Last Updated:
February 28, 2007

GCRIO Program Overview

Library 
Our extensive collection of documents.

Privacy Policy

Archives of the
Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 4, NUMBER 8, AUGUST 1991

NEWS...
RESEARCH NEWS

Item #d91aug57

Arctic Ice Decrease. Satellite image analysis shows that the extent of Arctic ice decreased slightly between 1978 and 1987; no change was observed in the Antarctic. Although consistent with effects of greenhouse warming, the results are considered far from conclusive. (See July 4, 1991, Nature articles in Prof. Pubs./Trend Analysis, this Global Climate Change Digest issue--August 1991.)

Item #d91aug58

Ultraviolet monitoring is one of the new activities being planned in the U.S. by the National Atmospheric Deposition Program. (See Reports/Earth System Sciience, this Global Climate Change Digest issue--August 1991.)

Polar expeditions

Item #d91aug59

"Antarctic Castaways Seek Icy Evidence of Global Warming," C. Joyce, New Scientist, p. 13, July 27, 1991. Twenty scientists from the U.S. and Soviet Union will drift on an ice flow for six months next year to study the role of the Southern Ocean and its ice in climate.

Item #d91aug60

"4 Ships to Battle Floes on Polar Expeditions," W. Sullivan, New York Times, p. C9, July 16, 1991. Icebreakers from four nations will attempt to reach the North Pole this summer, collecting evidence of global warming and other data.

Item #d91aug61

"Paleoclimate of Arctic Lakes and Estuaries: A New NSF Initiative," J. Andrews, Eos, p. 331, July 30, 1991. The program will seek to understand examples of the response to climate controls similar in magnitude and scope to those projected for the future.

Item #d91aug62

"Fire and Ice Under the Deep-Sea Floor," T. Appenzeller, Science, pp. 1790-1792, June 28, 1991. Vast undersea deposits of gas hydrates, including methane hydrate, may play a major role in climate change and the future energy economy.

Item #d91aug63

"Supersonic Jets' Effect on Ozone Still Hazy," P. Zurer, Chem. Eng. News, pp. 23-24, June 24, 1991. The role of heterogeneous reactions on aerosols is among the uncertainties plaguing attempts to model this problem.

Item #d91aug64

"Can Earth's Internal Heat Drive Ocean Circulation?" R. Kunzig, Science, pp. 1620-1621, June 21, 1991. Discusses the possibly important physical effects of plumes of heated water emerging from hydrothermal vents, which could extensively mix chemicals and biology into the deep sea.

Item #d91aug65

"Earth's Ice Hangs in the Balance," D. Charles, New Scientist, p. 22, June 8, 1991. An MIT geophysicist has proposed a method for determining whether the Antarctic ice sheet is growing thicker or thinner, using very long baseline interferometry (VBLI).

Item #d91aug66

"Chemistry of Greenland Ice Sheet Studied," Eos, pp. 250-251, June 4, 1991. The U.S. Greenland Ice Sheet Project Two (GISP2) began taking ice cores in April, and is being coordinated with the European Greenland Ice Core Project 30 km away.

Item #d91aug67

"The Global Climate Observing System," Ambio, p. 165, May 1991. Gives the executive summary of a World Climate Research Programme report on the system, establishment of which was recommended by the Second World Climate Conference.