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March 17, 1999

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: Cheryl Dybus

1998 WARMEST YEAR OF MILLENNIUM, CLIMATE RESEARCHERS REPORT

Researchers at the Universities of Massachusetts and Arizona who study global warming have released a report strongly suggesting that the 1990s were the warmest decade of the millennium, with 1998 the warmest year so far. The scientists have also found that the warming in the 20th century counters a 1,000-year-long cooling trend.

The study, by Michael Mann and Raymond Bradley of the University of Massachusetts and Malcolm Hughes of the University of Arizona, appears in the March 15 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union. The research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

"Temperatures in the latter half of the 20th century were unprecedented," said Bradley. The study involved a close examination of natural archives, such as tree rings and ice cores, which record climate variations each year. These natural archives are called "proxy indicators" by scientists. They allow researchers to consider the short instrumental record of climate in a longer-term perspective. Using proxy information gathered by scientists around the world during the past few decades, the team used sophisticated computer analysis and statistics to reconstruct yearly temperatures and their statistical uncertainties, going back to the year AD 1000.

"As you go back farther in time, the data become sketchier. One can't quite pin things down as well," noted Mann, "but, our results do reveal that significant changes have occurred, and temperatures in the latter 20th century have been exceptionally warm compared to the preceding 900 years." [Cheryl Dybas]

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SCIENTISTS, AIRCRAFT, INSTRUMENTS HEAD TO INDIAN OCEAN FOR CLIMATE CHANGE EXPERIMENT

How much do sulfate aerosols -- a form of pollution -- cool the climate? That's one of the most pressing questions for understanding global climate change. To help find the answer, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has sent researchers, instruments, and an NSF-owned C-130 research aircraft to the $25-million Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX). NSF is NCAR's primary sponsor and a partial sponsor of INDOEX.

INDOEX is based in the Republic of the Maldives, an archipelago southwest of India's southern tip. There, NCAR scientists are working alongside more than 70 researchers from a dozen nations to observe the tropical oceans and atmosphere. The highly instrumented C-130 aircraft will be based through March 27 at Male airport, which occupies its own island in the archipelago.

The Indian subcontinent and surrounding nations are rich sources for many kinds of aerosols, including those produced from industrial and auto emissions, biomass burning, and soil dust. With Asia's population rising at a dramatic rate, the amount of sulfur dioxide released into the atmosphere is expected to increase. Sulfur dioxide is converted into sulfate aerosol in the atmosphere. The ability of sulfate aerosols to reflect the sun's radiation may be one reason that increasing greenhouse gases have not warmed the earth as much as some climate models have predicted. Sulfates also contribute to local pollution and acid rain.

According to NCAR's Jeffrey Kiehl, a principal investigator for INDOEX, Pollution in the tropics will increase in the future, "so we'd better understand it now. The chemistry in the tropics is severely undersampled." [Cheryl Dybas]

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PURDUE'S 'BIOSCOPE' PROGRAM TEACHES BIOLOGY, ENTERTAINS LIKE VIDEO GAMES

A $2-million NSF grant has made it possible for Purdue University's Schools of Veterinary Medicine, Science and Education to generate a fun, cutting-edge interactive computer program called BioScope to help high school students learn biology. The program uses the Internet and makes biology a learning experience with the characteristics of a video game.

Purdue researchers have incorporated music and electronic sounds, as well as animations and video, into this educational tool. This CD-based system is designed for automatic updates. Each time the student signs onto the program's computer, the software updates BioScope's web paths and links. Because the site can be constantly changed, students' interest is maintained in part by the site's everchanging look.

BioScope is based on light microscope images that lead to other images from electron microscopy, laser confocal microscopy, fluorescence microscopy and laser flow cytometry. The goal is to use these microscope and research technologies -- considered the "bedrock" of experimental biological research -- to provide teachers and students with non-textbook-based biology images that better reflect the current status of cell biology knowledge. BioScope uses the talents of active research scientists to produce materials for the program. [Lee Herring]

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