Editor: Jim Elliot
Contributors: Alan Weinstein, Ginny Frost, and Julie Burba
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Although total funding for NASA remains on a downward trend, House and Senate conferees on 6 October agreed on an appropriations bill for FY98, increasing the budget for the agency and its major programs above the Administration's requested levels. The conference report recommends a $13.6 billion FY 1998 budget. The president had requested $13.5 billion.
Concern over space station construction issues made the conferees attach contingencies to some of the funding for that project.
In the Space, Aeronautics, and Technology (SAT) account, which funds space science, life, and microgravity sciences and Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) among other programs, the conferees provided $5,690 million. That represents a 0.9% increase over the request and a 4.3% boost over fiscal year 1997. Although the increase over the request would seem to imply that all the science programs would receive at least their requested budgets (space science: $2 043.8 million; life and microgravity sciences: $214.2 million; Mission to Planet Earth: $1,417.3 million), the conference report calls for a general reduction of $66 million to the programs within this account and includes many earmarks for specific items that may limit funds available for science programs.
In the Human Space Flight (HSF) account, the conferees provided $5 506.5 million, an increase of 3.4% over the request but a decrease of 3.0% from FY97 funding. Within HSF, the International Space Station (ISS) would receive $2,351.3 million. Although this represents an increase of 10.8% above the request and a 9.4% boost over FY97, the report delays some of the funding and makes it contingent upon NASA's submission of detailed information to the House and Senate appropriations committees.
The conference report relates, "The conferees are troubled by the problems with the space station which include projected development cost overruns of $600,000,000–$800,000,000, the inability to hold critical hardware delivery and launch dates despite receiving the post redesign funding profile requested by the Administration and failure to reduce the contractor team's development workforce . . . Therefore, the conferees have agreed to provide only part of the funding and none of the transfer authority that NASA has identified as necessary for the program in FY98, $230,000,000 above the administration's request, rather than $430,000,000.
"In addition, the conferees have withheld about a third of the total space station funds before March 31, 1998. Even after this date, the committees will decide whether to approve the remaining $851.3 million after NASA submits budget projections and detailed reports regarding negotiations with the prime contractor, the schedule for hardware delivery, and a third-party analysis of the cost and schedule projections through completion of construction."
In the Mission Support (MS) account, the conferees provided $2,433.2 million, a decrease of 3.2%. This decrease results from the transfer of $80 million from this account to the space station program: "$25,000,000 from TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System), $20,000,000 from environmental programs, $30,000,000 from Research Operations Support, and $5,000,000 from facilities."
A breakdown of the NASA appropriation shows the following, in billions.
| Acct. | FY98 | House Req. | Senate Report | Conf. Report | Change |
| HSF | $5.3 | $5.4 | $5.3 | $5.5 | +3.4% |
| ISS | $2.1 | * | * | $2.4 | +10.8 |
| SAT | $5.6 | $5.7 | $5.6 | $5.7 | +0.9 |
| MS | $2.5 | $2.5 | $2.5 | $2.4 | - 3.2 |
| Total | $13.5 | $13.6 | $13.5 | $13.6 | +1.1 |
*Not specified because of potential reallocation of funds from within and/or outside of HSF.
Comparison with FY97 funding, in billions:
| Acct. | FY97 | FY98 Conf. | Change |
| HSF | $5.7 | $5.5 | -3.0% |
| ISS | $2.2 | $2.4 | +9.4% |
| SAT | $5.5 | $5.7 | +4.3% |
| Total | $13.7 | $13.6 | -0.5% |
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House and Senate members of the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies appropriations subcommittees are recommending an appropriation of $3.429 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF), an increase of 5%, or $159 million, over the FY97 level and $62 million more than the request for FY98.
For research and related activities, the conferees are recommending $2.546 billion. This is an increase of almost 5% or $114 million more than last year and $31 million more than the request. The conferees agreed to provide an additional $40 million above the current $20 million level to support an expanded plant genome research program.
The conferees also agreed to provide $1 million for the U.S.–Mexico Foundation.
In addition to this appropriation, instead of providing the $10 million request for Next Generation Internet, the conferees are expected to include report language directing NSF to credit to the research and related activities account $23 million from the domain name registration activity's intellectual fund, which currently has a balance of just over $30 million. The conferees have directed that the $23 million be used to support NSF activities in the interagency Next Generation Internet Program in FY98.
For major research equipment, the conferees are recommending $109 million—$29 million more than last year and $24 million more than the request. Of this amount, $70 million is provided toward the rehabilitation of the South Pole Station in the Antarctic. The conferees deferred support for the proposed Polar Cap Observatory. Instead, they called for NSF to submit a report on the proposed project. The conference agreement also provides an additional $4 million to support technology enhancement and other related construction expenses associated with the Gemini telescope project.
For education and human resources, the conferees agreed to the House level of $632.5 million. This is $14.5 more than the FY97 level and $7 million more than the request. The conferees have included additional funds for the Advanced Technological Education program and minority graduate and undergraduate initiatives.
Summary of the FY98 NSF budget follows.
| Acct. | FY97 | Req. | H. Auth. | H. Appr. | S. Appr. | Conf. |
| RRA | 2432 | 2514 | 2563 | 2538 | 2524 | 2546 |
| EHR | 619 | 625 | 625 | 633 | 625 | 633 |
| MRE | 80 | 85 | 175 | 175 | 85 | 109 |
| S&E | 134 | 137 | 137 | 137 | 137 | 137 |
| OIG | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Total | 3270 | 3367 | 3505 | 3487 | 3377 | 3429 |
RRA—research and related activities
EHR—education and human resources
MRE—major research equipment
S&E—salaries and expenses
OIG—office of inspector general
Req.—FY98 NSF budget request
H. Auth.—House-passed FY98 NSF authorization bill
H. Appr.—House version of FY98 VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies appropriation bill
S. Appr.—Senate version of FY98 VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies appropriation bill
Conf.—Conference agreement of FY98 VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies appropriation bill
Republican Senate conferees were Christopher Bond, Missouri; Ted Stevens, Alaska; Thad Cochran, Mississippi; Conrad Burns, Montana; Richard Shelby, Alabama; Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colorado; and Larry Craig, Idaho. Democrats were Barbara Mikulski, Maryland; Robert Byrd, West Virginia; Patrick Leahy, Vermont; Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey; Tom Harkin, Iowa; and Barbara Boxer,California.
On the House side, the Republican conferees were Jerry Lewis, California;Robert Livingston, Louisiana; Tom Delay, Texas; James Walsh, New York; David Hobson, Ohio; Joe Knollenberg, Michigan; Rodney Frelinghuysen, New Jersey; Mark Neumann, Wisconsin; and Roger Wicker, Mississippi. The House Democratic conferees were Louis Stokes, Ohio; David Obey, Wisconsin; Alan Mollohan, West Virginia; Marcy Kaptur, Ohio; Carrie Meek, Florida; and David Price, North Carolina.
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House and Senate conferees agreed to appropriate $7,363,046,000 for the Environmental Protection Agency for FY98. The figure was higher than amounts proposed by the House ($7,205,077,000) and by the Senate ($6,975,920,000). The administration had proposed a budget of $7.645 billion
The conferees noted that the budget agreement between Congress and the administration called for the "operating programs" of the agency to be funded at a level totaling just over $3,400,000,000. The funding provided for these operating programs in this agreement totals nearly $3,500,000,000, according to the report, "thus meeting the spirit of this agreement."
In the science and technology area, the conferees provided $631,000,000 instead of $629,223,000 as provided by the House and $600,000,000 as provided by the Senate. The conferees included new bill language that provides $49,600,000 for a particulate matter research program in lieu of language contained in the House bill.
The conferees agreed to increases over the budget request for a number of specific projects but called for reductions from the budget request in others, including the Climate Change program.
The conference report read, "The conferees are aware that orimulsion, a mixture of bitumen and water, is being considered for generating electricity in the United States. While orimulsion has been used in several countries, including Japan, China, Italy, and Canada's maritime provinces, it has not been utilized in the United States. Because little is known about the risks associated with the introduction of this new product, the conferees direct EPA to initiate a research activity to provide better scientific data on the qualities an characteristics of this product and the potential environmental impact of its introduction."
The conferees appropriated $1,801,000,000 for environmental programs and management as proposed by the Senate instead of $1,763,352,000 as proposed by the House.
Among the decreases from the budget request agreed to by the conferees was a $1 million reduction in funds for the GLOBE program.
Included in the conference report were appropriations of $15 million for oil spill response as proposed by the House and Senate and $3,213,125,000 for state and tribal assistance grants.
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from Audrey T. Leath, Public Information Division, The American Institute of Physics
House and Senate members have come to agreement on a conference report (H.Rpt. 105-265) for H.R. 2266, the DOD Appropriations Bill for FY98. The report passed both the House and Senate on 25 September and now goes to President Clinton for signing.
BASIC RESEARCH (6.1): The administration had requested a 7.8% increase for DOD basic research, to $1,163.7 million. Although Senate appropriators, as well as authorizers in both the House and the Senate, recommended an increase to basic research, appropriators in the House called for maintaining funding "at the 1997 level." The House position won the day in conference. DOD basic research was funded at $1,080.1 million, essentially equal to the FY97 appropriation of $1,079.8 million. This is a decrease of 7.2% from the FY98 request. No justification is provided in the conference report for this reduction from the request; it is necessary to go back to the House Appropriations committee report, which "questions whether never-ending budget growth in basic research is wise, particularly in the context of the administration's failure to adequately address the Defense Department's weapons system modernization needs."
APPLIED RESEARCH/EXPLORATORY DEVELOPMENT (6.2): In contrast with basic research, accounts indicate that the Defense Department's 6.2 category (applied research) received $3,128.2 million, an increase of 8.9 percent over the FY 1997 appropriation of $2,873.1 million, and an increase of 11.2% over the administration's FY98 request of $2,814.1 million. The administration's request represented a decrease of 2.1% from the FY97 level.
TECHNOLOGY BASE (6.1 + 6.2): Several DOD officials expressed concern earlier this year that the buying power of DOD's technology base (basic and applied research) has been eroding, and is near an "18-year low." The Administration had requested a total of $3,977.8 million for the combined categories, with an emphasis on increasing basic research funding. The conference report provides $4,208.3 million, but the emphasis is on applied research.
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On 16 September, the House passed S.910, the Senate companion bill to H.R. 2249, authorizing funds for the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act for FY98 and FY99.
The original Earthquake Hazard Reduction Act of 1977 was coauthored by George E. Brown Jr. (D-CA) and, since that time, he has initiated many changes to the original legislation. Bill S.910 expands the responsibilities of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program and requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to study the establishment of a second emergency personnel training center, preferably on the West Coast.
"Currently, FEMA operates a national training center in Emmitsburg, Maryland, for preparing local emergency personnel to respond to an earthquake," explained Representative Brown. "However, the great distance to Maryland makes it difficult for California-based emergency staff to receive this training. Given that all of the nation's modern severe earthquakes have been on the Pacific Rim, this situation strikes me as irrational, and I am hopeful that FEMA, after looking at the issue, will agree with me.
"Ensuring that there is consistent, high-caliber, hands-on training for the firemen, policemen and other emergency personnel who are on the front line of responding to an earthquake is one of the most important things that the federal government can do in helping Californians prepare for future emergencies. The goal of the training is to reduce fatalities and property loss, and I think it makes no sense to confine this training to an East Coast site when the need is national and, if anything, greater in the west."
Bill S.910 also expands the authorization of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program to address maintenance and upgrade of earthquake engineering test facilities.
"Too many of the nation's worst calamities, such as the collapse of the Northridge apartment building and the weakening of steel-framed high-rises after recent earthquakes could have been avoided with more extensive testing," Brown said. "However, our nation's earthquake testing facilities are overloaded and often outdated."
Also authorized under the bill are increased funds for core research and development activities, from $98.7 million in FY97 to $108.5 in FY98 and $111.7 in FY99.
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Four senior Democrats from the Science and Commerce Committees sent a letter to the Secretary of Energy, Federico Peña, challenging the rationale behind an almost $300 million cooperative research agreement between DOE Labs and Intel. George E. Brown Jr. (Ranking Democrat, Science Committee), John Dingell (Ranking Democrat, Commerce Committee), Tim Roemer (Ranking Democrat, Energy and Environment Subcommittee, Science) and Ron Klink (Ranking Democrat, Oversight and Investigations, Commerce) all signed the letter.
Upon release of the letter, Brown said, "I am convinced that the decision to enter into this CRADA was made by lab managers concerned with getting work for their labs. But this CRADA has the potential to compromise our security interests and cost Americans thousands of jobs. As a result, I expect the secretary of energy and the administration to reexamine this agreement in light of our national interests. I also expect that the secretary of energy will be more active in reviewing and approving future proposed lab CRADA's."
The cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) between DOE's Sandia, Livermore, and Lawrence Berkeley labs and the Intel-led EUV Limited Liability Corporation is designed to develop extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) for the next generation of computer chip manufacturing. Energy labs bring years of experience in lithography, having worked on the technology to support defense research. Intel's group desires to use this knowledge to push the state of the art in chip manufacture.
However, Intel has indicated that it will collaborate with several large foreign chip equipment manufacturers to employ these technologies, thus disadvantaging predominately smaller U.S. suppliers. The result would be American taxpayers underwriting research that benefits foreign companies, compromising both our competitive and security interests.
The letter reads, in part,
"Serious questions have been raised that the main beneficiaries of this CRADA, in addition to Intel, will be foreign manufacturers of the production steppers that are the key to chip making . . . Intel has announced that it intends to bring in Nikon, a Japanese manufacturer which is currently the dominant stepper manufacturer, and ASML, a Dutch stepper manufacturer, to help develop this technology . This would result in serious and unprecedented access to U.S. national defense labs by foreign companies.
"Our nation has invested hundreds of millions of dollars through the DOE labs and the SEMATECH consortium over the past decade to assure a viable U.S. stepper manufacturing industry for national security purposes. This investment was strongly encouraged by DOE, the Defense Department, and the semiconductor manufacturers, including Intel . . .
"The impact of this CRADA on the domestic stepper manufacturers and our national and economic security as well as the government's obligation to protect the taxpayers' investments apparently were not evaluated by the department in its rush to preserve jobs at the three laboratories."
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On 1 October President Clinton and Vice President Gore invited 102 TV broadcast meteorologists and weathercasters from the nation's top 80 stations to the White House for a briefing and discussion of climate change. More than half have the AMS Seal. The meeting was one of a series of discussions with various groups as the Administration develops its policy for the upcoming meeting in Kyoto, Japan, in early December.
The president's speech stressed that the science was "solid" on climate change, binding limits on CO2 emissions are desirable, the impact on the economy of any agreement must be carefully considered, and all nations, developed and developing, must be included in some way in any final agreement. The president stressed that Kyoto is an important meeting, but only one along the path toward an overall agreement.
Vice President Gore, in a more in-depth briefing, stressed the same points. Both the President and the Vice President made clear that they believe the world must respond to the climate change issue. Both the President's and Vice President's speeches are on the World Wide Web at http://www.whitehouse.gov or http://library.whitehouse.gov/ThisWeek.cgi
NOAA's Office of Global Programs had the lead for the event, and in spite of the short lead time it came off very smoothly. The visit began with a reception at the National Press Club on the evening of 30 September. Speeches at the reception included Jim Baker, administrator of NOAA; Jack Gibbons, science advisor to the president; Todd Stern, assistant to the president for climate change; Kathleen McGinty, environmental advisor to the president; and Robert Mallett, deputy secretary of the Department of Commerce.
The morning briefing on 1 October was held at the NOAA Auditorium in Silver Spring, Maryland. Briefers were Dan Albritton, Tom Karl, and Ants Leetma, all of NOAA, and William Easterling from the Pennsylvania State University. The combination of briefings gave a balanced view of the state of our knowledge of climate change, both from observational and modeling points of view. The presentation also provided insight into potential impacts of climate change and several scientists were available to provide regional views of the issue.
In the late morning, broadcast meteorologists interviewed and later broadcast discussions with NOAA scientists on the issues. Many broadcast meteorologists presented their evening weather programs from the White House. The visit to the White House began at 1:00 pm with a reception, then a receiving line and photo opportunity with the President and the Vice President. Their briefings followed.
NOAA stressed that this was the beginning of an overall effort to provide effective communication of climate information to the public through the broadcast meteorologists.
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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has sent a four-person crew to Greenland, where, for the first time, the team will spend the entire season atop the Greenland Ice Sheet studying the weather at a remote outpost known as Summit.
The camp is at the apex of the ice sheet, where the sun will set in November and not reappear until late January.
"This is the first time we will be able to examine the entire annual cycle of air and snow chemistry," according to Mike Ledbetter, program manager for arctic system science at NSF. "Ultimately, it will help us to better interpret climate history and how human beings are affecting climate."
If the project goes well, NSF may explore establishing a permanent year-round camp at Summit, officials explained. Up to now, winter at Summit has been like the dark side of the moon for scientists, who have not been able to stay on the scene to study the snowfall in the winter. They do not even know when most of the snow falls.
The structures and airplane skiway that comprise the station at Summit cluster atop a broad swell of ice cap almost two miles thick, 481 miles from its supply point on Greenland's west coast. NSF extracted the Northern Hemisphere's longest ice core at Summit from 1989 to 1993. The core drilled by researchers with Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2, along with another core drilled nearby by European scientists, furnish an icy archive of more than 100 000 years of climate information.
The annual layers in the ice cores store a finely detailed atmospheric record, as well as traces of volcanic eruptions, forest fires, ocean storms, atomic bombs, and pollution.
"The falling snow, which eventually becomes compacted into ice, stores information about the atmosphere at the time it fell—the water vapor, temperature, and dust content," said Jack Dibb, the University of New Hampshire climatologist who heads the wintering project. "The Greenland ice cores already have shown us that there were unexpectedly rapid and dramatic shifts in climate. How closely do these changes in ice composition actually record the changing chemistry of the atmosphere? The idea is to turn these records into a history of the atmosphere's composition.
"Our goal during this first year-round occupation of Summit will be to determine what controls the composition of air just above the ice sheet, to see how closely the composition of snow reflects that of the air, and to understand how air and snow exchange water, energy, and chemical compounds through the winter."
The wintering crew—an electronics technician, a mechanic, and two science technicians—will spend most of their time at Summit in "The Greenhouse," a one-story, 32-by-36-foot building serving as combined bunkroom, living room, and laboratory. The structure rests on skis and can be moved from year to year to avoid burial by snow.
They will have electronic mail but not telephone contact with the outside world. A supply flight in November will rotate one crew member with another such flight in February. The University of Nebraska's Polar Ice Coring Office provides logistics for the effort.
Winter temperatures at Summit can drop to -60° F or lower.
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United Parcel Service will soon be delivering more than just packages: it will be delivering weather data to scientists at the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A weather probe will be mounted on UPS aircraft to collect important water vapor data that will help improve aviation forecasting and weather and climate modeling.
At the present time, water vapor measurements are taken every 12 hours when weather balloons are released by NOAA's National Weather Service. This is not frequent enough to catch the rapid changes in winds, temperature, and water vapor that can occur in a 12-hour period. Because balloons are launched at about 70 sites around the United States, the data collection points are also too spread out to pick up on the small storms that suddenly develop.
According to Rex Fleming of NOAA's Environmental Research Laboratories in Boulder, Colorado, water vapor is extremely difficult to forecast. "We just don't have a mechanism to collect water vapor data frequently enough. Putting these probes on UPS, and eventually other planes, will help us enormously by providing an easy tool to collect data frequently from many parts of the country. This information will then be included in our weather and climate models," he said.
The instrument collecting this data, a Water Vapor Sensing System probe, was built by B. F. Goodrich Rosemount Aerospace, Inc., a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin. It will be mounted on the left side of the UPS B-757, while a compartment containing the electronics will be housed under the skin of the aircraft. There is an existing temperature probe on the right side of the plane, with future plans to combine these instruments into one probe. The WVSS data will eventually be added to the radars and automated surface systems in air terminals, contributing to a reduction in the frequency and severity of flight delays and improving the safety of air travel.
Data from the UPS planes will also assist climate researchers by providing more accurate water vapor information to be included in climate research and modeling. The information gathered by these aircraft will be used by scientists involved in the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Continental-Scale International Project (GCIP), a research effort to improve the ability to model global precipitation and evaporation.
"Commercial aircraft can play a leading role in atmospheric observations by filling the gap that presently exists between information gathered from balloons every 12 hours and from satellite observations. The information gathered by UPS aircraft will give us a better idea of the vertical structure of water vapor in the atmosphere," Fleming said.
Using aircraft to take atmospheric measurements is not a new concept. Currently, many airlines and other commercial companies take measurements of temperature and winds and relay the information through the Aeronautical Radio, Inc., system to a variety of users, including NOAA. The number of reports received each day by NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory in Boulder is now more than 40 000. This information is entered into a 3-hour analysis and forecast model developed at the laboratory and is then run operationally at the National Weather Service's National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Adding water vapor data to this stream of information is the next step in making the model more accurate. Future plans call for 150–160 commercial aircraft to be equipped with the Water Vapor Sensing probe as part of a 2-year demonstration program.
Funding for the project was provided by the FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program and by NOAA's Office of Global Programs.
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Summer 1997 was the 24th driest in 103 years, with a national average precipitation value of 7.68 in. for the contiguous United States, according to the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The normal rainfall for the summer is 8.24 in.
Temperature-wise, the summer was the 37th coolest, tipping the thermometer at 71.5° F, compared with an average summer temperature of 71.7°.
The values are for the months of June, July, and August, also known as the climatological summer. All values, NOAA reported, are based on preliminary data compiled by NOAA's National Climate Data Center (NSDC) in Asheville, North Carolina, and the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) in Camp Springs, Maryland.
Summer 1997 was the ninth driest such season on record for the northeast region and the 11th driest summer for the central region, the 13th driest for the southeast region, and the 27th driest for the Southwest.
In contrast, the summer was the 11th wettest summer since 1895 for the west region and the 18th wettest for the Northwest.
"The wet conditions across the west and Northwest are mainly due to unseasonable June rains in northern California, Oregon, and Washington, plus rare August showers from the remnants of Pacific Tropical Storm Ignacio from central California northward into the Pacific Northwest," said David Miskus, a NOAA scientist.
"A persistent upper-air pattern of low pressure over the east and high pressure over the west kept it cooler than normal across the eastern half of the United States," he explained. "Cool Canadian air frequently intruded into the central, southern, and eastern United States. This pattern also hindered moisture from the Gulf and Atlantic from flowing northward into the Ohio Valley, Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. In addition, a tranquil Atlantic hurricane season, with the exception of Hurricane Danny, meant fewer and weaker tropical systems and rainfall for the South."
On a statewide basis, it was the fourth driest summer on record for Maryland and Virginia; fifth driest for New Jersey; seventh driest for Arizona, New York, and North Carolina; ninth driest for Georgia and Kentucky; and tenth driest for West Virginia. Dryness dates back to the start of 1997 in the mid-Atlantic region, with five states (Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New Jersey) recording one of their six driest January–August periods in 103 years.
It was the ninth coolest summer on record for the southeast region; the 20th coolest summer since 1895 for the central region, and the 25th coolest summer for the south. Summer 1997 was the 25th warmest such season for the northwest region and the 32d warmest for the west–north central region. The summer was the sixth coolest summer on record for Georgia and the ninth coolest since 1895 for both Mississippi and South Carolina. No states ranked in the top-ten warm category.
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A service assessment report on Hurricane Fran that focuses on services provided by the National Hurricane Center, weather service regional and field offices, and other involved offices is now available from NWS on the Internet.
Hurricane Fran made landfall on 5 September 1996 and impacted the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The report is designed to assist the agency in improving services for future weather events, a spokesman said.
Copies are available from Bob Chartuk at (516) 244-0166 or online at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/omdis.htm.
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Pacific Ocean sea surface height measurements and atmospheric water vapor information taken from two independent earth-orbiting satellites are providing more convincing evidence that the weather-disrupting phenomenon known as El Niño is back and strong.
"The new data collected since April 1997 confirm what we had earlier speculated upon and what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted—a full-blown El Niño condition is established in the Pacific," said Dr. Lee-Lueng Fu, project scientist for the U.S.–French satellite TOPEX/Poseidon satellite at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California.
The five years of global ocean topography observations made by TOPEX/Poseidon have been a boon for El Niño researchers, who have been able to track three El Niño events since the satellite's launch in August 1992.
"The recent data are showing us that a large warm water mass with high sea surface elevations, about 6 in. (15 cm) above normal, is occupying the entire tropical Pacific Ocean east of the international date line. In fact, the surface area covered by the warm water mass is about one-and-a-half times the size of the continental United States," Fu said. "We watched this warm water mass travel eastward from the western Pacific along the equator earlier this spring. Right now, sea surface height off the South American coast is 10 in. (25 cm) higher than normal, which is comparable with the conditions during the so-called El Niño of the century in 1982–83."
Developed by NASA and the French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite uses an altimeter to bounce radar signals off the ocean's surface to get precise measurements of the distance between the satellite and the sea surface. These data are combined with measurements from other instruments that pinpoint the satellite's exact location in space. Every 10 days, scientists produce a complete map of global ocean topography, the barely perceptible hills and valleys found on the sea surface. With detailed knowledge of ocean topography, scientists can then calculate the speed and direction of worldwide ocean currents.
In addition, recent atmospheric water vapor data collected from NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) show tell-tale signs of an El Niño condition in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The Microwave Limb Sounder instrument was originally designed to study atmospheric ozone depletion, but scientists have devised new ways of using the data to study atmospheric water vapor.
"The Microwave Limb Sounder experiment on UARS is detecting an unusually large buildup of water vapor in the atmosphere at heights of approximately 8 miles (12 km) over the central-eastern tropical Pacific. Not since the last strong El Niño winter of 1991–92 have we seen such a large buildup of water vapor in this part of the atmosphere," said JPL's Dr. William Read. "Increased water vapor at these heights can be associated with more intense wintertime storm activity from the 'pineapple express,' a pattern of atmospheric motions that brings tropical moisture from Hawaii to the southwestern United States. This phenomenon is an example of how the ocean and atmosphere work together to dictate the severity of El Niño events."
An El Niño is thought to be triggered when steady westward blowing trade winds weaken and even reverse direction. This change in the winds allows the large mass of warm water that is normally located near Australia to move eastward along the equator until it reaches the coast of South America. This displaced pool of unusually warm water affects evaporation and where rain clouds form, and, consequently, alters the typical atmospheric jet stream patterns around the world. The change in the wind strength and direction also impacts global weather patterns.
In May, NOAA issued an advisory regarding the presence of the early indications of El Niño conditions. Subsequent El Niño forecast activities supported by NOAA indicate the likelihood of a moderate or strong El Niño in late 1997. The forecast model operated at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction used data collected by the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite.
"The added amount of oceanic warm water near the Americas, with a temperature between 70° and 85° F, is about 30 times the volume of water in all the U.S. Great Lakes combined," said Dr. Victor Zlotnicki, a TOPEX/Poseidon investigator at JPL. "The difference between the current, abnormally high amount of heat in the near-surface waters and the usual amount of heat in the same area is about 93 times the total energy from fossil fuels consumed by the United States in 1995."
Ongoing NOAA advisories on El Niño conditions are available on the Internet at http://nic.fb4.noaa.gov:80/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/index.html.
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Oceanographic experts from around the world will meet 15–17 October in Biarritz, France, to discuss the emerging prospects for an integrated approach to ocean science that combines space observations, in situ measurements and numerical models in new ways that could lead to months-long forecasts of ocean dynamics on regional and global scales.
The symposium, titled "Monitoring the Oceans in the 2000s: An Integrated Approach," will focus on a variety of scientific results flowing from the U.S.–French TOPEX/Poseidon satellite, launched in 1992, and plans for its smaller yet equally capable successor, Jason-1, due for launch in May 2000.
"TOPEX/Poseidon has been a blueprint for productive international earth science cooperation, and the findings of this symposium should lay the groundwork for Jason-1 to extend this cooperation through at least the early years of the 21st century," said William Townsend, acting associate administrator for NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth, Washington, D.C.
TOPEX/Poseidon, a joint program of NASA and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, uses two radar altimeters to precisely measure sea surface height. Scientists use the data from TOPEX/Poseidon to produce global maps of ocean topography every 10 days. The satellite has mapped sea surface height with an absolute accuracy of less than 2 in. (4 cm) versus its design goal of 6 in. (13 cm).
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NASA and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) have set 18 November 1997, 3:40 p.m. EST (19 November 1997, 5:40 a.m. JST) as the new launch date for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.
The launch was originally scheduled for 31 October 1997 (1 November 1997, in Japan), from the Tanegashima Space Center in Tanegashima, Japan.
The launch delay was caused by a problem with TRMM's companion payload on the H-II Rocket, the Japanese Engineering Test Satellite-VII (ETS-VII). ETS-VII is a Japanese robotics experiment consisting of two satellites (Target and Chaser) that periodically separate and re-dock. During recent systems tests at the launch site, anomalies were observed in the attitude control electronics of the Target satellite and in a transponder of the Chaser satellite. These items were removed from the satellites and returned to the manufacturer for rework. The launch was postponed to allow time for the repairs.
The first earth science satellite dedicated to studying the properties of tropical and subtropical rainfall, TRMM carries microwave and visible/infrared sensors, and the first spaceborne rain radar. Tropical rainfall comprises more than two-thirds of global rainfall. More precise information about this rainfall and its variability is crucial to understanding and predicting global climate change.
One of the science goals of TRMM is to study how El Niño–related rainfall anomalies correlate with other oceanic and atmospheric processes. "Unfortunately, this delay will limit significantly our ability to study the approach of the peak of the current El Niño condition in the Pacific Ocean," said Dr. Joanne Simpson, NASA project scientist for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. "It also will reduce the mission's role in the start of a multifaceted research program in the South China Sea. But we understand the needs of our important international partner in the TRMM launch, and we will make every effort to get science data flowing as soon as possible."
TRMM still will be able to achieve its primary science objectives. "Despite this delay, we are very excited about the impending launch and look forward to years of climate research with the rainfall and other measurements to be provided by this unique observatory," said Dr. Ramesh Kakar, program scientist for TRMM at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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Exciting ocean-color images from the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS)—the first readily available ocean-color data in more than 10 years—should play a major role in studying the ongoing El Niño and in other global warming research.
The SeaWiFS data also is giving scientists their first continuous look at the global biosphere—the combination of living organisms and their environment. Ocean color is largely determined by the concentration of microscopic marine plants called phytoplankton. Accurately measuring phytoplankton concentration is important to climate change research and to local economic concerns such as commercial fishing.
"The images are more than we ever could have hoped for," said oceanographer Dr. Gene C. Feldman, who heads SeaWiFS's data processing team at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. "Although originally designed to just study the oceans, we've also discovered a way of using it to study the land as well, and as a result, we can study the global biosphere for the very first time."
"The new images clearly show areas of coastal upwelling along the northwest United States, Argentina, and western South Africa. These upwelling events foster dramatic plankton blooms which are a critical source of food for major fisheries. The data will be extremely valuable for fisheries management," said Dr. Charles McClain, SeaWiFS project scientist.
SeaWiFS offers great potential for monitoring oceanic conditions that have serious, and often tragic, effects on human health. Coastal blooms of algae have been associated with cholera outbreaks around the world. Early detection of these blooms, and subsequent inwater sampling, may significantly reduce the impact of these outbreaks. Red tides, ocean dumping of organic and chemical waste, and perhaps even oil spills can be tracked with SeaWiFS data, Feldman said.
With SeaWiFS, NASA is leading an international collaboration of researchers. More than 300 scientists representing 35 countries have already registered to use the data. Thirty-eight ground stations spread over 18 countries will receive data from the spacecraft.
NASA also has developed a software package called the SeaWiFS Data Analysis System (SeaDAS) for scientists worldwide to process the data. More than 150 scientists have already been to Goddard to learn how to use this package. Another 79 scientists from 11 countries are signed up for SeaDAS training at the center this fall.
The SeaWiFS instrument is aboard a commercially built and operated satellite called OrbView 2, owned by Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Virginia. OrbView 2 was launched at 1 August 1997, 3 p.m. EDT, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard an Orbital Pegasus XL launch vehicle. The SeaWiFS mission is unlike many other NASA missions. NASA's SeaWiFS Project described the data they wanted to purchase without giving specific requirements for the spacecraft itself. "It's a whole new way of doing business," said SeaWiFS project manager Dr. Mary Cleave.
The SeaWiFS instrument was built by Hughes/Santa Barbara Remote Sensing, Santa Barbara, California, and is the only scientific payload on the SeaStar spacecraft, developed by Orbital Sciences Corp. NASA is buying the data and is providing it to researchers throughout the world.
SeaWiFS is a follow-on sensor to the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), which operated aboard NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite from 1978 to 1986 and proved that satellite sensors could detect ocean-color from space. SeaWiFS improves on CZCS by providing global coverage every 48 hours, giving a more accurate determination of phytoplankton concentration.
Images from SeaWiFS are available from the World Wide Web athttp://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html
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Satellite measurements of solar brightness analyzed by a Columbia University researcher show an increase from one cycle of sunspot activity to the next, indicating the earth is absorbing more energy from the sun over the long term and might well mean that the sun is contributing to global warming.
Solar radiation will not displace the dominant role of atmospheric carbon dioxide in global warming, but could be a significant contributing factor, according to a new report by Dr. Richard C. Willson, senior research scientist at Columbia's Center for Climate Systems Research, in the 26 September issue of the magazine Science.
Greenhouse warming is expected to increase temperatures on earth by about 3.6° F over the next 50–100 years, according to some scientists. By contrast, Willson maintains that solar forcing—the sun's effect on long-term climate—might account for between 0.7° and 1.4° of warming over the next 100 years if sustained at the pace his observations suggest. The globe already has warmed by about one degree since 1880, scientists say.
"Solar forcing would provide only about one-fourth as much warming if the solar trend persists over the same period," Dr. Willson said. "Solar forcing could be significant, but not dominant."
Solar luminosity is linked closely to sunspot activity, which waxes and wanes over a cycle of about 10–11 years. The new research shows that total solar irradiance, or the total radiant power received by the earth from the sun, was about 0.036% higher in 1996 than in 1986, a finding that may mean that the luminosity of each new solar cycle is stronger than the last.
"The change that Willson measures is small," said James E. Hansen, adjunct professor of Earth and Environmental Science at Columbia and director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. "By itself, it would not be a significant source of climate change, but the question is whether there are changes on the century timescale. There, the changes may be significant. His measurements are the first indication that there is long-term change."
Willson spliced together data from three probes in earth orbit that together have monitored the sun since 1978: ACRIM I (Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor); ACRIM II, and the less precise Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS). The two ACRIM satellites were able to calibrate the degradation of their own sensors, a phenomenon that results from exposure to the sun's high-energy, short-wavelength radiation. ERBS was not.
ACRIM II was launched in September 1991, nearly 2 years behind schedule and after ACRIM I already had ceased gathering data, preventing comparison between data from the two more sophisticated probes. Comparisons in space are essential in monitoring total solar irradiance precisely, according to Willson. To relate the measurements from the two ACRIM experiments precisely, Willson had to rely on ERBS data gathered during periods of overlap with the ACRIM sensors. Because the earth's atmosphere absorbs or reflects much solar radiation, direct measurements of the sun's energy have only been possible since the late 1970s when solar probes were lofted into orbit above the atmosphere.
The satellite data show that total solar irradiance reached a low point in 1986, climbed to a peak in about 1991, and then declined to another low in 1996. "The significant finding is that the minimum total solar irradiance in 1996 clearly is higher than the one 10 years earlier," Dr. Willson said.
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The first of NASA's EOS spacecraft, EOS AM-1, is well on the way to being ready for its launch in June 1998, according to Dr. Robert Price, Director of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth Program Office at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Price made that observation as the spacecraft reached a critical milestone in its schedule with the delivery in August of its last science instrument, allowing completion of module testing and integration of the instruments and spacecraft.
EOS AM-1 begins a new generation of Earth science–one that studies the earth as a global system. EOS AM-1 will carry a complement of five synergistic instruments.
The next critical step for EOS AM-1 is to complete systems tests that validate the ability of the integrated spacecraft to withstand the harsh environment of space and to work with its ground system. Following that, the spacecraft will be delivered to Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, for launch processing.
The spacecraft is being assembled and tested by Lockheed-Martin at its Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, production facility.
The EOS series spacecraft are the cornerstone of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) enterprise, a long-term coordinated research effort to study the earth as a global system and the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment. EOS AM-1 will use this unique perspective from space to observe the earth's continents, oceans, and atmosphere with five state-of-the-art instruments with measurement capability and accuracy never flown before, according to NASA scientists. This unique approach enables scientists to study the interactions among these three components of the earth system, which determine the cycling of water and nutrients on earth.
"EOS AM-1 will study simultaneously clouds, water vapor, aerosol, particles, trace gases, terrestrial and oceanic properties, the interaction between them, and their effect on atmospheric radiation and climate," said Dr. Yoram Kaufman, EOS AM-1 project scientist. "Moreover, EOS AM-1 will observe changes in earth's radiation energy budget, together with measurements of changes in land–ocean surface and interaction with the atmosphere through exchanges of energy, carbon, and water. Clearly comprehending these interactive processes is essential to understanding global climate change."
The spacecraft is scheduled for launch from Vandenberg AFB on an Atlas-Centaur IIAS launch vehicle.
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Initial images from the first complete radar survey of Antarctica, using the Canadian Space Agency's Radarsat mission, show better-than-expected details of its massive ice streams and crevices, as well as old, buried features of the international South Pole research station established in the late 1950s.
"The quality of these first images is quite stunning," said Dr. Robert Thomas, program manager for polar research in NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth, Washington, D.C. "Antarctica is the only continent on earth that has not been properly mapped. Despite many years of research, we still do not know whether this massive ice sheet is growing larger or smaller. Radarsat's Antarctic Mapping Mission should help us answer this question, and many related questions about its potential for affecting global sea levels."
Nearly 70% of the earth's fresh water is contained in the Antarctic region, and changes in this enormous reservoir directly influence world sea levels and climate. As a reference point, if fully melted, this ice would raise the global sea level by about 230 feet (70 m).
Previous research has revealed that about 90% of Antarctic ice flows into the sea via large "ice streams." These rivers of ice are tens of miles wide and about a half-mile thick, and can flow rapidly within the predominantly slow-moving ice sheet. "We know little about why these ice streams form where they do, or what determines their speed," Thomas said. "Most Antarctic ice streams flow into 'ice shelves,' large, floating slabs of ice the size of Texas that rest on the ocean and occupy most of the Antarctic coastline. They move seaward at about a half-mile per year, occasionally 'calving' to form huge icebergs."
Where the seabed beneath an ice shelf becomes sufficiently shallow, the ice shelf runs aground, slows down and thickens to form an "ice rise," which tends to slow the seaward progress of the ice shelf and ultimately to hinder ice discharge down the ice streams. However, if the ice shelf were to become sufficiently thin, for instance, by increased melting from beneath, the speed of ice discharge would increase, allowing more ice to flow into the ocean, and thus raising the sea level. "Just how quickly this could happen if climate were to change is not known, and would depend heavily on whether the ice sheet is already thinning or, as some evidence suggests, actually thickening," Thomas said. "These unknowns are the prime reasons for this research effort."
The first radar image of earth's geographic South Pole from the Radarsat Antarctic campaign clearly shows the infrastructure of the Amundsen–Scott Station operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The image reveals the modern infrastructure that supports a host of international science programs but also shows an abandoned aircraft runway and other remains of the old South Pole station, now buried under about 30 feet of snow and ice.
This image and several others, as well as further information on the Radarsat mission, are available on the Internet at the following URL, under the link to the Antarctic Mapping Mission: http://radarsat.space.gc.ca
The Antarctic Mapping Mission was made possible by rotating the satellite 180 degrees from its normal field of view, which was completed on 11 September. Full mapping will require the collection of over 5 000 images.
"Following the successful rotation, 30% of the mission's objectives have now been achieved," said Rolf Mamen, director general of Space Operations at the Canadian Space Agency. "We are extremely pleased with the quality of the radar images being obtained of this unmapped region of our planet, and of the contribution we are making to the scientific community."
The high-resolution digital image mosaic of the ice sheet and exposed portions of the continent to be taken by the Antarctic Mapping Mission will serve as a benchmark for testing the predicted effects of global warming on the interior ice sheet and its bounding ice shelves. This unique dataset also will support the development of policies to help preserve Antarctica in its relatively pristine state, through the goals subscribed under the international Antarctic Treaty System.
U.S. partners in the Antarctic portion of the Radarsat mission include the Byrd Polar Research Center of Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; NASA's Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar Facility in Fairbanks, Alaska; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California; and the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.
"The job of mapping one of the last largely unexplored regions of the earth is truly a mission of international cooperation, with collaboration that includes scientists from Great Britain, Germany, Japan, and Australia in addition to the United States and Canada," said Dr. Kenneth Jezek, a professor of geological science and director of the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University. "In that way, the Antarctic Mapping Mission is in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Antarctic treaty, which serves to preserve the continent for peaceful scientific research by any nation."
In exchange for the launch of the Radarsat satellite by NASA in November 1995, Canada agreed to provide access to a proportionate amount of its operational data and to execute the yaw maneuver of the spacecraft twice during the mission to allow the mapping of the Antarctic continental ice sheet.
Operated by the Canadian Space Agency from St. Hubert, Quebec, Radarsat utilizes a sophisticated microwave radar system able to produce images through cloud cover, smog, haze, smoke and darkness. The satellite can be programmed to capture images of an area as wide as 320 miles (500 km) and can detect objects as small as 26 feet (8 m).
NASA's involvement in Radarsat is part of the agency's Mission to Planet Earth enterprise, a long-term coordinated research program to study the earth's land, oceans, air, ice, and life as a total system.
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Repeated attempts to re-establish radio contact with NASA's earth-orbiting Lewis spacecraft after it entered a slow spin on 26 August proved unsuccessful, and on 28 September the spacecraft reentered the atmosphere and was incinerated.
Lewis was launched on 22 August (23 August EDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle (LMLV-1). Built by TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, California, the 890-pound Lewis satellite is part of NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative. Outfitted with advanced technology earth-imaging instruments and subsystems intended to push the state-of-the-art in scientific and commercial remote sensing, Lewis featured remote-sensing instruments designed to split up the spectrum of light energy reflected by earth's land surfaces into as many as 384 distinct bands. Potential commercial applications included pollutant monitoring, analysis of endangered species habitats, estimation of forest and agricultural productivity, soil resources and crop residue mapping, and assessments of environmental impacts from energy pipelines.
Initial operations and check-out of Lewis were proceeding satisfactorily until telemetry received early 26 August indicated that the spacecraft was spinning at approximately two revolutions per minute. Preliminary indications are that unbalanced thruster firings occurred on the spacecraft, inducing a spin rate that went unchecked as Lewis remained in a previously commanded safehold.
The solar arrays on Lewis were unable to generate significant power due to the spinning motion and their alignment with the sun, and thus the spacecraft's batteries became almost fully discharged. Initial hopes that sunlight would "trickle charge" the batteries sufficiently to allow the spacecraft's transmitter and computer to be accessed were not borne out by subsequent operations.
The total cost to NASA of the Lewis mission, including its launch vehicle and 1 year of planned orbital operations, is $64.8 million. NASA incurred an additional cost of $6.2 million for storage and maintenance of the spacecraft during a 1-year delay due to launch vehicle issues.
Upcoming Mission to Planet Earth spacecraft such as the New Millennium program's Earth Orbiting-1 mission, due for launch in June 1998, should help scientists address some of the planned applications of Lewis data.
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from Alan Weinstein, Ph.D., associate director, Environmental Science, Office of Naval Research, Europe
The European Space Agency (ESA) has been given four candidates for its next Explorer Mission, Gravity Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation (GOCE) and Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM), Earth Radiation Mission (ERM), and Land Surface Processes and Interactions Mission (LSPIM), in that order. Other options not selected were magnetometry, precipitation, atmospheric chemistry, and topography missions. GOCE will carry a gravity gradiometer and GNSS receiver to map the earth's gravitational field and geoid. ADM will carry a Doppler Wind Lidar embarked on the international space station. ERM will fly a backscatter lidar, cloud profiling lidar, a cloud imager, and a broadband radiometer. LSPIM will carry the hyperspectral instrument called PRISM. These candidates will be proposed to ESA in the near future, with hoped-for approval in 1999, 5 years of development, and launch in the middle of the first decade of 2000.
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EAC97 highlighted the regional and local nature of atmospheric aerosols within the context of their importance to climate change. Held at the University of Hamburg on 15–19 September 1997, EAC97 celebrated the 25th birthday of the Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung, the world's first aerosol society. Attendants numbered almost 400, from over 30 nations worldwide.
Topics included atmospheric aerosols over land and sea, chemical and biological aspects, optical aspects, measurements, modeling, health aspects, and combustion products. There were over a dozen instrumentation and publications exhibitors. The conference underscored the interdisciplinary nature of this field. Physics is important for aerosol generation, particularly from dust, but also from sea spray; transport, primarily by wind; evolution through particle-to-particle interactions; and deposition by fallout. Biological sources are becoming recognized as key ingredients of aerosol distributions. Chemistry is vitally important in aerosol evolution through gas to particle conversions. In situ observation techniques are improving daily with progress being made in more sophisticated filters, impactors, and nephylometers. Satellite remote sensing provides wide area coverage but requires better understanding of optical process to be quantitative. Models improve physical understanding but require considerable progress in parameterizing detailed process before they can be used operationally.
The large attendance at this highly specialized meeting, along with the number of similar ones scheduled over the next year or two, attest to the global interest in aerosol science and technology. Much of this interest is related to their importance to global change, and, hence, much of the attention is over the water. Regional and local effects, particularly in coastal regions or downwind of local sources like deserts are becoming recognized.
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The Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) program consists of a three-satellite series to be initiated in 2000, when the last of the present series is expected to expire. The key feature of this series will be the substitution of a 12-channel Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) to replace the existing three-channel radiometer. The channels will range from 0.63- to 13.4-µm wavelength. Ground resolution will be 3 km, with a 15-minute repeat cycle and 10 bits of quantization. Matra-Marconi Space, France, will develop SEVIRI. Further information is available at http://www.esrin.esa.it/htdocs/esa/progs/MSG.html.
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The Department of Commerce today designated Purdue University and the University of Illinois Sea Grant colleges and named the joint Illinois–Indiana Sea Grant program the nation's 27th Sea Grant college program.
Speaking at the Great Lakes Commission meeting in Chicago, Illinois, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere D. James Baker said, "The University of Illinois and Purdue University received their designation as Sea Grant colleges because, working together, they have developed an excellent interdisciplinary program of research, education, and outreach that addresses the needs of the Great Lakes region and the goals of the nation.
"President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Sea Grant College Program into law 31 years ago. Today, Sea Grant is one of NOAA's most important national research and educational efforts, one that enjoys broad, bipartisan support in Congress. I firmly believe that the Sea Grant Program is a critical link in NOAA's responsibility to document and understand the global ecosystem. This is especially important in Illinois and Indiana because of the need to foster stewardship, conservation, and appropriate use of the resources of Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes region."
Sea Grant college status is awarded only after a Sea Grant program has been judged to have maintained a high quality and balanced program of research, education, and outreach related to ocean, Great Lakes, and coastal resources. The joint Illinois–Indiana program was specifically cited for its research excellence in aquaculture and water quality and for its work on the control of zebra mussels and other nonindigenous species.
The core of the National Sea Grant College Program is composed of 29 Sea Grant colleges and institutions, which encompass a wide network of approximately 300 colleges, universities, research institutions, and marine organizations. Sea Grant works in partnership with industry, the federal government, and state governments to conduct coastal and marine research, education, and outreach.
For more information about the National Sea Grant College Program, visit its World Wide Web site at http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/nsgo/.
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Scientists have used gravity data from satellites in addition to depth soundings from ships to produce a more defined high-resolution map of the world's ocean floors, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced.
The new map, which looks similar to one the scientists published in 1995, provides estimations of the ocean depths from gravity data from satellites. The 1995 map was based on gravity data but did not provide estimations of ocean depths.
Scientists Walter H.F. Smith of NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center and David T. Sandwell of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, report on their project in the 26 September issue of Science magazine.
Conventional sea floor mapping using echo sounding data from ships has been difficult because of the large gaps between surveys in remote areas. "There are places as large as the state of Oklahoma where no soundings are available," said Smith. "Traditionally, bathymetric contours are drawn by hand so that human intuition (or prejudice) fills the gaps in coverage," Smith and Sandwell write in Science. "Recent developments allow a new approach to this problem." Smith and Sandwell used gravity data from satellites to estimate depths in unsurveyed areas, thus filling the gaps in the map in an objective and high-resolution manner.
The new topography reveals all of the intermediate and large-scale structures of the ocean basins, including new mountain ranges such as the Foundation Seamounts in the South Pacific. These were not found by conventional mapping but were revealed by the satellite gravity data. Smith and Sandwell showed that uncharted seamounts are a significant source of topographic variation, and information from satellite gravity can reduce the error in estimated topographic variation by more than half.
Knowledge of sea floor topography is vital for understanding physical oceanography, marine biology, chemistry and geology. Topography influences currents, tides, and mixing and upwelling of nutrient-rich water. The new topographic features portrayed by Smith and Sandwell reveal new fish habitats and should influence computer simulations of ocean circulation, which are used to forecast global climate change.
The map can be viewed on the World Wide Web at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/fliers/97mgg03.html.
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On 4 September, President Clinton announced that he will nominate Ray Kammer to be director of the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology. A White House press release states that Kammer has worked for the Commerce Department since 1969 and is currently serving, on an acting basis, as Commerce's chief financial officer, chief information officer, and assistant secretary for administration.
Kammer, who has a B.A. from the University of Maryland, served as Deputy Director of NIST from 1980 to 1991, and again from 1993 to the present. In the interim, from 1991 to 1993, he was the Department of Commerce's deputy undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere. "The Directorship of NIST," the press release says, "oversees programs that work in partnership with industry to promote U.S. economic growth through the development and application of technology, measurements, and standards."
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Diana Josephson, deputy undersecretary of Commerce, has changed jobs. On 29 September she assumed the position of principal deputy assistant secretary for Installations and Environment with the Department of the Navy.
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Jeff Lawrence, NASA's administrator for Legislative Affairs, has left NASA to pursue a career in the private sector. He had served as the agency's top-ranking legislative official since 19 April 1993. He is joining the firm of Cassidy and Associates as a senior vice president.
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