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

FROM VOLUME 5, NUMBER 3, MARCH 1992

REPORTS...
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE

Item #d92mar54

Technical Bibliographies: William B. Grant has compiled the following bibliographies, available from him without charge at NASA Langley Res. Ctr., MS 401A, Hampton VA 23665 (tel: 804-864-5846; fax: 804-864-7790). Specify either hard copy or floppy disk and word processing code. A bibliography on volcanic aerosols and their effects is in progress.

Water Vapor Continuum. Over 300 articles and reports dealing with both the thermal IR and microwave regions, including measurements, theory and applications in radiative transfer. References start from 1888 and are updated regularly.

Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) Radiation. Over 640 articles and reports, encompassing a wide range of topics: solar UV radiation measurements, global ozone change, atmospheric molecular absorption, aerosol and cloud scattering, measurements of UV-B at the Earth's surface, UV-B effects on human, animal and plant life. References begin in 1836 and are updated regularly.

Item #d92mar55

The Determination of Total Dissolved Inorganic Carbon in Sea Water Using Extraction/Coulometry: The First Stage of a Collaborative Study (DOE/RL/01830T-H14), A.G. Dickson (Scripps Inst. Oceanog., 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla CA 92093), 43 pp., Feb. 1992. Order from Off. Sci. Tech. Info., POB 62, Oak Ridge TN 37831 (615-576-8401), or NTIS.

Contributes to the international standardization of analyses of parameters of the carbon dioxide system in sea water, necessary for the JGOFS. Discrepancies found in results from different laboratories probably stem from the lack of a written standard operating procedure and of certified reference materials for total dissolved inorganic carbon in sea water.

Item #d92mar56

Climate Data Needs from GCM Experiments for Use in Assessing the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Natural Resource Systems (Discussion Paper, ENR91-15), M.S. McKenney, N.J. Rosenberg, 1991, $5. Contact Public. Off., Resources for the Future, 1616 P St., Washington DC 20036 (202-328-5009).

Needed are better estimates of: climatic variability, measures of water availability and how precipitation may change, and the climatic time scale which will be affected. Important concerns are the reliability of model results, and the spatial density of predictions.

Item #d92mar57

Simulating the Impacts of Climate Change on Potential Evapotranspiration: A Comparison of the Climate Sensitivity of Selected Methods (Discussion Paper, ENR91-17), M.S. McKenney, N.J. Rosenberg, 1991, $5. Contact RFF, addr. immed. above.

Uses eight methods that differ in structure and data requirements, together with data from five sites. The methods differ in predictions even without climate change, and in their sensitivities to temperature and other climatic inputs such as humidity, windiness and sunshine.

Item #d92mar58

Four-Dimensional Model Assimilation of Data: A Strategy for the Earth System Sciences, Nat. Res. Council, Board on Atmos. Sci. & Clim., 78 pp., 1991, $19 + $3 shipping. Order from Nat. Acad. Press, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20418 (800-624-6242).

Item #d92mar59

International Global Network of Fiducial Stations--Scientific and Implementation Issues, Nat. Res. Council Panel on Global Network of Fiducial Sites, 129 pp., 1991, $19. Order from Nat. Acad. Press, addr. immed. above.

Proposes a network of sites for making space-based geodetic measurements such as sea level change. Discusses the scientific rationale, identifies geophysical problems that cannot be solved without a global approach, considers operational details, and suggests a model plan.

Item #d92mar60

Earth Observing System: Information on NASA's Selection of Data Centers (GAO/IMTEC-91-67), 18 pp., Sep. 1991. Order from U.S. General Accounting Office, POB 6015, Gaithersburg MD 20877 (202-275-6241). First five copies free; additional $2 ea.

Officials from the EOS program say that the process NASA used to select sites for seven Distributed Active Archive Centers was largely subjective, and a number of sites with significant earth science data holdings were not chosen, including several from other federal agencies. NASA may negotiate agreements with some of these agencies to serve as affiliated data centers.

Item #d92mar61

Arid Ecosystems Interactions: Recommendations for Drylands Research in the Global Change Research Program (OIES-6), 81 pp., Nov. 1991. Contact D. Ehret, Off. Interdisciplinary Earth Sci., UCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307 (303-497-1688).

From an interdisciplinary workshop (Boulder, Colo.; Oct. 1989) on dry ecosystems, which support one-fifth of the world's population and are particularly sensitive to change. Ten specific research priorities include expansion of monitoring to provide a baseline for future changes; assessments of the potential vulnerability of different dryland societies; development of regional models of atmospheric, geomorphic, hydrological and ecosystem processes as well as land use; international cooperation to improve knowledge of past environmental conditions in arid regions.

Item #d92mar62

Theory and Modeling in GLOBEC: A First Step, E. Hofmann (Joint Oceanog. Institutions Inc., Washington, D.C.), T. Osborn et al., 14 pp., 1991. NTIS: N92-11602/9; $17. GLOBEC: Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics: A Component of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (NASA-TM-105121), 91 pp., 1991. NTIS: N92-11603/7; $19.

GLOBEC is a research initiative proposed by oceanographic and fisheries scientists to determine the impact of changes in the global environment on the populations and communities of marine animals. The basic mechanisms that determine the abundance and distribution of marine animal populations and their variability will be explored. The first document listed describes the overall approach; the second gives an initial science plan.

Item #d92mar63

A Plan for Intermodel Comparison of Atmospheric CO₂ Projections with Uncertainty Analysis (ORNL/CDIAC-32), A.W. King, M.J. Sale, 46 pp., June 1990. Contact Carbon Dioxide Info. Analysis Ctr., Oak Ridge Nat. Lab., Oak Ridge TN 37831 (615-574-0390).

Describes a procedure for the documentation, support and archiving of global carbon cycle models, then considers model uncertainties with the goal of evaluating model capabilities and research needs.

Item #d92mar64

Report of a Workshop on Climate Feedbacks and the Role of Peatlands, Tundra and Boreal Ecosystems in the Global Carbon Cycle (ORNL/TM-11457), W.M. Post, 32 pp., Feb. 1990. Order from Oak Ridge Nat. Lab., addr. immed. above.

From a 1988 workshop held to estimate the net flux of carbon-cycle gases between northern ecosystems and the atmosphere under altered levels of CO₂, to determine key uncertainties, and to identify research needs.

Item #d92mar65

Forest Succession and Climatic Change: Coupling Land-Surface Processes and Ecological Dynamics (Doctoral Thesis; NCAR/CT-131), P. Martin (NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), 138 pp., 1990. NTIS: PB92-112952; $26.

Focuses on the response of forests to climatic change using a model that applies the physics of energy and water exchange in detail to the northeastern U.S., to yield results on ecological dynamics, forest hydrology and vegetation succession.