• Rock Measurements Suggest Warming is Global
  
• Marine Reserves Provide Rapid Rewards
  
• Puffer Fish From Florida Can Kill Diners
  
• Climate, Agricultural Methods Affect Lake Erie's Health
  
• Alaska Representative Supports Native Whaling
  
• Massive Weather Study Will Track Storms
  
• Conservation Measures May Aid Idaho Ground Squirrels
  
• Solar Power Could Come From the Moon
  

Rock Measurements Suggest Warming is Global

"Our findings remove any last doubt that this is anything other than a global phenomenon," said Henry Pollack, University of Michigan (UM) professor of geological sciences.

"Until recently, the story of global warming has been built up primarily on the basis of temperature measurements at the surface of the land and oceans," said Pollack. "These measurements have been painstakingly acquired and put together, and there has been enough information to reconstruct a temperature history for the Earth's surface for the past 140 years. But it's all based on surface measurements."

About a year ago, a group of researchers determined how much heat had been gained during the last half of the 20th century throughout the atmosphere, the depths of the oceans, and the cryosphere - the portion of Earth's surface where water is in solid form such as sea ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps and permafrost.

However, their analysis left out one major component of the climate system: continental rock, which covers almost 30 percent of the planet's surface.

Now, Pollack and colleagues have completed the picture by determining how much the continental rock has warmed in recent centuries.

The scientists based their analysis on temperature readings taken by lowering sensitive thermometers into holes drilled from Earth's surface into rock formations on six continents, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Australia. These readings can reveal how temperatures have changed in the past, because the heat that surface rocks absorb from the atmosphere travels downward into subsurface rocks, leaving a distinct signature in the rocks.

Signals from short term daily or seasonal variations penetrate just a few meters, but temperature changes that take place over hundreds of years are preserved in deeper rock.

The researchers' calculations, based on data from 616 bore holes, found evidence of an increase in the heat content of the continents over the past 500 years, with more than half of that heat gain occurring during the 20th century, and almost one-third of it since 1950.

"The magnitude of the warming we estimate is very similar to that which has come from the studies of the ocean, atmosphere and ice," said Pollack. "We believe it makes a persuasive case that the warming has been truly global."

The research is reported in the April 15 issue of the geology journal "Geophysical Research Letters."

Marine Reserves Provide Rapid Rewards

Reserves are defined as no take zones where it is illegal to remove fish and other species in any way.

"The exciting result is that once you put a reserve into place, in one to three years there is a dramatic response by the species in the reserve to that protection," said Ben Halpern, a graduate student in biology at UC Santa Barbara and one of the authors of a report that will appear in the May issue of the journal "Ecology Letters." Halpern wrote the paper with Robert Warner, professor of biology at UCSB.

"People who are contemplating establishing a reserve can know they will see results in a short time," said Halpern. "From a political and social perspective, this is very good news."

The researchers reviewed 112 independent measurements of 80 reserves to show that the measures of biodiversity, the size of the creatures living in the reserves, and the total number of creatures in the reserve, all become higher after a reserve is dedicated.

The time it takes to boost these numbers was unexpected, Halpern said, taking just one to three years to show improvement and holding true for up to 40 years.

"Therefore biological responses inside marine reserves appear to develop quickly and last through time," stated the authors.

"It's great from a management, political and conservation approach to know that these changes will last through time," Halpern said. "While reserves remove some areas from fishing pressure, the premise is that increased production inside reserves will eventually benefit consumers outside reserve boundaries. We now can say with increased confidence that 'eventually' is a relatively short period of time."

The oldest reserves included in the study are one that is 40 years old, just off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia, and a 39 year old reserve in Exuma Sound in the Bahamas.

Puffer Fish From Florida Can Kill Diners

Three New Jersey residents have become ill from eating puffer fish, also known as blowfish or sea squab, harvested near Titusville, according to the New Jersey Department of Health. In two situations, patients ate puffer fish caught by a recreational fisher, but the third patient reported buying the puffer fish from a local New Jersey retail fish market.

Further investigations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have uncovered reports of similar illnesses in Florida and Virginia.

"It is imperative that consumers not eat puffer fish from the Titusville, Florida region," said Dr. Lester Crawford, FDA deputy commissioner. "The FDA continues to work closely with the CDC and the state authorities to protect the public health, but in the meantime anyone who may have eaten puffer fish should be alert to these possible neurological symptoms and seek medical help if it is needed."

The marine toxin responsible for the problem is a byproduct of algae found in seawater.

The symptoms of the toxin include tingling and burning of the mouth and tongue, numbness, drowsiness and incoherent speech. Symptoms can develop within 30 minutes to two hours after eating the fish, depending on the amount of toxin consumed.

In severe cases, respiratory paralysis and death may occur. The toxin can not be destroyed by cooking or freezing the fish.

Consumers who have symptoms like those described above and suspect that they have consumed puffer fish harvested from the Titusville area should contact their physician or local poison control center. Consumers with questions may call the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Center's Outreach and Information Center at 1-888-SAFEFOOD.

Climate, Changing Agricultural Methods Affect Lake Erie's Health

However, the warming climate and changes in winter snowfall patterns have boosted winter runoff, increasing the amount of nutrients and sediment entering the lake during the colder months.

Examining the water quality of the Maumee and Sandusky rivers, Peter Whiting, CWRU associate professor of geological sciences, and Doug Moog, CWRU senior research associate, found that cropland remains the biggest contributor to sediment and pollution that flow into Lake Erie. They report their findings this month in the "Journal of Environmental Quality."

The geologists examined the water quality of the rivers for the amounts of sediment, phosphorus and nitrogen that were linked to changes in water runoff, climate and agricultural practices. Once they accounted for the amount of runoff, they then considered changes in agricultural practices and climate.

Winter temperatures have risen in the Lake Erie Basin by about four degrees Fahrenheit per decade between 1976 and 1995. The warmer winters led to a 40 percent decrease in snowfall and snow cover.

With less snow protecting agricultural fields and other areas, runoff from the exposed land increased, doubling the amount of sediment and nitrogen flowing into the lake during winter months.

Nitrogen levels entering the lake have increased by as much as 500 percent, because water soaked into bare ground and leached nitrogen from the soil during the winter months, the researchers found.

But during other times of the year, Whiting and Moog noted that changes in agricultural practices resulted in improved water conditions. They found phosphorus levels from fertilizers decreased by more than 50 percent across all seasons.

That decrease was linked to the amount of land left fallow or in conservation tillage, a method of planting without plowing or with little mulching.

"As more land has been left fallow and farmers have adopted more environmentally friendly practices, the amount of phosphorus in the river water has dropped and less has reached Lake Erie through these rivers," the researchers reported.

Alaska Representative Supports Native Whaling

Young, who represents the entire state of Alaska, has introduced a resolution into the House of Representatives (House Concurrent Resolution 370) which states, "the United States should remain diligent in its efforts to protect the ability of Native people of the United States who have been issued quotas by the International Whaling Commission to continue to legally harvest whales."

The proposed resolution goes on to say that the President "should instruct representatives to the United States delegation to the 54th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission to support positions that are based on sound science," including, it says, any new whale sanctuaries.

Young, a 15 term Congress member, argues that "many Alaska Natives rely on whales to provide sustenance and to meet their subsistence and cultural needs." The International Whaling Commission has allocated quotas for the Alaska Native harvest of bowhead whales, and the Makah Indian tribe has a quota, specified by an 1855 treaty with the U.S. government, for hunting gray whales.

Massive Weather Study Will Track Storms

Where, when, and how hard it will rain are the most difficult elements to nail down in weather forecasting. Better precipitation outlooks are one goal of the U.S. Weather Research Program, which has organized a number of agencies in support of the new study.

Led by scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the International H20 Project (IHOP2002) will be based in central Oklahoma from May 13 to June 25. The National Science Foundation, NCAR's primary sponsor, is providing the bulk of the project's $7 million funding, with additional support from other agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Six aircraft from the United States and Germany will traverse the study area, some flying as low as 100 feet above the surface. A semi-autonomous research craft - the Proteus, sponsored by NASA - will carry instruments up to 45,000 feet.

On the ground, an armada of 30 vehicles, including four Doppler radars on flatbed trucks, will comb the rural roadways of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. More than 100 scientists and technicians scattered across the plains will be aiming radars and other sensors at water vapor ahead of the day's first raindrops.

Scientists hope that analyzing water vapor will be the key to better predictions of when and where summertime storms will form and how intense they will be.

"We're hoping to actually see how the water vapor moves," said NCAR's Tammy Weckwerth, one of IHOP's two lead scientists. "That's never been done before." Cloud cover may impede some of the more sensitive instruments, Weckwerth added. "The ideal day will start out cloud free, yet humid."

The study aims to improve forecasts from one to 12 hours ahead of heavy rain, which could help in flash-flood safety and other applications.

"Right now the lead time for flash flood forecasts is well under an hour," said NCAR's David Parsons, co-lead scientist on the study. "If you can extend forecasts of heavy rainfall out a few hours, you're doing great."

More information is available at: http://www.atd.ucar.edu/dir_off/projects/2002/IHOP.html

Conservation Measures May Aid Southern Idaho Ground Squirrels

Soulen Livestock Company, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the Idaho governor's Office of Species Conservation, is in the process of formalizing an agreement to implement conservation measures for the species over about 43,000 acres of Soulen Livestock's land in Washington and Payette Counties.

The southern Idaho ground squirrel was identified as a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act in October 2001. Southern Idaho ground squirrels are now found in a 518,000 acre area in the Weiser River Basin.

The species has been declining throughout its range since 1985. About 85 percent of the known occupied ground squirrel sites are located on private lands, including ranches and farms. Another 12 percent of the species' occupied sites are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and three percent of the sites are on lands managed by the Idaho Department of Lands.

The agreement with Soulen Livestock is intended to protect and enhance ground squirrel habitat and populations, and to reintroduce ground squirrels into unoccupied suitable habitat without interfering with Soulen Livestock's farming and ranching operations.

Under the proposed 20 year agreement, Soulen Livestock would not allow shooting, trapping or poisoning of ground squirrels, and would allow agency personnel access to the lands to conduct ground squirrel surveys. Ground squirrel reintroduction efforts now underway would continue on Soulen Livestock property.

The agreement would include a permit authorizing Soulen Livestock to kill or injure southern Idaho ground squirrels through the company's normal land use activities, even if the species is listed under the Endangered Species Act.

"These types of agreements are an excellent example of state and federal agencies working in partnership with private landowners to further conservation of sensitive wildlife species," said Bob Ruesink, Snake River Basin Office supervisor.

Solar Power Could Come From the Moon

In the April/May issue of "The Industrial Physicist," Dr. David Criswell suggests that solar cells on moon could replace all fossil fuels. Criswell proposes a Lunar Solar Power (LSP) System, using arrays of solar cells on the lunar surface to beam energy back to Earth.

Criswell estimates that the 10 billion people living on Earth in 2050 will require 20 Terrawatts (TW) of power. The moon receives 13,000 TW of power from the sun. In his article, Criswell suggests that harnessing just one percent of the solar power and directing it toward Earth could replace fossil fuel power plants on Earth.

"The lunar operations are primarily industrial engineering," said Criswell. He and Dr. Robert Waldron first described LSP in 1984 at a National Aeronautics and Space Administration symposium on Lunar Bases and Space Activities in the 21st Century.

"Adequate knowledge of the moon and practical technologies have been available since the late 1970's to collect this power and beam it to Earth," Criswell argued. "The system can be built on the moon from lunar materials and operated on the moon and on Earth using existing technologies," reducing the expenses associated with transporting materials to the moon.

Criswell added that LSP would be even cheaper if parts of the production machinery are designed to be made of lunar materials.

The LSP system would consist of 20-40 lunar power bases, situated on the eastern and western edges of the moon, as seen from Earth. Each power base would have a series of solar cells to collect energy from the sun, which is sent over buried electric wires to microwave generators that convert the solar electricity to microwaves.

The generators would send the energy to screens that reflect the microwave beams toward Earth, where they would be received by arrays of special antennas placed about the globe.

"Each antenna converts the microwave power to electricity that is fed into the local power grid," Criswell explained.

"LSP is probably the only option for powering a prosperous world within the 21st century," Criswell concluded. "However, it does require a return to the moon."

The system depends on some human occupation of the moon to build and run the lunar bases, but Criswell also sees this as an opportunity.

"Once we are back and operating at large scale then going down the various learning curves will make traveling to the moon and working there 'routine'," Criswell said.