摘要:

The article, ‘Prediction of the Haicheng Earthquake,’ in the May EOS (pp. 236–272), by members of the American seismological delegation to China, displays an uncritical and naive attitude toward the alleged accomplishments of Chinese Communist seismology under the guidance of Chairman Mao. The reports of successful prediction would be more convincing had they been noted before, rather than after, the event, and had they been made by visitors fully free to travel and able to converse in the language of the country. The Americans may have received a Potemkin village tour of a type often provided foreign visitors to totalitarian countries.Conspicuously omitted from the article is any mention of the disastrous Tangshan earthquake of July 28, 1976. One would have expected Maoist seismology to have foreseen this event. But we now learn (seeCalifornia Geology, June 1977) that the evil ‘Gang of Four’ obstructed the prediction of this e

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00002-01

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The first article of the AGU statutes defines the objects of the Union clearly. Although few members may be familiar with these statutes, most have definite ideas of what they expect from the Union. In general, the members look to AGU for the dissemination of knowledge in the field of geophysics through publications and scientific meetings. To a lesser extent, members expect the Union to promote, initiate, and coordinate internationally the study of the earth and its environment in space. Broadly speaking, all of these are objects of the Union as defined by its statutes.

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00003

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In June 1977, Philip Handler, president of the National Academy of Sciences, led an interdisciplinary delegation of the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China to the People's Republic of China (PRC) to discuss with their Chinese counterparts the exchange program in the physical and social sciences.Our mission to Peking had been to replace the ‘scientific tourism’ of the last two years of the exchange program with something more substantial. It may be some time before we see the fruits of this mission, since we were told that cooperative scientific ventures would have to wait for ‘normaliza

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00004

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This year's Antarctic research program includes a joint U.S.‐Japanese search for meteorites that may yield information about radiation in space during past geologic ages. Besides revealing more about cosmic ray intensity in the distant past, the metorites will help scientists determine the rate of ice movement in Antarctica and the age of the continental ice cap. Carbonaceous meteorites found in Antarctica would be especially valuable because they could provide a glimpse into extraterrestrial organic chemistry never before possible.The group of American and Japanese meteoriticists includes William A. Cassidy from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and Brian H. Mason from the Division of Meteorites of the Smithsonian Institution. The Japanese group is headed by Keizo Yanai, meteorite curator of the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo. Dr. Cassidy was a member of the U.S.‐Japanese team which discovered the largest meteorite ever found in Antarctica; the meteorite weighed in at 407

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00008-01

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The longest, most nearly continuous record of measured atmospheric carbon dioxide taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at Mauna Loa Observatory shows a small persistent rise in global carbon dioxide concentrations.There are also minuscule, hard‐to‐explain fluctuations in the rate at which this increase is occurring, according to Kirby Hanson, director of NOAA's Geophysical Monitoring for Climatic Changes program. He said that understanding these fluctuations is necessary for us to adequately discriminate between the human and natural factors causing the carbon dioxide increase. Such accurate assessment is also needed to predict future concentrations of carbon dioxide that may result from differing scenarios for burning fossil fuels, Hanson s

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00009-01

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The Department of Energy (DOE) Lightning Protection Program to improve methods for predicting the performance of power distribution systems in lightning storms began recently with the installation of instruments on electric power lines in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota, Florida.The instruments are designed to measure and record information on the surge of electric current in power distribution lines and other equipment struck by lightning. If the initial tests are successful, plans call for at least 400 similar devices to be installed on utility systems across the country over the next few years.

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00010-01

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Copies of most U.S. Geological Survey reports may now be purchased by mail from a single centrally located facility at Denver, Colorado. Previously, copies of USGS open file reports were made available for public inspection only, or copies could be obtained at purchaser's expense, not by mail, only at designated Survey libraries, public inquiries offices, or other facilities.USGS open file reports may be ordered from the Open‐File Services Section, Branch of Distribution, U.S. Geological Survey, Box 25425, Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225 (phone: 303‐234‐

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00011-01

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Jon F. Claerbout at Stanford University has developed a way to enhance seismic soundings to gain a remarkably clear picture of underground strata and geologic formations.Claerbout uses a wave equation migration technique in a computer model to reconstruct confused seismic data. In effect, this technique makes it seem as though the explosive charges and seismic receivers were buried in the earth rather than placed on the surface. The computer‐enhanced seismograms show the geologic structure down to 10 km, a depth more than twice that of usual interest to petroleum prospector

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00012-01

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The following geophysical and astronomical events were reported by the Scientific Event Alert Network (SEAN), Smithsonian Institution, NHB Stop 129, Washington, D.C. 20560.

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00013

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Naturally, I welcome the new policy of the American Geophysical Union which allows those who are not American citizens to be nominated and to act as officers. This gracious gesture recognizes the fact that the AGU has always been international in its outlook and that its meetings have been important events attended by visitors from many countries. By their frequency they act as a valuable supplement of the less frequent meetings of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics.Professor R. M. Field first brought me to the meetings when I was a graduate student at Princeton in the mid‐thirties. Visitors then included such distinguished European figures as Chapman and Bartels in geomagnetism, Bjerknes, Rossby, Sverdrup, and Proudman in meteorology and oceanography, Vening Meinesz in geodesy, and Jeffreys in seismology. At a later meeting I met Teilhart de Chardin the paleontologist and humanist. Now scientists come from all over the worl

ISSN:0002-8606    

DOI:10.1029/EO059i001p00028-01

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY