such exciting educational components," Deborah Crawford, program manager in NSF's Office of Integrative Activities, said.
NSF established the Science and Technology Center program in 1987 to respond to a presidential commitment to fund important fundamental research activities that also create educational opportunities. The program was also designed to encourage technology transfer and provide innovative approaches to interdisciplinary research challenges. These are the first new STC awards in eight years. From the first two competitions in 1989 and 1991, 23 STCs were still in operation before today's additions authorized by the NSB. In 1997, the STC program was modified to emphasize the special contributions partnerships bring to the program. When the awards are added, more than 36 U.S. colleges and universities, along with government labs, and some international academic institutions, will participate.
Among the five STCs just approved is a new center for water sustainability, led by The University of Arizona. The university has established a complex partnership among a host of universities, government labs and private sources to explore water management in semiarid regions, a particularly contentious issue that will be studied from the scientific, social, political, and educational perspectives.
Among other new STC awards authorized by the NSB is a center for nanobiotechnology (led by Cornell University) that will research the potential for miniature biotechnologies that have potential wide applications in health care. A center for adaptive optics (led by University of California, Santa Cruz) will explore how to correct for a range of visual distortions that will impact fields in astronomy through opthamology. A behavioral neuroscience center (led by Emory University in Atlanta) will attempt to break new ground in understanding how behavior emerges from the interaction of the nervous system's molecular components. A new center for environmentally responsible solvents and processes (led by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) will research how to use carbon dixoide as an industrial solvent, which could affect a wide range of industries. For more information see http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/stc/start.htm.
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Microbes entirely unknown to science may exist in liquid water in Lake Vostok, thousands of meters beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. That possibility is one of several intriguing mysteries that justify undertaking the logistical challenges of exploring the lake, according to a new report from a workshop funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The report, "Lake Vostok: A Curiosity or a Focus for Interdisciplinary Study," concludes that the lake "may represent a unique region for detailed scientific investigation" for several reasons. Among them is the possibility that conditions under the ice may approximate those on Europa, a frozen moon of Jupiter, and so may indicate whether life may be able to exist in harsh conditions elsewhere in the solar system.
The report represents the conclusions reached by scientists from a variety of fields who met in Washington, D.C., last November. The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University and the University of Hawaii jointly organized the meeting.
Lake Vostok is roughly the size of Lake Ontario in the United States. Vostok Station—a Russian scientific outpost, which once recorded the lowest temperature on Earth (-126.9º F)—is located in the vicinity of the lake. As part of a joint United States, French, and Russian research project, Russian teams have drilled down into the ice covering the lake, producing the world's deepest ice core. But drilling was deliberately stopped roughly 120 meters above where the ice and liquid water meet to prevent possible contamination.
The report concludes that Lake Vostok merits further scientific investigation, including devising a way to drill through the ice sheet to reach the water—and lake-bottom sediments—without contaminating them. The report notes that there are several reasons other than the possibility of discovering unknown forms of life for exploring the lake. Water below the ice, which has been cut off from the outside world for hundreds of thousands of years, may have a unique chemical composition. There may also be an active tectonic rift below the lake, which may be warming its waters. Or sediments at the lake bottom may contain a record of ancient climate conditions.
Robin E. Bell, a geophysicist and a coeditor of the report, says it "illustrates the emerging importance of the lake for understanding the processes which may have triggered the evolutionary explosion on earth and perhaps on other planets as well as deciphering the geologic history of Antarctica."
NSF's Office of Polar Programs, through the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), coordinates all U.S. scientific research on the continent. NSF will send a delegation of U.S. scientists to represent the consensus of opinion contained in the report at a meeting of the international Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), scheduled for September in Cambridge, England.
At that meeting, scientists will discuss the scientific objectives of subglacial lake exploration and will examine the logistical and engineering requirements for exploring the lake. The SCAR meeting also will assess the risk of contamination posed by various exploration techniques and will consider a schedule for accomplishing the scientific goal of exploring the lake. For copies of the report, in PDF and Postscript formats, see: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/vostok/.
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USGS recently developed a Web publication,"Making a World of Difference: Recent USGS Contributions to the Nation." The publication explains how the USGS pulls together different information resources to identify earthquakes and landslide hazards in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and California; track the course of floods; develop ways to halt ground water contamination; reduce harmful nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay, count migratory birds, and develop educational tools to teach children to read maps.
The publication can be read on the World Wide Web by going to http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/world/.
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NOAA scientists are now using satellite data to characterize urban areas to help researchers assess global climate change and determine the effect of urbanization on temperature records, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on 3 August.
Data derived from the Operational Linescan System of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP-OLS) was originally only used to monitor the global distribution of clouds and cloud top temperatures. However, the data acquired by the visible sensor at night under cloud-free conditions can provide a view of the light emitted from the earth's surface. This data is capable of identifying urban and rural locations as it identifies the light associated with urban locales.
Kevin Gallo, a scientist with NOAA's National Environmental, Satellite, Data, and Information Services, along with other NOAA scientists, has demonstrated that there is an important function for this distinction between urban and rural areas. As a result of this distinction, new analysis is being made on the influence of urbanization on temperature records.
Urban development usually results in a dramatic change of the earth's surface, as natural vegetation is removed and replaced by surfaces such as stone, metal, asphalt, and concrete. Urban surfaces generally store and release more heat to the surrounding environment than natural vegetation, which results in increased temperatures observed within the urban environment. Changes in surface features—from natural vegetation to urban surfaces—may therefore result in greater temperatures. Knowledge of the past and present environment where temperatures are observed is important for long-term climate analysis.
"We compared vegetation indices and radiant surface temperatures acquired by the AVHRR—a radiometer aboard NOAA polar orbiting satellites—with air temperatures observed for urban and rural locations," explained Gallo. "The satellite data were found to be useful for monitoring the differences observed between urban and rural air temperatures."
Using the DMSP-OLS data to determine whether an area is urban or rural is beneficial to assessing the climatic implications of urbanization. The future influence of urban areas on temperature records will likely be obtained from analyses that combine satellite and surface-based data.
Information on the DMSP-OLS satellite can be found at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/. NOAA's "Nighttime Lights" program can be found at http://julius.ngdc.noaa.gov:8080/production/html/BIOMASS/night.html. Further information of the use of satellite-derived data to monitor urban environments can be found at http://research.umbc.edu/~tbenja1//gallo/gallo.html.
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The launch of GOES-L, an advanced U.S. weather satellite that will monitor hurricanes, severe thunderstorms, and other severe weather, has been delayed until October, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced on 13 July 1999.
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite was originally planned for launch on 15 May. It was delayed at that time to allow NASA and NOAA time to review recent launch failures. It also allowed results of internal reviews by the rocket manufacturers.
One such investigation is of the recent failure of a Boeing Delta III rocket, which uses the RL-10 upper-state engine, the same engine used on the Atlas Centaur for the GOES-L mission. Investigation of the Delta III is not expected to be completed in time to support a GOES-L launch before the next eclipse season, which runs from late August until mid-October. During that time, the earth would be between the sun and the satellite for a maximum of 72 minutes each day. The solar arrays would not be in sufficient sunlight for the planned orbit-raising sequence. After the launch constraints are resolved, NOAA and NASA will explore the first launch opportunity after 5 October with Lockheed Martin.
The GOES-L satellite was demated from the AC-137 Atlas IIA rocket on Launch Pad 36A on 16 June, and was returned to Astrotech, Titusville, Florida, its original integration facility. While the satellite is at Astrotech, its batteries are being reconditioned, and a gaseous nitrogen purge is being performed to components on the satellite to prevent degradation.
The United States operates two meteorological satellites in geostationary orbit 22 300 miles over the equator, one over the East Coast and one over the West Coast. GOES-8, launched in April 1994 on an Atlas, is overlooking the East Coast out into the Atlantic Ocean and is positioned at 75ºW . GOES-10, launched on an Atlas on 25 April 1997, is currently overlooking the West Coast out into the Pacific including Hawaii; it is located at 135º W longitude.
GOES-L, to be renamed GOES-11 once in orbit, will be stored on orbit ready for operation when needed as a replacement for GOES-8 or -10. GOES-L will ensure continuity of GOES data from two GOES satellites.
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For nearly a decade, University of Washington atmospheric chemist Robert Charlson has suggested that, in some regions, tiny particles from industrial pollution actually are countering the atmospheric warming effects of greenhouse gases.
The theory, based on 30 years of observations and technology patented by the university, has caused NASA to plan a mission that will provide data to help scientists better understand the role of those submicron-sized particles in human-caused climate change. The mission, called PICASSO-CENA., will use light detection and ranging, or lidar, the optical cousin of radar, to globally measure how much sunlight is reflected into space by clouds and pollution particles. Those particles, called aerosols, make up the haze found so often in the Eastern United States or the Los Angeles area.
Charlson, an emeritus professor of atmospheric sciences and chemistry, has a particular interest in aerosols because, even on a clear day, they are present in the skies in and downwind from industrial regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They are about the same size as the wavelength of the light they reflect, which is what makes them so effective, Charlson notes. If they are larger or smaller, he contends, their effect would be far less. The particles partially reflect the sun's heat and partially counter greenhouse warming, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere.
"You could reach the frightening conclusion that we have learned how to pollute just right because they don't neatly offset each other," he said. "The greenhouse effect works 24 hours a day everywhere, and the aerosol effect only works during the day and only in certain places." In addition, he explained, greenhouse gases last for years while aerosols dissipate in days or weeks. With a serious reduction of industrial emissions, the atmosphere's aerosol content could decline quickly, he said, raising the prospect of more rapid climate warming.
Charlson was the first to propose that aerosols reflect enough sunlight away from Earth to offset the effects of greenhouse warming regionally. He was the lead author for a 1992 article in the journal Science that led to the formation of a National Academy of Science Panel to study aerosol effects. That panel's recommendation was the impetus for PICASSO-CENA (Pathfinder Instruments for Cloud and Aerosol Spaceborne Observations-Climatologie Etendue des Nuages et des Aerosols), scheduled for launch in 2003.
As planned, the satellite will travel in a north–south polar orbit 435 miles high, making repetitive passes and constantly gathering information while the earth spins below. The sun-synchronous orbit means that the spacecraft will cross the Equator alternately around noon and midnight, collecting data both in daylight and darkness.
The mission is a collaboration of NASA's Langley Reserch Center, Hampton, Va.; the French space agency, Centre d'Etudes Spatiales; the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace near Paris; Hampton (Va.) University; Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Charlson notes that the idea of climate change often is expressed simplistically as "global warming." But, while the Earth's mean surface temperature has risen about 0.6 degrees Celsius this century, some places are actually cooler, perhaps because of the aerosol influence.
He is concerned that oversimplification will lend credence to those who argue there is no reason for concern because the temperature has risen only a fraction of a degree. That view, he said, doesn't take into consideration a host of other possible climatic changes--such as the amount and form of precipitation, severe storms and unusual weather extremes.
"The changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere influence all of these things," he explained. "The driving concern is the fact that the human population has changed the chemical composition of the entire atmosphere of the planet."
The best documented change is a 30 percent increase in carbon dioxide during the last century that, among other things, has triggered a fundamental change in photosynthesis for all plants, he said, and it remains to be determined when and where that change might be good or bad.
While PICASSO-CENA will provide greater data about particles from industrial pollution, there are many other sources of aerosols, including volcanoes, burning forests, agricultural waste and diesel engines, and their effects remain to be measured, Charlson said.
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On Aug. 10, 1999, the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite celebrated its seventh Birthday. Launched on August 10, 1992, this joint US/France satellite has collected information about the height of the sea surface at an unprecedented accuracy of 2.5 cm. With this information, scientists have mapped and forecasted the impacts of the 1997-98 El Nino and the ongoing La Nina.
These first global measurements of the changing oceanic heat have vastly improved our understanding of the oceans and how they exchange energy with our planet's atmosphere to alter the weather and climate. Data is available through
http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www-aviso.cls.cnes.fr.
Additionally, in the last seven years many applications/societal benefits of altimeter data have evolved. These include use by the offshore industries for high precision work such as cable laying, fisheries management, improving hurricane forecasts, and use by ship navigators to chart optimal routes across the global oceans. Applications/societal benefits information is available through
http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/science/science.html and
http://sirius-ci.cst.cnes.fr:8090/HTML/information/frames/
applications/welcome_uk.html.
The TOPEX/POSEIDON office has also made a strong effort to reach out to the general public, educators and students. For access to educational activities, including a recipe for El Nino pudding, classroom activities, posters and CD- ROMs see http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/education.html.
Altimeter data and El Nino exhibits can be seen at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland Oregon, and at the Cabrillo Aquarium in California. A "Space and Sea" exhibit featuring TOPEX/POSEIDON continues at the Toulouse Space Museum in France. http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov
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The Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is taking a leading role in using satellites to monitor the health of coral reefs around the world, the agency announced on July 27, 1999.
“Several initiatives resulted from a recent workshop that NOAA co-sponsored," said NOAA oceanographer Al Strong, who coordinated the workshop. "One is to use existing data from sources such as NOAA weather satellites, Landsat, the Space Shuttle, and the SPOT satellite to establish data sets that can be used as a baseline for studying coral health. Using existing data also avoids costs involved with launching new satellites."
The workshop, which addressed coral health and explored the use of satellites to monitor coral health, was held in Honolulu last month. Experts from around the world also stressed the need to gain access to and use declassified military data to create a detailed, uniform set of coral reef maps that can be used to study changes in corals over time.
Coral reefs are home to about a million fish and other species. Coral reefs also attract divers and other tourists to tropical coasts. This recreation and travel supports a significant tourism industry dependent on clean waters and healthy coral reefs. Reefs provide billions of dollars in annual revenues to countries such as the United States, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, and Egypt.
In recent years, scientists have documented coral mortality at levels far greater than previously. This mass mortality of corals is largely attributed to widespread coral bleaching associated with the 1997-1998 El Niño and large-scale epidemics of coral disease.
"NOAA satellites carry remote sensing tools to monitor coral bleaching, and we are looking for other ways to monitor coral health," said NOAA Administrator D. James Baker. "Bleaching can be a sign that the coral is being stressed by a number of factors, including pollution, sedimentation, high light levels, reduced water levels, or changes in salinity. NOAA's Hot Spot tracking system uses satellite data to identify areas of the ocean that are conducive to bleaching. It can provide an early warning of coral bleaching events. NOAA is also developing a long-term data stewardship program so that scientists will have easy access to baseline coral reef data generations from now."
The workshop was sponsored by NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; NOAA's Coastal Services Center; and the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, based in the Philippines.
For more information, and for the workshop's recommendations for action, visit the Web site at: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/coral_reefs/index.html
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Scientists have developed a new means of conveying the risks associated with asteroids and comets that might collide with Earth.
The risk-assessment scale, similar to the Richter Scale used for Earthquakes, was developed by scientists meeting in Torino, Italy in June and was to be endorsed by the International Astronomical Union during a meeting in Vienna, Austria, in July.
To be known as the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, it will assign values to celestial objects moving near Earth. The scale will run from zero to 10. An object with a value of zero or one will have virtually no chance of causing damage on Earth. A 10 means a certain global climatic catastrophe.
The scale was created by Dr. Richard P. Binzel, professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT. The scale takes into account the object's size and speed, as well as the probability that it will collide with Earth. The scale can be used at different levels of complexity by scientists, science journalists and the public
Close encounters, assigned Torino-scale values from two to seven, could be categorized as ranging from "events meriting concern" to "threatening events." Certain collisions would merit values of eight, nine or 10, depending on whether the impact energy is enough to cause local, regional or global devastation.
No asteroid identified to date ever has had a value greater than one, noted Binzel, who has been working on the scale for five years. Several asteroids that had initial hazard scale values of one have been reclassified to zero after additional orbit measurements showed that the chances of impact with Earth were essentially zero.
Increasingly sophisticated equipment such as the Lincoln Near Earth Research Project at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA, is used to detect and track a growing number of an estimated 2,000 Near-Earth Objects larger than about a half-mile (one kilometer) in diameter. Using technology developed for the surveillance of Earth-orbiting satellites, the project has detected almost 250,000 asteroids to date. Of these, 228 are newly-discovered Near-Earth Objects.
Scientists use tracking data to calculate where the asteroid will be in 10, 15 and 100 years. There is some uncertainty in these predictions because the orbit measurements are not perfect, and the path of an object may be altered by gravity as it passes close to Earth or another planet. As more information is gathered about a particular asteroid, its placement on the Torino scale can be adjusted.
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Peter J. Auster, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has been named one of 11 1999 Pew Marine Conservation Fellows. The award is the world's largest and most prestigious in the area of sea preservation.
Recipients of the 10th annual Pew Fellowships include an environmental journalist, an underwater photographer, academicians, and national policymakers. Each "Ocean Champion" receives an award of $150,000 to carry out innovative, interdisciplinary projects that address conservation challenges facing the seas.
Auster works both as research coordinator for NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and as a fisheries ecologist for the National Undersea Research Center in Connecticut. He will use his Pew Fellowship award to assess degradation of the deep-shelf sea floor bottom from bottom trawling. In addition, Auster plans to develop and distribute education materials to inform the public about the diversity of ocean habitats and their importance in supporting healthy stocks of fish.
Auster recently took part in a fish ecology project in Stellwagen Bank as part of the Sustainable Seas Expedition, a five-year project of ocean exploration and conservation in the nation's national marine sanctuaries. The Expeditions, made possible by a $5 million grant from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, join in partnership the National Geographic Society and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An interview with Auster during the SSE mission is
available online at http://sustainableseas.noaa.gov/.
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Rear Adm. Evelyn Fields assumed command of NOAA Corps Operations in ceremonies at the Washington Naval Yard on 27 July. Fields is the first woman and first African American director of NOAA Corps Operations, which includes civiians and officers of the NOAA Commissioned Corps.
President Bill Clinton nominated Capt. Fields for the position of NOAA Corps director on Jan. 19. The Senate confirmed her nomination on May 6; she was promoted to rear admiral, upper half, by NOAA Administrator D. James Baker the next day, and began serving as director at that time. The July ceremony was a formal recognition of her new position.
Fields began her career with NOAA in 1972 as a civilian cartographer at the Atlantic Marine Center in Norfolk, Va., and in1973, shortly after NOAA began recruiting women, was the first African-American woman to join the NOAA Corps. She is now the most senior woman in the Corps.
During her 26 years as a NOAA Corps officer, Fields has served in a variety of staff and operational billets with increasing responsibilities. Most notably, she was the first woman to serve as commanding officer on a NOAA ship, the McArthur, as well as the first woman to command a federal ship for an extended period within the nation's uniformed services. She was selected to be the second U.S. Exchange Hydrographer with Canada. Most recently, she served as deputy assistant administrator of NOAA's National Ocean Service.
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At 92 years of age, Fred Whipple, the noted Harvard astronomer who gave comets the name "dirty snowballs," has been named to serve on a NASA space mission team.
Whipple, the oldest researcher ever to accept an active role in a NASA space science mission, is joining the agency Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour), scheduled for launch in 2002. Previously, the oldest researcher known to actively work on a NASA mission was James Van Allen, the physicist who discovered the Van Allen radiation belts. He worked on the Galileo mission to Jupiter at the age of 83.
The Contour mission will visit comets Encke, Schwasssmann-Wachmann 3 and d- Arrest. The unmanned mission will take images and comparative spectral maps of cometary nuclei and analyze the dust and gas flowing from them.
Whipple's research on comets set the astronomical world on its axis in 1950 when he theorized that the gases comets pour out as they travel around the sun come from the icy shroud of the cometary nucleus. Solar rays heat the water ice, releasing the water as gas. This so-called gas gives comet watchers on Earth views of sweeping comet tails. Because of the water ice and other cosmic debris packed into a comet, Whipple coined the term "dirty snowball."
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Rear Adm. Richard "Dick" West has been named Oceanographer of the Navy. He succeeds Rear Adm. W.G. "Jerry" Ellis.
West has been deputy director for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization with the Department of Defense. A native of the Finger Lakes region of New York and a graduate of of the University of Rochester, he holds master's degrees in management and national security.
He has served on several ships with homeports on both coasts and deployed to the Mediterranean, Pacific and Persian Gulf numerous times. He served in Vietnam with the riverine forces and commanded ships during hostilities in the Persian Gulf. His commands included the USS Opportune, USS McInerney and the USS Leahy.
West has served shore tours with the Navy's independent operational testing organization. He also was deputy chief of staff for operations for CINCSOUTH in Naples, Italy, and Commanding Officer Surface Warfare Officers School, Newport, R.I.
His personal awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with three awards, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal and various service and campaign medals.
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Television's first weatherman, Clint Youle, died Friday, July 23, 1999, from complications related to a stroke, according to Reuters News Wire. He was 83.
In 1948, Mr. Youle became television's first weatherman in Chicago and improvised his earliest broadcasts by scrawling with a black marker over a map bought at a local store.
Mr. Youle had studied meteorology in the U.S. Air Force (Army Air Corps) during World War II and worked on newspapers and radio. At the dawn of the television age, he launched an 11-year career as a weather forecaster for Chicago's NBC-TV affiliate. "He had a folksy personality," said his second wife, Carol Youle.
Mr. Youle was part of the "Chicago School" of broadcasting that included Studs Terkel and Dave Garroway as hosts of loosely scripted programs. At the onset of Mr. Youle's career, 5,000 television sets were in use in that city.
There were no computer graphics or radar-aided video effects when Mr. Youle began his TV career. In fact, he used a single prop - his map covered with a sheet of Plexiglas.
When colour television came into use in the mid-1950s, Mr. Youle started to use red and orange markers to illustrate warm air currents. After he left broadcasting, Mr. Youle became and businessman and inventor.
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Rich Przywarty, formerly area manager for the NWS in the State of Washington, has been named region director for Alaska.
In naming him to the post on 30 July, NWS director John J. Kelly, Jr. noted that Przywarty had spent many years in Alaska, having started his career as a fire weather forecaster in Fairbanks and later serving as an aviation, marine, fire weather and public forecaster at the Anchorage forecast office.
As area manager for the State of Washington, Przywarty led efforts to revitalize the local forecast and analysis program using the Seattle forecast office as a pilot office for the Science and Operations Officer position. He participated in the first COMET partners program and was awarded two NOAA Unit Citations for exceptional services.
He has received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal for his leadership in the implementation of the UV Index, which has been accepted as an international standard index. He also has received the NOAA Administrator's Award, the AMS Award for Television and Radio broadcasters and recently was recognized by Penn State University as a Centennial Fellow for superior achievements by an alumnus.
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The Democratic Caucus of the House of Representatives has selected Ralph M. Hall of Texas as the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Science Committee.
He replaces the late George Brown, Jr., who died 15 July while serving his 18th term, including two terms as the committee chairman when the Democrats were in the majority. Hall has served on the Science Committee since he was sworn in for the 97th Congress. He was named chairman of the Subcommittee on International Scientific Cooperation for the 100th and 101st Congresses and led the Subcommittee on Space in the 102nd and 103rd Congresses and continued to serve as the ranking Democratic member in the 104th Congress. A member of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics and the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment in the current Congress, he now will serve as ex officio on all subcommittees.
Hall represents the Fourth District of Texas, an area stretching north and east from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Born in Fate, Texas, he now lives in Rockwall, Texas.
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Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. Has appointed Cecilia Sze as its new president and CEO. AER's previous president and CEO, Dr. Nien Dak Sze, recently accepted an invitation from the government of Hong Kong's Central Policy Unit to become its part-time advisor on the environment. Dr. Sze will remain chairman of the board.
As cofounder of AER, Inc., Ms. Sze has served in various capacities—from researcher to chief financial and operations officer. In those various roels, Ms. Sze helped bring AER, Inc. from two employees concentrating on atmospheric chemistry, to its current size of nearly 100 with 10 research groups and five U.S. and international branch offices. Under Ms. Sze's financial leadership, AER, Inc. has never incurred a loss in its 22-year history.
Ms. Sze earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Purdue University anda master's in business administration from Northeastern University. Ms Sze serves on the executive board of the Asian–American Bank and Trust, as a Trustee of Buckingham, Brown & Nichols School, and on the Corporate Executive Council of WGBH.
Founded in 1977, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., is an award-winning environmental research and consulting company with demonstrated expertise in remote sensing, satellite meteorology, numerical weather prediction, climatology, circulation diagnostics, atmospheric chemistry, air quality and risk assessment, mathematical modeling, plantetary sciences, atmospheric sounding and sytems engineering. In addition to its Cambridge, MA headquarters, AER has offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA, Hong Kong and Beijing, China.