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FROM VOLUME 5, NUMBER 9, SEPTEMBER 1992

NEWS...
RESEARCH NEWS

Item #d92sep111

Mt. Pinatubo's impact on ozone has been documented by researchers who found that stratospheric ozone levels decreased by up to 20 percent at the altitude (24 km) where the greatest concentrations of volcanic particles reside. See Grant et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., p. 1109, June 2, 1992, in Prof. Pubs./Strat. Ozone, this GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST issue--Sep. 1992, and New Scientist, p. 16, Aug. 1.

Item #d92sep112

Methane accumulation slows: new results based on widespread global measurements indicate that the rise in atmospheric methane concentration may be reaching a peak. See Steele et al., Nature, July 23, in Prof. Pub./Gen. Int.--Science, this GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST issue--Sep. 1992; also Sci. News, p. 55, July 25.

Item #d92sep113

Mysterious plumes solved: Plume-like cloud streaks emanating from Bennett Island in the East Siberian Sea were initially observed by satellite in 1983, and thought by some to indicate deposits of frozen methane leaking from the ocean floor. The recent demise of the Cold War enabled researchers to sample the plume by aircraft and determine that it contains normal levels of methane. The streaks are apparently water clouds created by air flow over the island's mountains. See Sci. News, p. 422, June 27, 1992; Science, p. 35, July 3.

Item #d92sep114

ARM Program information: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has begun publication of ARM Outreach, a bulletin to inform a broad readership of researchers, policy makers, managers and educators about its Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, DOE's largest contribution to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The 20-page Spring 1992 issue describes the program's setting within DOE; its purpose, goals and organization; its investigators and their research in a general fashion, and two specific research projects. Available (no charge) from Carbon Dioxide Info. Analysis Ctr., Oak Ridge Nat. Lab., MS-6355, POB 2008, Oak Ridge TN 37831 (615-574-0390).

Also available is ARM Bulletin, a monthly update of ARM activities with calendar listings and other brief notes of interest to the research and policy community. Contact Ted Cress, Pacific NW Lab., K1-74, POB 999, Richland WA 99352 (509-375-6964).

Item #d92sep115

Methane data sought: The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) of the U.S. DOE is constantly on the lookout for new databases bearing on global climate change. A dozen specific types of methane data desired are listed in CDIAC Communications (p. 24, Winter 1992). Contact CDIAC at the address given in the previous item.

Item #d92sep116

"Mt. Pinatubo's Cloud Shades Global Climate," Sci. News, p. 37, July 18, 1992. Provides further details on climate model results and measurements of decreased solar radiation indicating that the Pinatubo eruption has had the expected effect on climate. (See Research News, GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST, Aug. 1992.)

Item #d92sep117

"Flourishing Forests Mop up Missing Carbon," F. Pearce, New Scientist, p. 10, July 11, 1992. Roger Sedjo at Resources for the Future finds that, contrary to the conventional view of broad global deforestation, Northern Hemisphere forests have expanded so much in the past four decades that they are counteracting the greenhouse effect. (See his article in the June 1992 Ambio, listed in GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE DIGEST, Prof. Pubs./Global Carbon Cycle, Aug. 1992)

Item #d92sep118

Meeting reports

"International Meeting Airs Ozone Studies," Eos, pp. 273, 275-276, June 30, 1992. The Quadrennial Ozone Symposium (June 4-13, Charlottesville, Virginia) gave as much attention to increasing levels of tropospheric ozone as it did to stratospheric ozone, its traditional topic. It included a progress report on the effects of Mt. Pinatubo on stratospheric ozone.

"Summary Report of the IUGG-IAMAP Workshop MW5: Climatic Effects of Atmospheric Trace Constituents," (Aug. 19-20, 1991, Vienna), W.-C. Wang et al., Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., pp. 801-804, June 1992.

"NADW Formation as a Branch of the Hydrological Cycle," T.F. Stocker, W.S. Broecker, Eos, May 5, 1992. Summary of a conference on North Atlantic deep water formation (NADW) held Nov. 1991 at Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, New York.