news and notes

New Chairman of FSU meteorology department appointed

J. J. Stephens, an AMS member, has been selected for his second term as Chairman of the Department of Meteorology at Florida State University, Tallahassee. Stephens, whose new appointment is effective 3 July, previously served as department chairman during 1975-77; his present appointment is expected to run until the summer of 1984. Stephens has been a Professor of Meteorology at FSU since 1971. He holds the B.S. (1958) in meteorology and the M.A. (1961) in mathematics from the University of Texas; he holds the Ph. D. (1966) in meteorology from Texas A&M University. Between 1957 and 1964 he held a number of research positions and academic appoint- ments, among them meteorologist, U.S. Weather Bureau (now NWS); Lecturer in Meteorology and research meteorologist, Uni- versity of Texas; and National Defense Education Act Fellow and Teaching Fellow, Texas A&M. In 1963, he was named a research scientist and Assistant Professor of Meteorology at the University of Texas. He became an Associate Professor of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma in 1966 and joined FSU a year later in the same capacity. He was appointed a full professor there in 1971. During the 1969 spring academic semester he was a Visiting Asso- ciate Professor at the and, during the 1974 summer session at the University of Oklahoma, he was a Visiting Professor. Since 1968 Stephens has been active in committees and panels of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the George J. Haltiner (left) receives from Capt. William Schrann, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He USN, a plaque commemorating the renaming of the NPS was Chairman of NCAR's Field Observing Facility Advisory Panel Research Chair of Meteorology in Haltiner's name. The presen- during 1976-77 and member of the University Corporation for tation took place in January during retirement ceremonies for Atmospheric Research Members' University Relations Committee Haltiner at NPS. during 1974-78. He was Principal Investigator for two projects with the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla., and was Principal Investigator for three National Science Foundation funded research projects at FSU. He also has served as member and chairman of numerous committees and councils within FSU. Meteorology. In a ceremony during which the Commanding Officer Stephens has published many papers in both AMS and other of the U.S. Naval Environmental Prediction Research Facility scientific journals; his interests are centered in electromagnetic scat- (NEPRF), Capt. William Schrann, USN, presented NPS with a tering by hydrometeors and geophysical data processing and experi- plaque having spaces for the names of past and future Chair mental design. He has served as a consultant to NOAA and its holders,1 Haltiner's long time contributions to Navy meteorology predecessor organization, the Environmental Science Services were chronicled (see photo). Administration, and is a member (1981) of the SESAME (Severe These contributions include the suggestion to create the Research Environmental Storms and Mesoscale Experiment) Steering Chair of Meteorology in recognition of the important role of applied Committee. research in the Navy's atmospheric science program.2 That Chair, Stephens served on the AMS Committee on Radar Meteorology which now bears Haltiner's name, was created in 1977 through a during 1968-71 and was an Associate Editor of the Jou RNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES during 1974-78. He has been an Associate Editor of METEOROLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS since 1973. 'Past occupants of the Chair whose names are inscribed on the plaque are: Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) Professor Richard A. Ant he s, 1977-78; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Satellite Service Research Scientist Henry E. Fleming, 1978-79; Penn State Professor Hans A. George J. Haltiner Research Chair of Meteorology Panofsky, Colorado State University Professor William M. Gray, at NPS University of Washington Senior Research Associate Robert A. Brown, and NPS Professor Donald P. Gaver, 1979-80; and Univer- At the January celebration honoring the retirement of Prof. George sity of Washington Professor Joost A. Businger, 1980-81.—News J. Haltiner from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Monterey, Ed. Calif., the Naval Air Systems Command Research Chair of Meteo- Announcement of the creation of the NPS Research Chair was rology was renamed the George J. Haltiner Research Chair of published in the July 1977 issue of the BULLETIN (p. 613).—News Ed.

Bulletin American Meteorological Society 1059

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 07:12 AM UTC 1060 Vol. 62, No. 7, July 1981 memorandum of understanding between the Naval Air Systems tributors to acidity as sulfates and nitrates. The analysis is expected Command (NAVAIR), which funds the Chair, and NPS. As a to reveal any differences between the two methods of collecting and NAVAIR field activity in Monterey and the Navy's principal meteo- analyzing data. rology research and development activity, NEPRF was designated Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colo., is conducting the by NAVAIR as the local agent in matters relating to the Chair. U.S. instrument studies for NOAA. A Canadian government Also awarded to Haltiner at the time of his retirement was the agency, Environment Canada, is performing the Canadian study. Navy Distinguished Service Award, the highest honorary award the The Illinois State Water Survey, Urbana, 111., will analyze rain Secretary of the Navy may confer upon a civilian employee of the samples collected here. Department of the Navy. Haltiner was cited for his outstanding Collectors have been placed at an NWS site in Caribou, Me.; an service as Chairman of the NPS Meteorology Department and for agricultural experiment station in Marcel, Minn.; and Glacier his management, initiative, intellect, and academic skills that estab- National Park, Mont. Environment Canada has provided sites at lished an internationally recognized program of the highest educa- Lethbridge, Alberta; Mount Forest, Ontario; and Kejimkujik, Nova tional excellence in meteorology. Scotia. Haltiner's January retirement came after 39 years of federal ser- vice. He received the B.S. (1970), Summa Cum Laude, in mathemat- ics, from the College of St. Thomas, Minnesota. He continued to study mathematics at the University of Wisconsin (UW), where he NOAA finds lightning superbolts in Oklahoma earned the M.A. in 1942. A month later he was commissioned in the storms U.S. Naval Reserve and called to active duty. He received orders to the University of Chicago to study meteorology and then served in A rare type of lightning bolt previously not thought to occur in the Naval Weather Command for the remainder of World War II, flatlands has been discovered in Oklahoma prairie storms and could including a short tour at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in pose a danger to structures not built to withstand it. Scientists with La Jolla, Calif. Upon release from active duty in August 1946, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say Haltiner became an Assistant Professor of Aerology at NPS, then the discovery could indicate that buildings or power plants designed located in Annapolis, Md. (NPS was moved to Monterey in 1948.) on the assumption that such destructive bolts do not occur in flat- While on a leave of absence in 1947, Haltiner completed graduate lands might not be safe. studies in mathematics at UW, receiving the Ph.D. in 1948. In 1953, The positive charge cloud-to-ground flashes once were thought to he was made a full professor at NPS, and was appointed Chairman strike only when triggered by a tall structure or mountaintop, or, on of the (then) Department of Meteorology and Oceanography. When rare occasions, at the end of a storm. "Most storms never produce the department was split in 1968, Haltiner headed the new (and this kind of lightning," said W. David Rust, a researcher at NOAA's present) meteorology department until his retirement. National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.3 "In a few Haltiner has published numerous papers on theoretical and ap- storms, there may be one positive bolt, just as the storm is plied meteorology and is coauthor of Dynamical and Physical dissipating—sort of the last gasp of the storm." Meteorology, a textbook widely used in the United States and Rust added that the triggered bolts often are very high current, abroad, that has been translated into Russian. In 1980, he published making them especially destructive. "We know these bolts don't Numerical Weather Prediction, a much enlarged second edition of occur in garden variety storms. We are trying to find if the occur- his 1971 Numerical Prediction and Dynamic Meteorology, written rence of this kind of lightning is linked with storm severity," Rust with R. T. Williams. said. Haltiner was elected a Fellow of AMS in 1971 and served on the AMS Council during 1969-72. He has served as well on the AMS committees on awards, Fellows, Honorary Members, and forecast- ing. He is a foreign member of the Royal Meteorological Society and SERI, CSU energy farm the Japanese Meteorological Society. A Commanding Officer of Naval Reserve Research Company With research and monetary assistance from the Department of 12-8 from 1962 to 1965, Haltiner retired from the Navy with the rank Energy's (DOE) Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Colorado of Captain after more than 30 years of service. In 1969 he was State University (CSU), Ft. Collins, Colo., recently submitted to the awarded the title Distinguished Professor at the Naval Postgraduate Colorado General Assembly a proposal to create a 200-acre "energy School, and he now bears the title of Professor Emeritus. farm" at the university. Haltiner continues to reside in Monterey. According to Bert Mason, Manager of SERI's Agriculture Group, the Institute provided a $20 000 grant to help in drafting the plan, designed to include not only technologically diverse research and demonstration projects, but also economic analyses, technical assessments, education, and information dissemination. U.S. /Canadian acid rain measurements The "energy farm" concept first was introduced in 1980, in a session of the Colorado State Legislature, as a part of House Bill The United States and Canada have launched a project to determine 1145, which encouraged energy self-sufficiency for farmers and whether the methods they use to measure acid rain produce compat- ranchers. If approved in the 1981 session, the farm would be built on ible results. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric CSU's south campus, adjacent to the new dairy center and Veteri- Administration (NOAA), scientists are not certain that U.S. and nary Teaching Hospital. Canadian findings are comparable because of differences in the ways Mason said the farm would: show farmers, ranchers, and CSU data are collected and analyzed. students how to use energy from wind, biomass, and solar sources; The United States separately collects precipitation from snow and give scientists a research facility for testing energy-conserving tech- rain as well as dry, windblown material. The samples are gathered nologies and alternate energy forms; allow energy experts toconduct and analyzed weekly. The Canadians use instruments that collect only water; they gather and test their samples monthly. 3Rust is coauthor of an article on Research on Electrical Proper- The instruments being used by the two countries have been placed ties of Severe Thunderstorms on the Great Plains, scheduled for at three sites in both the United States and Canada. Scientists from publication in the September 1981 issue of the BULLETIN. —News each country are testing the samples collected for such major con- Ed.

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 07:12 AM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society 1061 workshops on solar heating, solar-generated electricity, fuel alcohol number and size of water droplets on clouds. The particles act as production, and methane production from animal and plant wastes; seeds around which water vapor condenses or freezes to form and serve as headquarters for a state wide research, education, and precipitation. information center. A team led by Rudolf Pueschel of NOAA's Air Resources Labora- Mason said researchers using the farm will be able to experiment tories measured airborne particles and cloud droplets upwind and in a setting similar to that of an operating farm. He said the alterna- downwind of the volcano in April 1980. Downwind, the mass of tive supplies of energy that are produced will be used to operate farm particles in the air was thousands of times greater, but the ash facilities. Some examples are the use of wind-energy systems to appeared to have no effect on the amount of water in clouds or the generate electricity for lighting, heating, and pump operations. Fuel size of water droplets. alcohol produced from crops could be used in trucks, tractors, and Laboratory tests of ash collected from the ground near Yakima, harvesting equipment and for pumping water. Wash., after the 18 May 1980 eruption produced similar results. Solar heat could be channeled to animal rearing facilities and Russell Schnell simulated conditions in the volcano plume by squirt- work areas and also could be used to dry crops and heat water. ing ash into an airtight plastic tent and allowing it to settle. At Likewise, methane produced through anaerobic digestion of animal intervals, air samples were collected from the tent and particles were or plant wastes could heat buildings and dry crops, or be used for tested for their ability to serve as freezing, or ice, nuclei. The ash irrigation pumps or distillation purposes. turned out to be a very poor source of ice nuclei. Outreach, a critical part of the plan, would encompass tours, The effectiveness of an ice nucleus depends on the temperature at exhibits, workshops, bulletins, fact sheets, a monthly newsletter, and which it induces freezing in water cooled below the freezing point. a special literature file and reference library about the farm available The higher the temperature, the more active the nucleus. at each of Colorado's 57 County Extension Offices. In the ash samples, very few nuclei were active at temperatures SERI, located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, is the above - 12°C. Even when the ash in the tent was three times thicker nation's institute for solar energy research, development, and than a strong dust storm, no more ice nuclei were present than if demonstration programs. It is operated for DOE by the Midwest there had been no ash at all. Research Institute of Kansas City, Mo. Chemical analysis of the ash provided a clue to its meteorological harmlessness. Past research has shown that the cloud-modifying potential of man-made pollutants generally is linked to their content of water- soluble nitrates. The ash had less than the particles already present in Local winds can foretell showers the unpolluted air. The mineral-like ash proved highly insoluble. The NOAA scientists are not calling the Mt. St. Helens eruption Small-scale surface wind patterns may hold the key to predicting the insignificant: it injected millions of tons of dust and ash into the kind of local showers that can surprise weather forecasters by form- atmosphere. "But as far as local weather is concerned, the volcano ing without the usual early-warning signs; that's the belief of some is relatively benign," said Pueschel. scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion (NOAA) who are examining a new prediction method based on the fact that when moist, low-level winds converge over a specific Update: Internal waves in the Sulu area, the air has no place to go but up. Clouds and showers result. The relationship between wind convergence and rain showers has The June 1980 BULLETIN (pp. 621-622) carried a news story on a 1980 been recognized in a general way for years. But NOAA researchers joint U.S.-China oceanic research project that involved the NOAA recently had an opportunity to test this knowledge in an area sur- (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) ship Oceanog- rounded by wind reporting stations. rapher in a 32 000 km research odyssey to Chinese and Philippine 2 The research was conducted in southern Florida, in a 625 mi waters. The 92 m, 3400 Mg NOAA research vessel was the first U.S. region with wind stations spaced ^ 4 mi apart around the perimeter. government ship in more than 30 years to work in Chinese waters Researchers found that showers in the area were related closely to and to visit the People's Republic of China. During June last year, the surface winds measured along the area's perimeter. the Oceanographer, joined by a Chinese research vessel, probed the The scientists now are attempting to apply the Florida findings, currents, sedimentation processes, marine , and life forms of which work well with that region's slow-moving thunderstorms, to the broad continental shelf off the East China Sea, with research the faster-moving storms of the Illinois prairie. These are more emphasis on how these are affected by the massive discharge of the typical of the thunderstorms that form over the continental United Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) estuary out to the edge of the shelf. States. The Oceanographer's visit to China was not the only landmark The research was part of a multi-agency weather study sponsored established by the research voyage of March July last year: it also by the National Science Foundation and the Department of brought about the discovery of the answer to an eight-year puzzle Defense. It was carried out by a team of scientists from NOAA's surrounding huge waves in the , which lies southwest ofthe Office of Weather Research and Modification in Boulder, Colo. Philippine Islands. During May, Oceanographer scientists studied the very large, nonlinear internal waves in the Sulu Sea that had been a question mark since first noticed by satellite imagery in 1972 (see photo). On board scientists studying the waves were headed by John Mt. St. Helens has little effect on the weather R. Apel and James R. Holbrook ofthe Pacific Marine Environmen- tal Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle, Wash. Apel, Director of PMEL, Despite the ash it spat into the atmosphere, Mt. St. Helens was in recently sent the BULLETIN information on the Sulu Sea some ways less a polluter than a coal-fired plant and had less effect investigation. on the weather than might have been anticipated. Scientists with the According to Apel, who was the principal investigator, and Hol- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said brook, coinvestigator and chief scientist during the project, internal ash from the eruption had no effect upon precipitation and had a waves are found all around the world,4 but the Sulu Sea is one ofthe lower nitrate content than particulates in air samples unaffected by the fallout. internal wave manifestations have been noted in the Indian Some types of airborne particles—such as those in pollutants Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the , the Andaman Sea, from coal-fired power plants have been found to increase the and the area between Cape Cod and Bermuda.

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 07:12 AM UTC 1062 Vol. 62, No. 7, July 1981

A satellite photo showing huge waves moving across the Sulu Sea. The waves travel at ~ 2 m/s and are created by strong ebb tidal currents flow- ing over a narrow sill in the Sibutu Passage, in the south- ern part of the Sulu Sea.

best natural laboratories for studying them. The waves in the Sulu more than 125 miles long." Sea are "very large, coherent and regular," they said. These waves These underwater waves, the Times story also notes, which "could "also play a role in the redistribution of bottom sediment and drop a submarine 300 feet, then lift it back again," may account for material dumped in the ocean [makingjthe research.. .applicable to some past submarine disappearances, as internal waves could take a continental shelves throughout the world, including off New York." submarine below its safe operating depth in less than two minutes. The study was stimulated by the observation of internal waves in This is a possible explanation of a 1963 disaster in the Gulf of Maine satellite imagery of the Sulu. It was conducted with the help of when the nuclear submarine Thresher was lost with its crew of 129. scientists from the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Apel told the Times that the Thresher "went down to seaward of a Laboratories in Miami and two Philippine oceanographers, and was sharp drop in the sea floor that could generate such [internal] waves directed toward finding out how the nonlinear internal waves are in the Gulf of Maine." generated, what their propagation characteristics are, and how they Satellite photographs have revealed such internal waves moving dissipate. "The research," wrote Apel and Holbrook, "was highly across the Gulf of Maine. successful." They discovered that the great waves are created by The 6- 10 km long waves in the Sulu Sea were observed by scien- strong ebb tidal currents flowing over a narrow sill in the Sibutu tists with a variety of devices, including three instrumented moor- Passage in the south part of the sea. Waves were observed through- ings, expendable bathythermographs, and an acoustic echosounder. out the sea's extent. They occurred in packets generated at the tidal Ship's photography also was used to record the distinct bands of periods of 12'/2 or 25 h, each moving at ~ 2 m/s and containing 4 8 rough water, stretching from horizon to horizon, that passed the solitary waves. Each internal wave was accompanied by a narrow ship as internal waves. In addition, the TIROS-N and Nimbus-F "rip" of breaking surface waves. Typical vertical oscillations were satellites acquired imagery of the area during the experiment. 50 90 m. The waves, after their 2Vi day transit of the 480 km wide Before work began, the Oceanographer stopped in Zanboanga body of water, dissipated on the southeast coast of Palawan Island. City to pick up the two Philippine scientists. "A Philippine general According to a New York Times news story about the shipboard also briefed us on the possibility of hostile action by pirates or rebels, studies in the Sulu Sea and earlier ones in the Andaman Sea (located since the southern Sulu Sea is the center of their activity," the west of the Malay Peninsula), the area between waves is "as smooth oceanographers said,5 "and he assigned three marines [and a 50- as a millpond. The first sign of an approaching wave, according to k Dr. Apel, is when the horizon begins to dance.' A line of whitecaps 5The Sibutu Passage separates and the Sulu Archipelago, and turbulence then sweeps past the ship. It is these bands of whose Moro tribesmen, writes The New York Times, are "tradition- turbulence, a half mile wide, rather than the internal waves hidden ally in revolt" against the . The passage also is flanked by beneath them, that show up in satellite photographs. They may be Pearl Bank, an infamous pirate rendezvous.

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 07:12 AM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society 1063 caliber machine gun] to our ship, to stand watch around the clock. A gunboat also accompanied us. During the cruise, Zanboanga was attacked by 2000 rebels, a British ship in Manila harbor was boarded by rebels and two officers killed, and Mount St. Helens erupted. While there was no trouble on the Oceanographer, it was neverthe- less an eventful cruise." From Manila, the research ship went on to Shanghai and the historic, cooperative program with the Chinese before returning to Seattle, Wash., in July. METEOROLOGICAL INSTRUMENTATION Solar radiation Pioneer data suggests ' atmosphere received big Wind speed input from the sun Wind direction! Temperature Humidity Data from the Pioneer Venus probes suggest a far larger contribu- Rainfall tion by the Sun to Venus' atmosphere than was received by Earth Barometric from the Sun during early evolution of the . pressure Venus' atmosphere has far less of the noble gas krypton than Portable might have been expected. The planet has less krypton than is found DC Systems on the Sun and more than on Earth. Recorders The krypton measurements are the first ever made on the planet, Controllers and they appear to provide some basic evidence about the formation Sensors of the early solar system. Data initially were gathered by the Pioneer Analog & Digital Venus probe mass spectrometer as it descended through Venus' Instruments dense atmosphere on 9 December 1978. Computer The determination of the amount of the krypton and an upper compatible. limit to the amount of xenon on the planet was announced by Made in U.S.A. Thomas Donahue, University of Michigan. How the quantities of Call for prompt de- the two noble gases, krypton and xenon, can tell us about the livery and moderate formation of Venus' atmosphere is a solar system detective story, prices, or write us says Donahue. about your problem. Venus received a large input of various gases from the Sun in the (214)631-2490. early solar system, during a half-million-year period of much denser solar wind than today's, Donahue suggests. (This concept of Department M enhanced solar wind contributing a large amount of rare gases to Venus first was proposed by George Wetherill, Director of the Texas Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C.) This material, which blew out from the forming Sun during this relatively short period, would Electronics, Inc. have impacted upon the mass of material condensing within Venus' P. O. Box 7225, Dallas TX 75209 orbit to become the planet. In its turn, the proto-Venus material would have blocked off the enriched solar wind, preventing it from blowing farther out to the then forming Earth and . Hence, today's Earth is relatively deprived of the two gases krypton and xenon, as well as of other noble gases such as . The theory is further strengthened by earlier Pioneer findings about the amount of primordial argon (argon 36) on Venus. Pioneer found that Venus has 75 times as much argon 36 in its atmosphere as Earth has, a profound discovery. The excess argon was discovered by the gas chromatograph exper- Venus has three times as much krypton as Earth, but that the planet iment of Vance Oyama, Ames Research Center, Mountain View, has 700 times as much primordial argon as it has krypton. This Calif., and the mass spectrometer experiment of John Hoffman, compares with an argon/krypton ratio for Earth and Mars of only University of Texas, Dallas, who demonstrated that the excess was 30 to 1. The reason this is so interesting is that the Sun has 2000 times the argon 36 . as much argon as krypton. Various theories have been proposed for Venus' large amount of Since Venus has far more of all three of these gases than Earth, primordial argon. These have suggested that the planet had an and has them in proportions more like those of the Sun than of unusually efficient way of trapping noble gases like argon, krypton, Earth, there is strong likelihood the gases came from the Sun. And and xenon during its formation. (Noble gases usually will not com- this provides some real evidence about the early formation of the bine chemically with other elements.) Therefore, scientists believed solar system. that, along with its argon, Venus would have something like 75 times The Pioneer Venus orbiter spacecraft continues to return pictures as much krypton and xenon as Earth. Instead, Donahue found from and other data on Venus and its atmosphere, and is expected to the Pioneer data that Venus has only about three times as much of produce data through 1985. The four Pioneer probe craft entered these two gases as Earth has. (For various reasons, he only was able Venus' atmosphere in December 1978, providing the first mass to set an upper limit for xenon—not more than 30 times the amount spectrometer data. on Earth but probably much less.) The Pioneer project is managed by NASA's Ames Research However, the most interesting thing, says Donahue, is not that Center, Mountain View, Calif. •

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 07:12 AM UTC