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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 7, NUMBER 5, MAY 1994

NEWS... NEWS NOTES

Item #d94may253

Ocean temperature experiment on hold: Work on the federally-funded field experiment ATOC (Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate), which involves the U.S. and six other countries, has been halted until the National Marine Fisheries Service collects additional public and scientific comments on the possible effects of low-frequency sound waves on marine mammals. Rising opposition to the project coincides with the release of a National Research Council Report on the subject. (See news articles in Science, pp. 339-340, Apr. 15; Nature, p. 573, Apr. 14 and p. 485, Apr. 7; New Scientist, p. 5, Apr. 16.)

Item #d94may254

Aircraft and the ozone layer: With increasing frequency, jumbo jets are flying in the stratosphere. At an April symposium held in Germany, atmospheric chemists discussed the possible impacts on stratospheric ozone, and debated for the first time whether aircraft should be banned from the stratosphere for ozone protection. (See New Scientist, pp. 14-15, Apr. 30.) Suggestions also include broadening the heavily traveled air corridors, and imposing an international tax on aircraft fuel.

Item #d94may255

World Bank knocked: Friends of the Earth International has started a series of brief "Profiles in World Bank Disasters," highlighting large projects such as power plants and rainforest logging which accelerate global warming or have other deleterious effects on the environment. Contact FOE-U.S., 1025 Vermont Ave., S. 300, Washington DC 20005 (202-783-7400).

Item #d94may256

U.S. research program: Speakers at the U.S. Global Change Policy Symposium held in April in Washington said that the current U.S. global change research program will not provide decision makers with the information they need, particularly on the human impact of climate change and the likely outcome of policies adopted. (See Chem. Eng. News, pp. 39-40, Apr. 25.)

Item #d94may257

"Controlling China's Greenhouse Emissions: What's Happening?" Global Environ. Change Rep., pp. 1-3, Apr. 22. Examines how China, the number two emitter of greenhouse gases after the U.S., could surpass the U.S. in 20 years.

Item #d94may258

"Palace Coup May Lift Status of Biosphere 2," C. Macilwain, Nature, p. 576, Apr. 14. Ed Bass, the Texas billionaire who backed the giant sealed greenhouse in the Arizona desert, fired the entire management team, which conceived the project in 1984. The team's failure to adopt a more focused research program is considered a factor.