EOS Scientists in the News

--Steve Cole, EOS Science News & Information

• Global Warming Assertions Enhanced," Washington Post (Aug. 13). Frank J. Wentz and Matthias Schabel (Remote Sensing Systems, Calif.) challenge the accuracy of a 17-year record of satellite measurements developed by John Christy (Univ. of Alabama) and others that shows no warming in the lower troposphere. The Wentz/Schabel Nature paper is also discussed by James Hansen, Andrew Lacis (NASA GISS), and coauthors in a "Perspectives" column in Science (Aug. 14, pp. 930-932).

• "West Antarctica's Weak Underbelly Giving Way?," Science (July 24, pp. 499-500). Richard Alley (Penn State Univ.) and Mark Fahnestock (Univ. of Maryland) discuss new research by Eric Rignot (NASA JPL) indicating weakening of the West Antarctic's Pine Island Glacier.

• "Coming to Grips With the World's Greenhouse Gases," Science (July 24, pp. 504-507). Researchers including Dennis Baldocchi (NOAA) and Michael Apps (Forestry Canada) discuss the state-of-the-science of the carbon cycle and implications for the international Kyoto climate change treaty. A related story on carbon dioxide monitoring towers includes comments by David Hollinger (USDA Forest Service), David Schimel (NCAR), Riccardo Valentini (Univ. of Tuscia), and Steven Wofsy (Harvard Univ.).

• "Fire Towers in Space," Los Angeles Times, July 16. Gene C. Feldman and Jay R. Herman (NASA Goddard) discuss the role of Earth-observing satellites in monitoring and combatting fires, including the recent fires in Florida.

  Other Recent Publications

  A special EOS AM-1 issue of the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing was published recently (vol. 36, no. 4, July 1998). The issue contains 24 articles on the platform and instruments, algorithms, calibration and validation, and science data analysis.

  Send notices of recent media coverage in which you have been involved, and noteworthy new research results to Steve Cole, EOS Project Science Office, Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 900, Greenbelt, MD 20771; tel. 301-441-4146; fax 301-441-2432; email: scole@pop900.gsfc.nasa.gov.