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2004</title></head><body>
<div align="center"><font size="+2" color="#0000FF"><b>DIALOG and
Disccrs News</b></font></div>
<div align="center">04/18/04</div>
<div align="center"><font
color="#0000FF"><b>***************************************************</b
></font></div>
<div align="center"><font size="+1"
color="#0000FF"><b>Resources</b></font></div>
<div align="center"><br></div>
<div><b>TOMORROW'S PROFESSOR</b>:</div>
<div> Submitted by Katheryn Ford</div>
<div>There is a distribution list associated with Tomorrow's
Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science & Engineering
(Paperback, 1997) Author: Rick Reis.</div>
<div> Anyone can subscribe to the
Tomorrows-Professor Listserv by addressing an e-mail message to:</div>
<div><Majordomo@lists.stanford.edu>.</div>
<div>--Do NOT put anything in the SUBJECT line</div>
<div>--DO type in BODY of the message, subscribe
tommorows-professor</div>
<div><b><br></b></div>
<div><b>State of the Land, Natural Resources Conservation Service,
maps, tables, graphs, and related publications</b> are available for
the extent of farmland, forests, land-use, soil erosion, water
quality, wetlands, and urbanization. Although the most recent data are
from 1997, this is still an all-inclusive resource relating to U.S.
land stewardship, especially if used in conjunction with the most
recent National Resource Inventory, completed in 2001.</div>
<div align="center">http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/</div>
<div align="center"><br></div>
<div><b>Teaching Tip: Investigating the Climate System</b>, from NASA,
suggested by Cheryl Dodes, Port Washington, NY. Need a complete
set of modules relating to clouds, energy, precipitation, weather and
wind? These problem based modules correlate with national
science standards and involve interdisciplinary connections language
arts, geography, mathematics, and social studies.</div>
<div>Taken from Geo-ed 10 April 2004</div>
<div><br></div>
<div
align="center"
>http://spacelink.nasa.gov/products/Investigating.the.Climate.System/</div
>
<div align="center"><br></div>
<div align="center"><br></div>
<div><b>Aquatic Science Education Resources</b></div>
<div> ASLO's e Outreach Activities website (<font
color="#0000EE">www.aslo.org/education/outreach.html</font>) describes
innovative outreach programs developed by your colleagues. The
Teaching Tools website (<font
color="#0000EE">www.aslo.org/education/teaching.html</font>) provides
educators with a list of teaching tools for teaching students about
limnology and oceanography. These sites can be used to help
members writing proposals who are having difficulty addressing the
requirements of Criterion 2 of the US National Science Foundation,
i.e. the broader impacts of the proposed activity. Imagine a
website that you can peruse and use to find outreach program ideas
that fit within the parameters of your proposed research, partners who
can provide you outreach expertise - a foothold into a school
district, or a ready-made program in which your real-time data stream
can feed directly into the classroom, or a teaching model that can
help weave your research into best-practice pedagogy. Outreach
programs and teaching tools that<i> you</i> develop to meet Criterion
2 objectives can also be distributed on ASLO's Education
website.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div align="center"><font
color="#0000FF"><b>***************************************************</b
></font></div>
<div align="center"><br></div>
<div align="center"><font size="+1" color="#0000FF"><b>Science
News</b></font></div>
<div><br>
<b>SATELLITES RECORD WEAKENING NORTH ATLANTIC CURRENT</b></div>
<div>NASA RELEASE: 04-130<br>
A North Atlantic Ocean circulation system
weakened<br>
considerably in the late 1990s, compared to the 1970s and</div>
<div>1980s, according to a NASA study.<br>
Sirpa Hakkinen, lead author and researcher at
NASA's Goddard<br>
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. and co-author Peter<br>
Rhines, an oceanographer at the University of Washington,<br>
Seattle, believe slowing of this ocean current is an<br>
indication of dramatic changes in the North Atlantic Ocean<br>
climate. The study's results about the system that moves<br>
water in a counterclockwise pattern from Ireland to Labrador<br>
were published on the Internet by the journal Science on the</div>
<div>Science Express Web site at:</div>
<div>http://www.sciencexpress.org or http://www.aaas.org<br>
The current, known as the sub polar gyre, has
weakened in the<br>
past in connection with certain phases of a large-scale<br>
atmospheric pressure system known as the North Atlantic<br>
Oscillation (NAO). But the NAO has switched phases twice in<br>
the 1990s, while the subpolar gyre current has continued to<br>
weaken. Whether the trend is part of a natural cycle or the</div>
<div>result of other factors related to global warming is unknown.<br>
"It is a signal of large climate
variability in the high<br>
latitudes," Hakkinen said. "If this trend continues, it
could</div>
<div>indicate reorganization of the ocean climate system, perhaps<br>
with changes in the whole climate system, but we need another<br>
good five to 10 years to say something like that is<br>
happening." Rhines said, "The sub polar zone of the Earth
is<br>
a key site for studying the climate. It's like Grand Central<br>
Station there, as many of the major ocean water masses pass<br>
through from the Arctic and from warmer latitudes. They are<br>
modified in this basin. Computer models have shown the<br>
slowing and speeding up of the subpolar gyre can influence</div>
<div>the entire ocean circulation system."<br>
Satellite data makes it possible to view the
gyre over the<br>
entire North Atlantic basin. Measurements from deep in the<br>
ocean, using buoys, ships and new autonomous "robot"<br>
Seagliders, are important for validating and extending the<br>
satellite data. Sea-surface height satellite data came from<br>
NASA's Seasat (July, August 1978), U.S. Navy's Geosat (1985<br>
to 1988), and the European Space Agency's European Remote<br>
Sensing Satellite1/2 and NASA's TOPEX/Poseidon (1992 to</div>
<div>present).<br>
Hakkinen and Rhines were able to reference
earlier data to<br>
TOPEX/Poseidon data, and translate the satellite sea-surface<br>
height data to velocities of the subpolar gyre. The sub-polar<br>
gyre can take 20 years to complete its route. Warm water runs<br>
northward through the Gulf Stream, past Ireland, before it</div>
<div>turns westward near Iceland and the tip of Greenland.<br>
The current loses heat to the atmosphere as
it moves north.<br>
Westerly winds pick up that lost heat, creating warmer,<br>
milder European winters. After frigid Labrador Sea winters,<br>
the water in the current becomes cold, salty and dense,<br>
plunges beneath the surface, and heads slowly southward back<br>
to the equator. The cycle is sensitive to the paths of winter<br>
storms and to the buoyant fresh water from glacial melting<br>
and precipitation, all of which are experiencing great</div>
<div>change.<br>
While previous studies have proposed winds
resulting from the<br>
NAO have influenced the subpolar gyre's currents, this study<br>
found heat exchanges from the ocean to the atmosphere may be<br>
playing a bigger role in the weakening current. Using<br>
Topex/Poseidon sea-surface height data, the researchers<br>
inferred Labrador Sea water in the core of the gyre warmed<br>
during the 1990s. This warming reduces the contrast with<br>
water from warmer southern latitudes, which is part of the</div>
<div>driving force for ocean circulation.<br>
The joint NASA-CNES (French Space Agency)
Topex/Poseidon<br>
oceanography satellite provides high-precision data on the<br>
height of the world's ocean surfaces, a key measure of ocean</div>
<div>circulation and heat storage in the ocean.</div>
<div align="center"><br></div>
<div
align="center">**************************************************</div>
<div align="center"><br></div>
<div align="center"><font size="-1">This newsletter has been developed
by C. Susan Weiler for the purpose of distributing information of
potential interest to recent PhDs engaged in interdisciplinary aquatic
science or climate change research, and to build an international
sense of community among recent grads. It provides an international
forum for the exchange of information and opinions regarding research,
professional and social issues.</font></div>
<div align="center"><font size="-1">The views and opinions expressed
are strictly those of C.S. Weiler or of the individual who has
submitted a particular item for distribution. The opinions expressed
do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agencies or sponsoring
societies. Dr. Weiler serves as producer and editor and reserves the
right to edit or reject material submitted to the list.</font></div>
<div align="center"><font color="#0000FF"><b>Please submit
announcements of interest to recent PhDs to phd@whitman.edu or
weiler@whitman.edu.</b></font></div>
<div align="center">For ease of transmission, please do not send
attachments. Send a short message in the body of an e-mail message,
and link to any appropriate websites.</div>
<div align="center"><font color="#0000FF"><b><br></b></font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div>C. Susan Weiler,
Ph.D. <br>
Biology
Department <span
></span> Tel:
509-527-5948 <br
>
Whitman
College <span
></span
>
Fax: 509-527-5961</div>
<div>Walla Walla, WA 99362<br>
weiler@whitman.edu <br>
Programs for Recent
PhDs <span
></span> http://aslo.org/phd.html<br>
Minorities in the Aquatic Sciences
http://www.aslo.org/mas.html<br>
DIALOG poster
http://www.aslo.org/phd/dialogposter.pdf</div>
<div> DISCCRS poster
http://www.aslo.org/phd/disccrsposter.pdf <span
></span> </div>
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