 |
      |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
 |
||
 |
|
 |
||
|
For more information on these science news and feature story tips, please contact the public information officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070. Editor: Bill Noxon Contents of this News Tip:
One Hundred Scientists Participate in International Climate StudyOne hundred scientists from the U.S. and other countries are now aboard ships and planes to study how clouds, rain, and the cool water temperatures of the eastern Pacific Ocean affect climate in such far-away places as the southwestern United States and parts of Central and South America. "The eastern Pacific region has a strong influence on our weather and climate as well as that of our neighbors to the south, yet our most sophisticated climate models do not do well at simulating and predicting conditions in this region," explains Anjuli Bamzai, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) division of atmospheric sciences. The study, called EPIC, the Eastern Pacific Investigation of Climate Processes in the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere System, began in San Diego, California, on September 5th, and will end in Arica, Chile, on October 25th. NSF and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) are co-funding the research. "EPIC will allow us to learn more about the coupled ocean-atmosphere processes that regulate weather and climate in the eastern Pacific in order to improve predictions," Bamzai said. NSF's C-130 research aircraft is being employed in the study, as are NOAA's P-3 aircraft, and ships under the aegis of NSF, NOAA, and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico. [Cheryl Dybas] Researchers Find Earliest Whale Skeletons, Develop New Theory of Whale EvolutionScientist Hans Thewissen of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine has uncovered the bones of early whale ancestors on a recent dig in Pakistan funded, in part, by NSF's paleontology program. Thewissen and his research team found, and were able to piece together, the 50-million-year-old skeletons of two different whale species: the fox-sized Ichthyolestes pinfoldi and the wolf-sized Pakicetus attocki. These are the oldest, most complete skeletons found of early whales, Thewissen says. The skeletons show that the earliest whales were small and had bodies similar to those of today's wolves, with longer, muscular tails, longer snouts, and small eyes set close together, he explains. These new findings suggest that whales are closely related to artiodactyls--even-toed hoofed mammals that include hippopotamuses, camels, pigs, deer, and cattle. According to Rich Lane, program director at NSF for paleontology, these new fossils may be as important to our understanding of how whales evolved as the ancestral Archaeopteryx has been to the study of birds. [Cheryl Dybas] Researchers Map Global Space WeatherNSF-supported researchers affiliated with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have developed a technique to simultaneously measure the magnetic and electrical fields over large areas of the ionosphere above earth's polar regions. The technique is providing the first continuous monitoring of electric currents between space and the upper atmosphere and generating the first maps of electric power flowing into the polar upper atmosphere. These advances will allow greatly improved understanding and forecasting of global space weather, the scientists believe, and will help prevent disruption of communication and power systems when electromagnetic storms strike. "We're able for the first time to continuously map the powerful currents flowing between space and the earth's upper atmosphere," explains scientist Brian Anderson of Johns Hopkins. "This is a major achievement because monitoring this environment is extremely difficult." The research makes use of the 66 satellites of the IridiumSystem satellite constellation, which operates as a global satellite communications network. [Cheryl Dybas]
NSF is an independent federal agency which supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of about $4.5 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states, through grants to about 1,800 universities and institutions nationwide. Each year, NSF receives about 30,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 10,000 new funding awards.
|
||||
 |
|
 |
|
|
 |