2
ISSUE 2, FEBRUARY 2003
AVAILABLE ON-LINE AT www.the-eggs.org
A European field campaign to study
polar ozone loss and tropical chemistry
and dynamics
by Georgios Amanatidis and Neil Harris
WORLD SPACE CONGRESS
The space community and human
space flight
by Sophie Cash
The EGS working group on
Biogeosciences
by Jean-Pierre Gattuso
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THE EGGS | ISSUE 2 | FEBRUARY 2003
EDITORS
Chief Editor: Kostas Kourtidis
Lab. of Atmospheric Physics and Technology,
Department of Environmental Engineering, School of
Engineering
Demokritus University of Thrace
Vas. Sofias 12, GR-67100 Xanthi, Greece
tel. +30-25410-63035, fax. +30-25410-62988
email: [email protected]
Assistant Editor: Magdeline Pokar
Bristol Glaciology Center,
School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol
University Road
Bristol, BS8 1SS, United Kingdom
tel. +44(0)117 928 8186, fax. +44(0)117 928 7878
email: [email protected]
Hydrological Sciences: Guenther Bloeschl
Institut fur Hydraulik, Gewasserkunde und Wasserwirtschaft
Technische Universitat Wien Karlsplatz 13/223,
A-1040 Wien, Austria
tel. +43-1-58801-22315, fax. +43-1-58801-22399
email: [email protected]
Biogeosciences: Jean-Pierre Gattuso
Laboratoire d’Oceanographie de Villefranche, UMR 7093
CNRS-UPMC
B. P. 28, F-06234 Villefranche-sur-mer Cedex France
tel. +33-(0)493763859, fax. +33-(0)493763834
email: [email protected]
Geodesy: Susanna Zerbini
Department of Physics, Sector of Geophysics University of
Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 8 40127 Bologna, Italy
tel. +39-051-2095019, fax +39-051-2095058
e-mail: [email protected]
3
EGS news
4
News
12
Journal watch
13
The column
14
A European field campaign to study polar ozone
loss and tropical chemistry and dynamics
25
WORLD SPACE CONGRESS
The space community and human space flight
27
The EGS working group on Biogeosciences
29
Education
30
Book review
33
Letters
34
Events
Geodynamics: Bert L.A. Vermeersen
Delft University of Technology DEOS - Fac. Aerospace
Engineering Astrodynamics and Satellite Systems Kluyverweg
1, NL-2629 HS Delft The Netherlands
tel. +31-15-2788272 fax. +31-15-2785322 8
e-mail: [email protected]
Atmospheric Sciences: Hans Xiang-Yu Huang
Danish Meteorological Institute, Lyngbyvej 100, 2100
Copenhagen, Denmark
tel. +45-39157423, fax. +45-39157460
e-mail: [email protected]
Atmospheric Chemistry: Kostas Kourtidis
Department of Environmental Engineering,
School of Engineering, Demokritus University of Thrace
Vas. Sofias 12, GR-67100 Xanthi, Greece
tel. +30-25410-63035, fax. +30-25410-62988
e-mail: [email protected]
GENERAL CONTACT
For general matters please contact Kostas Kourtidis,
at: [email protected]
SUBMISSION OF MATERIAL
For material submission, please contact the Editor-in-chief or
the appropriate Section Editor.
© European Geophysical Society, 2002
ADVERTISING
For advertising information,
please contact: [email protected]
Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, save where otherwise stated.
Where prior permission must be obtained for the reproduction or use of textual and multimedia
information (sound, images, software, etc.), such permission shall cancel the abovementioned
general permission and indicate clearly any restrictions on use.
TECHNICAL
For technical questions, please contact: [email protected]
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2
Press Room in Nice will bring
geophysical research closer to the public
During this year’s meeting in Nice, a Press Room is being organized, along with a slate of newsworthy press
conferences. These will present geophysical findings of interest to the general public to science journalists
representing such media as Nature, Science, Science News, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, USA Today,
BBC Radio, Le Figaro etc.
This year’s Joint Assembly replaces EGS
annual meeting and AGU’s Spring Meeting. AGU is joining
with the European Geophysical Society and the European
Union of Geosciences for the largest geophysics meeting ever
held in Europe. Over 8,000 scientists are expected to present
research results in more than 500 topical sessions, union
and educational symposia, short courses and workshops,
keynote and medal lectures, and town hall meetings, as well
as separate meetings of working groups.
As it is already usual at AGU meetings (but not at EGS
meetings), a Press Room is being organized, along with a
slate of newsworthy press conferences, to be announced
later. These will present geophysical findings of interest to the
general public to science journalists representing such media
as Nature, Science, Science News, Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung, USA Today, BBC Radio, Le Figaro etc.
Harvey Leifert, AGU’s Public Information Manager, is coordinating the task and will chair the Press Room during the
Joint Assembly together with Jean-Luc Leonard (for the EGS/
EGU) and Kostas Kourtidis (for the EGS/EGU Newsletter).
The Press Room and Briefing Room will be located in the
Foyer of the Athena Theater on the second floor of the NiceAcropolis Congress Centre. It will be open Monday-Friday, 711 April 2003. Hours of operation will be approximately 07301730 local time daily.
We are looking for Editors
The Eggs are looking for dynamic individuals to serve as editors
Here at The Eggs we are looking for dynamic, motivated scientists with a good knowledge of the developments within their
discipline to serve as editors. The canditates should possess high research standards and be able to meet deadlines. The editors
should
-see that a colleague submits a good story now and then
-suggest recent book titles for review and suggest colleague to review the suggested title when we have received the book
from the publisher
-suggest web sites that might contain information (research, educational or other) interesting for EGS members
-contribute to the publication of the Newsletter by passing to the editorial office any news or information, job advertisements,
announcements of opportunity or meetings, funding opportunities or any other item that might be of interest to the geophysical
community
Currently, we are looking for editors in the following disciplines:
Ocean Sciences
Solar-Terrestrial Sciences
Planetary and Solar System Sciences
Magnetism
Canditates should send a letter of interest and a CV to The Eggs at [email protected]
The Eggs Editorial Office
THE EGGS
3
Astrophysics project shares 1 million EU Descartes Prize
The EU Descartes Prize was awarded to two research projects in the fields of medicine and astrophysics.
The astrophysics project has discovered the origins of Gamma Ray Bursts and is providing insights into
star and planet formation. The 1 million prize rewards outstanding scientific research through transnational
collaboration.
The EU Descartes Prize
was awarded to two research projects in
the fields of medicine and astrophysics.
One project greatly advanced the
understanding of Multiple Sclerosis.
The other project has discovered the
origins of Gamma Ray Bursts and is
providing insights into star and planet
formation. The €1 million prize rewards
outstanding scientific research through
transnational collaboration.
The two prize-winners were selected
from a short-list of ten collaborative
projects from a wide range of fields of
scientific research. Total entries this
year reached 108 - double that of last
year. The winners were selected by the
Descartes Grand Jury, presided by Yves
Michot, former President of Aerospatiale
Matra, and including eminent figures
from academia and the private and
public sectors.
“The high standard of submissions
clearly
demonstrates
both
the
excellence of European science today
and the value of European collaboration
in the scientific field,” said European
Research
Commissioner
Philippe
Busquin. “I welcome the growing interest
in the Descartes Prize, which stresses
the importance of transnational cooperation in creating a truly European
Research Area (ERA). One of the most
important features of the ERA is the
greater impact that researchers can
make when they work together beyond
national borders. Sharing resources
and joining forces is key in achieving
excellence at EU and international
level. This will in turn improve EU’s
competitiveness and quality of life.”
Explaining our origins with the aid of
satellite BeppoSAX
An award of €500,000 was
presented to a project investigating the
point of origin of Gamma Ray Bursts
(GRBs). The project was co-ordinated
by Dr. Edward Van den Heuvel from
the University of Amsterdam (the
Netherlands) in co-operation with
research teams from the University of
Amsterdam, SRON (the Netherlands),
NASA/MSFC (USA), CNR/IASF in
Roma, INAF Trieste and the University
of Ferrara (Italy), the University of
Copenhagen (Denmark), LAEFF-INTA
(Spain), Cambridge University (the UK)
and Astrophysical Institute Potsdam
(Germany). The project has made
significant progress in advancing our
understanding of these giant stellar
explosions. This will help astronomers
in tracing the history of star formations
in the universe.
The universe’s biggest explosions since
the Big Bang
The
research
conducted
by
scientists from the Netherlands, Italy,
Denmark, Spain, the UK and Germany
confirmed theoretical predictions that
gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most
powerful explosions in the universe,
second only to the Big Bang. They emit
high energy radiation and originate in
very distant galaxies, where stars form
at a prodigious rate. New clues support
what were once speculations that bursts
represented the explosive death of
massive stars. The GRBs may become
unique probes of extreme physics and
cosmology, allowing astronomers to
trace the history of star formation in the
early cosmos.
Gamma Ray Bursts belong to
the most mysterious phenomena in
the Universe, along with the nature
of dark matter and the cosmological
constant. The story of their discovery
is an excellent example of a significant
progress achieved in scientific research.
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The GRBs were first spotted in 1967
by US military satellites. A systematic
search for them began in 1991,
when NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray
Observatory (CGRO) was launched
and began detecting GRBs at a rate of
about one per day. Even then their origin
remained mysterious because gamma
ray detectors had very low positional
accuracy and the bursts faded fast.
That changed in 1996 with the
launch of the Italian/Dutch satellite
BeppoSAX. Thanks to the unique multifaceted capabilities of the satellite, the
team of European scientists solved
what has been one of the greatest
mysteries of astrophysics for 30 years
- the places of origin of the GRBs.
The BeppoSAX team provided the
scientific community with accurate and
rapid locations of GRBs and in 1997
discovered that GRBs keep glowing in
X-rays for several days. Astronomers of
the University of Amsterdam confirmed
that the same is true in optical light.
This led to the discovery that the
cosmic bursts originate in very distant
galaxies, at the edge of the observable
Universe (between 5 and 12 billion light
years away, for an assumed age of the
Universe of 13 billion years).
Another breakthrough came in
1998. While Amsterdam astronomers
were observing one of the GRBs they
also caught, for the first time, a stellar
explosion simultaneous with the initial
gamma ray burst. This observation
provided the researchers with fresh
clues. It was subsequently discovered
that a sizeable fraction of the GRBs
is related to very powerful stellar
explosions, so-called “hypernovae”,
which presumably mark the final core
collapse of very massive stars. The
exploding stars are among the main
producers of all elements heavier than
helium in the Universe. These elements
enrich the interstellar hydrogen and
helium clouds in the galaxies, which
themselves originated in the Big Bang.
Consequently, from the enriched clouds
new stars and planets are formed.
The giant stellar explosions that we
observe now as GRBs took place in
the early universe. Nonetheless, similar
explosions must have taken place in our
own galaxy and long ago formed the
chemical elements which now compose
our bodies: carbon, oxygen, calcium,
iron, etc. We, as human beings, would
not have existed without the occurrence
of the giant stellar explosions that
we observe as GRBs. The European
collaborative nature of the project was
indispensable for all these discoveries.
The BeppoSAX is an Italian/Dutch
satellite and the optical follow ups were
performed by astronomers from six
different EU countries, using worldwide
observatory networks. The necessary
combined expertise and equipment is
not available singularly within Europe
and thus the close co-operation between
the international teams was crucial to
the success of the project.
The findings of this scientific
research may be very important
cosmic probes of extreme physics and
cosmology, enabling astronomers to
trace the history of star formation in the
universe.
Award ceremony
The award ceremony was held in the
presence of Mr. Rainer Gerold, Director
of the Science and Society Directorate
of the European Commission on behalf
of Commissioner Philippe Busquin, Mr.
Otto Wiesheu, Bavarian Minister for
Economy, Transport and Technology,
Mr. Pantelis Kyriakides, Vice-President
of EPO and Mr. Yves Michot, President
of the Descartes Grand Jury.
This year’s theme at the award
ceremony
has
been
intellectual
property. Keynote speakers from
Max Planck Institute for Intellectual
Property, Competition and Tax Law,
Ventratec-Spin-off of Fraunhofer Patent
Centre and the OECD highlighted the
importance of intellectual property for
European researchers. “Indeed, patents
are the only way for researchers to
protect their findings and exploit them
commercially to the benefit of society”,
explained Mr. Kyriakides, Vice-President
of the European Patent Office, Munich.
European researchers increasingly
understand the importance of patenting.
Only in 2001, the European Patent
office received 158,200 applications for
European patents, which is an increase
of 9% over the previous year.
Now entering its third year, the prize
represents an important opportunity for
European scientists to gain the public
acclaim they deserve. Information
concerning project presentation and
entries can be found on the web-site
under www.cordis.lu/descartes.
European Commission
Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain to be Director General of ESA
On the 11th of December, 2002, the Council of the European Space Agency announced the appointment of Mr
Jean-Jacques Dordain as the next Director General of ESA, for a period of four years. He will succeed
Mr Antonio Rodota, whose term of office ends on 30 June next year.
On the 11th of December, 2002, the Council
of the European Space Agency announced the appointment
of Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain as the next Director General of
ESA, for a period of four years. He will succeed Mr Antonio
Rodota, whose term of office ends on 30 June next year.
Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain, a Frenchman born on 14 April
1946, obtained an engineering degree from the Ecole Centrale
in 1968. Before joining ESA in 1986, he held several positions
at the Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aιrospatiales
(ONERA): first, from 1970 to 1976, as researcher in the field of
propulsion and launch vehicles; then, from 1976 to 1986, as
coordinator of space activities; and finally, from 1983 to 1986,
as Director of Fundamental Physics. In 1977 he was selected
by CNES among the first French astronaut candidates.
When he joined ESA in May 1986, he was appointed Head
of the newly created Space Station and Platforms Promotion
and Utilisation Department. He then became Head of the
Microgravity and Columbus Utilisation Department, managing
about 80 staff and overseeing numerous industrial activities.
THE EGGS
In 1993 he was appointed Associate Director for Strategy,
Planning and International Policy. In May 1999 he was
appointed Director of the newly created Directorate of Strategy
and Technical Assessment. On 15 February 2001 he took up
the post of Director of Launchers.
“I feel very honoured to have been appointed Director
General of ESA and welcome this challenging opportunity. I
have been working for the European Space Agency in various
positions over the years. The current period offers good
opportunities for ESA to be even more instrumental in building
the future of European citizens and the success of Europe”
said Mr Dordain.
Jean-Jacques Dordain is a member of the International
Academy of Astronautics and the Acadιmie des Technologies.
He has also held professorships at the Ecole Polytechnique
and the Ecole Nationale Supιrieure des Techniques Avancιes.
From ESA Media relations
5
Polar Aircraft of AWI landed in Neumayer
In the early hours of 28.11.2002, the polar aircraft of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine
Research (AWI), ‘Polar 2’ and ‘Polar 4’, landed safely at the German research station ‘Neumayer’ in the
Antarctic. The nine overwinterers, who have been manning the observatories alone since March, greeted
their first visitors in months.
In the early hours of
28.11.2002, the polar aircraft of the
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and
Marine Research (AWI), ‘Polar 2’ and
‘Polar 4’, landed safely at the German
research station ‘Neumayer’ in the
Antarctic. The nine overwinterers, who
have been manning the observatories
alone since March, greeted their first
visitors in months and were delighted
to receive post and, above all, fresh
fruit. Scientific work at the end of the
world now begins for the 52 men and
women who are taking part in the AWI
summer campaign. This year, most
participants are travelling to the station
by aeroplane. Last Tuesday, 35 people
left Cape Town, South Africa, in a
Russian transport plane, an Iljushin IL
76, for the Russian Antarctic station
‘Novolazarevskaja’ (Novo). A specially
prepared piste has served as a landing
strip there for many years. From Novo,
the scientists, along with eight tonnes
of equipment, will travel with the two
AWI aircraft (Dornier Do 228) and two
polar aircraft (Twin Otter) from the
British Antarctic Survey, to their final
destinations. These destinations are the
Neumayer and Kohnen stations and, for
six participants in the British expedition,
the Halley station. The final flights began
a few hours after the Iljushin landed last
Tuesday.
Last year at Kohnen, as part of
the European Project for Ice Coring
in Antarctica (EPICA), cores of old
ice were retrieved from depths of up
to 450m. These cores contain clues
about the atmosphere and climate of
the past 8000 years. This year, drilling
will be attempted to depths of 1000m.
However, the station must first be
freed from snow and brought back into
service. Cold conditions only allow two
months’ work here each year.
This year at Neumayer will see
the installation of a new measurement
facility which will allow measurement of
subsonic atmospheric noise, of interest
both to scientists and to politicians.
The Federal Republic of Germany has
committed itself to setting up monitoring
stations as part of the International Test
Ban Treaty. Scientists from the AWI and
from the Institute for Geoscience and
Raw Materials (BGR) in Hannover will
construct the Antarctic monitoring facility.
This will be one of fifty such stations,
distributed worldwide and supported by
the international Community of States.
A second German subsonics station
has been active for two years in the
Bavarian forest.
The most important scientific role for
the polar aircraft involves measurements
of ice thickness and of the ice structure
between the Kohnen station and the
Japanese station Dome Fuji. At Dome
Fuji an ice core 2000m long has already
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been retrieved and dated. Layering of
the ice will be measured from ‘’Polar
2’’ with a special radar system, and
this should allow scientists to specify
the accuracy with which the Dome Fuji
dating can be applied to ice cores from
Kohnen, 1000km distant. Additionally,
the SEAL project (Sea Level Change),
which was started last year, will be
continued. This aims to answer the
question whether the amount of ice in
a section of the Antarctic is growing or
diminishing, and of how it affects sea
level.
The Dronning Maud Land Airway
Network (DROMLAN) is a cooperative action between Russian and
Scandinavian polar research institutes
and the AWI. It will allow European
expeditions access to Antarctica by air
for the first time this year. Using this
swift means of transport, the AWI will be
able to use the Antarctic summer period
much more efficiently for its diverse
research programs.
For further information please
contact:
Ms Claudia Ratering
Scientific Journalist
Stiftung Alfred-Wegener-Institut
fόr Polar- und Meeresforschung
Bόrgermeister-Smidt-Straίe 20
D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
[email protected]
tel. +49(471)4831-1680
Major funding uplift for PPARC
Following the increased funding for science announced by the UK government, the Particle Physics and
Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) has received a major uplift of £25m in its baseline budget. In addition
PPARC will receive continued investment in its e-science programme, and specific allocations to increase its
investment in accelerator R&D, gravitational waves, and planetary exploration.
PPARC will also receive
funding to implement the
recommendations of the Roberts report
and to upgrade the infrastructure of its
institutes.
The Particle Physics and Astronomy
Research Council (PPARC) is the UK’s
strategic science investment agency.
It funds research, education and
public understanding in four areas of
science - particle physics, astronomy,
cosmology and space science. PPARC
is government funded and provides
research grants and studentships to
scientists in British universities, gives
researchers access to world-class
facilities and funds the UK membership
of international bodies such as the
European Laboratory for Particle
Physics (CERN), and the European
Space Agency. It also contributes money
for the UK telescopes overseas on La
Palma, Hawaii, Australia and in Chile,
the UK Astronomy Technology Centre
at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
and the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility,
which includes the Lovell Telescope
at Jodrell Bank observatory. PPARC’s
Public Understanding of Science and
Technology Awards Scheme funds
both small local projects and national
initiatives aimed at improving public
understanding of its areas of science.
Overall PPARC’s budget will rise
from £255.77M in 2003/04 to £290.89M
in 2005/06. Commenting on the funding
announcement, Professor Ian Halliday,
PPARC’s Chief Executive, said, “The
government is to be congratulated.
This much needed investment in
fundamental physics will enable our
physicists and astronomers to build
on their high international standing,
and engage in new collaborative
international programmes, for example,
Advanced LIGO, and the Linear Collider
- ensuring the UK is in the global
van of discoveries that push back
the frontiers of knowledge”. Halliday
added “Research in fundamental
physics inevitable spawns new, key
technologies that will underpin other
areas of scientific research whilst
benefiting the UK economy through
the provision of highly trained people
and the resulting advances in IT and
technology transfer.”
PPARC’s allocations in the major
cross-Council research programmes
are as follows:
E-science: PPARC will receive a
further £31.6M to continue its E-science
programme throughout the period of this
Spending Review. The programme will
focus on establishing a UK High Energy
Physics [HEP] Grid and the computing
infrastructure required for the Large
Hadron Collider [LHC] experiment at
CERN when it becomes operational
in 2007. In addition it will deliver a
working virtual observatory based on
key UK astronomical data sets; placing
the UK in a leadership position in the
international development of Virtual
Observatories and in the development
of an EU Grid infrastructure. The
programme will include the development
and implementation of an International
Virtual Observatory (IVO), which it is
envisaged will be fully operational by
2010. Investment is also proposed to
develop enhanced technologies and
tools for a wide range of astronomical
datasets and applications, and will
enable the inclusion of automated
real-time observation and theoretical
modelling within a Virtual Observatory
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environment.
The technologies, which will be
developed and tested on a production
scale during the period, will have wider
generic applicability for other sciences
and industrial and commercial use in
distributed real-time data intensive
computing and the integration of large
volume heterogeneous datasets.
Accelerator Science: Over the next
few years decisions will be made on
the funding and construction of several
international large accelerator-based
facilities. They will include electron linear
colliders, re-circulating linear colliders
for synchrotron radiation studies and
free electron lasers operating across a
spectrum of wavelengths. High power
proton accelerators will be developed
as drivers for pulsed neutron spallation
sources, muon derived neutrino beams,
and muon colliders, and will have the
potential to transmute and even derive
energy from nuclear waste.
There
is
now
international
consensus within the particle physics
community that the next particle physics
accelerator should be a Linear Collider.
A Linear Collider will not only deliver
new opportunities for particle physics to
explore beyond the Standard Model, but
the associated technology will be key to
the future development of synchrotron
facilities for other science areas.
PPARC will receive £5.4M as part of
a joint programme with the Council for
the Central Laboratory of the Research
Councils [CLRC]. The new investment
will position CLRC, universities and
industry to win major shares in the
construction, and possibly hosting, of
major global facilities, a Linear Collider
and Neutrino Factory, which are of
strategic importance to the whole of the
UK science base.
Gravity and Planetary Exploration:
PPARC has been allocated an additional
£9M to invest in these two areas.
Gravitational Waves will be detected
in the next decade (see below). Their
detection will enable us to confirm
one of the more exotic predictions of
Einstein’s theory of General Relativity.
The UK, through work in universities
at Glasgow, Cardiff, Birmingham, and
Imperial College, is a world-leader in
gravitational physics. The additional
investment will position the UK to exploit
its technological leadership in the design
and deployment of the next generation
of large-scale ground-based detectors
and the first detector in space through
Advanced LIGO and SMART2, and to
lead on data analysis. There is renewed
and growing scientific interest globally
in planetary exploration. In Europe, the
European Space Agency [ESA] has
proposed the AURORA programme with
the strategy over the next thirty years for
Europe’s robotic and human exploration
of Mars, the Moon, and even beyond
to the asteroids. The broad science
goals are to understand how planets
form and evolve, their environments,
and the search for life elsewhere in our
solar system. The UK has a tradition
and expertise in planetary science, and
in the design and implementation of
space-borne technologies for missions
for planetary exploration. Through
the Beagle 2 Lander on ESA’s Mars
Express mission, the UK has achieved
a significant international lead in the
design of miniaturised instrumentation
for robotic missions. Through this new
investment the UK hopes to capitalise
on its world-leading expertise, and to
lead in the definition of both the ESA and
NASA programmes, in the development
of the technologies needed for planetary
landers and miniaturised instrumentation
for missions to other planets.
Objectives
PPARC’s main strategic objectives
in the next five years will be to:
- deliver its commitment to the
construction of the general purpose
detectors for the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) at CERN, and the computing
infrastructure needed to exploit the data
from the LHC using grid technologies;
- exploit its membership of the
European Space Agency (ESA) by
winning scientific leadership in selective
space science missions aligned with
the UK’s scientific priorities, and in the
provision of international data centres;
- exploit its recent membership of
the European Southern Observatory
(ESO) and its investment in the Gemini
telescopes;
- invest in smaller scale international
particle
astrophysics
experiments,
for example, in gravitation wave
and neutrino detection, dark matter,
and cosmic microwave background
radiation;
- strengthen the UK’s capability in
accelerator science and R&D to position
it to participate in the next generation of
global accelerators, and, in particular, a
Linear Collider and Neutrino Factory;
- invest in blue skies technology
R&D, which will underpin longer-term
facility development, and, through
partnerships with industry, increase the
potential for technology transfer;
- increase provision through grants
for infrastructure and exploitation in
universities;
- increase the number of research
students to enhance the vibrancy of
the research base and the throughput
of high quality physicists and engineers
into industry.
Background
information
on
Gravitational Waves: One of the
foundation stones of modern physics,
predicted by Einstein in his theory of
General Relativity, is the existence of
gravitational waves - those weak blips
from the far edges of the universe
passing through our bodies every
second. The detection of gravitational
waves
is
fundamental
to
our
understanding of the Universe and the
world in which we live, and yet no one
has detected them, simply because they
are so weak. Yet their detection would
enable us to see back to the beginning
of time itself - the Big Bang - by detecting
the resulting ripples, or waves of gravity,
in space.
Our present understanding of the
cosmos is based on observations
of electromagnetic radiation emitted
by individual electrons, atoms, or
molecules, which are easily absorbed,
scattered and dispersed, as they travel
through space. Conversely Gravitational
Waves, produced by the bulk motion of
matter in the universe, travel nearly
unscathed through space and time,
carrying with them the fingerprint
information of the regions in which
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8
they were originally created, be it the
birth of a black hole or the universe
as a whole. The importance of their
detection can not be overstated. Indeed,
their discovery will initiate a new era in
astronomy, greater in its impact to the
advent of radio and x-ray astronomy. It
will enable us to study for the first time,
and in unexpected ways, phenomena
in the most extreme astrophysical
environments.
A
number
of
ground-based
detectors are currently operating with
sufficient sensitivity to detect these
minute gravitational waves. Current
collaborative projects involve research
groups in the UK/Germany (GEO 600),
France/ Italy (VIRGO), the US (LIGO)
and Japan (TAMA).
GEO 600, funded in the UK by
the Particle Physics and Astronomy
Research Council [PPARC], has unique
design and advanced technologies
developed by scientists from several
British universities. It was built as a
small, low cost detector, but its degree
of sensitivity is comparable to the US
and French/Italian detectors. Such is
the international regard for Britain’s
expertise in this detector technology
that it is considered central to the
development of larger, next generation
ground-based detectors Advanced
LIGO and ultimately to a space-based
detector, LISA.
Placing a gravitational wave detector
in space will allow us to observe and
study the ripples in space-time in their
purest form. A joint European Space
Agency /NASA mission called LISA is
planned at the end of this decade. LISA
will use advanced technology lasers
mounted on three identical drag-free
spacecraft to detect gravitational waves.
The three spacecraft will be positioned
at the corners of an equilateral triangle
with sides 5 million kilometres long.
Particle Physics and Astronomy
Research Council
Arianespace releases initial information
on the failure of Flight 157
During a press conference on December 12, 2002 in Kourou, French Guiana, Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves
Le Gall provided initial information on the failure of Flight 157. He also announced the establishment of an
independent inquiry board.
Initial data analysis showed that the
countdown, engine ignition and initial phase of flight were
normal. A first anomaly occurred 96 seconds into the mission,
involving the cooling circuit for the Vulcain 2 engine that
powers the main cryogenic stage. From T + 178 sec to T + 186
sec, the engine speed changed and a significant flight control
perturbation occurred. At T + 187 sec, the Ariane 5’s payload
fairing was jettisoned as planned, but the launcher’s attitude
was not correct. The launcher subsequently demonstrated
erratic behavior.
In compliance with range safety procedures, the launcher
was destroyed at approximately 456 sec. into the mission.
The Ariane 5 was at an altitude of about 69 kilometers and a
distance of 800 kilometers off the coast of French Guiana.
Jean-Yves Le Gall announced that an independent inquiry
board is being set up, with members to be named within a few
days. The board will have two main objectives:
1. Ensure that the Flight 157 anomaly will not affect
upcoming launches of the baseline version of Ariane 5.
2. Analyze, understand and correct the Flight 157 failure
causes so that the 10-ton-payload Ariane 5 version can
resume launches with high reliability.
From the ESA Portal
Denmark reforms its research
Denmark’s research institutions have international fame and prestige. But the government is demanding
more from them, and a reform is underway. Stakeholder representatives on university boards, a massive
expansion of staff and student numbers, shorter courses and more specialisation are some of the actions.
Meanwhile a tax freeze is in place as an incentive to undertake higher education. The aims: more research, a
boost to productivity, and more knowledge services.
European research coordination is designed to raise
productivity, and so is the reform
programme under way in Denmark
research.
It is a small country which in many
ways overperforms on the global scale
– being for example a world leader in
wireless telephony research – but it
also has weak areas. One of these is
in knowledge services, which Danish
firms prefer to provide in-house for
themselves. To boost its research
performance, Denmark has brought
research and innovation under the same
ministerial roof. It further intends to
double the number of foreign research
students and streamline its university
system by concentrating research in
the larger institutions. Multi-stakeholder
university boards will help bring research
and application closer together.
Stein Larsen, acting head of
secretariat at the Danish Council for
Research Policy, explained Denmark’s
new direction in research policy in
THE EGGS
9
December’s issue of Euroabstracts
(Euroabstracts is published six times
a year by the EU. It provides brief but
authoritative summaries of the key facts
and ideas from recent publications on
innovation and scientific research from
the Commission and other international
bodies).
European Commission, DG
Enterprise, Innovation
European Research 2002 Conference
marks the launch of FP6
On Monday, November 11, in Brussels European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin and Belgian
Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt opened the biggest conference on EU research ever to be held in Europe.
The three-day event (11-13 November) attracted more than 8 500 participants and 200 speakers, including
a line-up of 20 ministers, three Nobel laureates and scores of business leaders. It marked the launch of the
new EU Research Framework Programme (FP6 2003-2006).
The first calls for proposals to be published
shortly. FP6, with a budget of € 17.5 billion, will support
projects in selected strategic areas and foster the creation
of the European Research Area, a true internal market for
knowledge and science.
“In a knowledge-based economy, only science and
technology can produce real added value. They are Europe’s
real growth engines, the key to making our continent the
most dynamic economic powerhouse in the world,” said
Commissioner Busquin. “The impressive attendance at this
conference clearly shows EU researchers, entrepreneurs
and policy-makers are ready to work with the Commission
towards that goal. The research framework programme is an
important part of this process. Through its improved targets,
streamlined funding procedures and new schemes, such as
integrated projects and networks of excellence, it will help
achieve critical mass in research at European level. The next
step will be for EU Member States to better co-ordinate their
research policies, and for all parties to increase their efforts in
the research area.”
The conference not only presented FP6, but it also
unveiled state-of-the-art technology and cutting-edge research
projects. Furthermore, it gave leading European scientists and
top business executives the opportunity to network. The event
brought together some 8 500 participants from 61 countries.
Nearly 15% of them came from Candidate Countries. These
countries will have the same rights as EU Member States in
FP6 one year ahead of enlargement. A total of 142 research
projects and 65 research organisations were on show and the
THE EGGS
conference will included nearly 300 journalists. in addition,
81 scientific events were organised by the participants
themselves.
Fostering competitiveness and quality of life in Europe
Specialised sessions and workshops elaborated on FP6
priorities such as life sciences, genomics and biotechnology,
information society technology, nanotechnologies and new
materials, aeronautics and space, food quality and safety,
sustainable development, clean energy and transport and
governance in a knowledge-based society. Other issues
addressed included human resources and mobility, patenting
and intellectual property rights, the role of European regions,
research infrastructures, SMEs and the likely impact of
enlargement.
Participants also discussed how to get involved in FP6
projects. They debated the relationship between research
and innovation. It was an opportunity to look into international
scientific co-operation, and examine the role of EU research
on the world stage.
For further information on the event, contact:
Stιphane Hogan, Press Officer
Research DG, Information & Communication Unit
Tel: +32-2-296.29.65
Fax: +32-2-295.82.20
E-mail: [email protected]
10
European Funding for an
Archaeomagnetic Research Training Network
Young archaeological researchers from across Europe could soon be recording the history of the Earth’s
magnetic field after the University of Bradford won £936,500 in EU funding to establish a research training
network. About 20 researchers will be recruited from across Europe, and will cross country boundaries to
find out how to gather information about the history of the Earth’s magnetic field.
Archaeological samples like pottery or
volcanic lava have stored within them a record of the state of
the magnetic field at the time they were being heated. These
items are called archaeomagnetic samples. Dr Batt said:
“Archaeological materials provide an irreplaceable record of
the direction and intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field in the
past. At present, such records within Europe are irregular;
some countries recognise the importance of such information,
but wide variations exist in measures to retrieve and preserve
such data, hindered by the lack of a skilled workforce”. She
said the research could offer clues to the past and future
state of the magnetic field, which has a key role in protecting
THE EGGS
humans from solar radiation. Negotiations have now been
completed to formalise the contract for the research, which will
be worth £936,500.
The aim of the training network is to create a skilled workforce
capable of collecting and measuring archaeomagnetic samples
from archaeological and cultural sites. Special attention will be
given to sites likely to be destroyed, or made inaccessible, as a
result of economic development within the European Union.
The project brings together expertise from 12 laboratories
across Europe, including France, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria,
Belgium, Denmark, Austria and Greece, in addition to the UK.
11
An exploration of ozone changes and their radiative
forcing prior to the chlorofluorocarbon era
Recent results, obtained using historical
observations and model simulations, suggest that
20th century stratospheric ozone depletion may
have been roughly 50% more than is generally
supposed.
Using historical observations and model simulations,
Shindell and Faluvegi investigate ozone
trends prior to the mid-1970s onset
of halogen-induced ozone depletion.
Though measurements are quite
limited, an analysis based on multiple,
independent data sets (direct and
indirect) provides better constraints than
any individual set of observations. The
authors find that three data sets support
an apparent long-term stratospheric
ozone trend of -7.2 ± 2.3 DU during
1957-1975, which modeling attributes
primarily to water vapor increases.
The results suggest that 20th century
stratospheric ozone depletion may have
been roughly 50% more than is generally
supposed. Similarly, three data sets
support tropospheric ozone increases
over polluted Northern Hemisphere
continental regions of 8.2 ± 2.1 DU
during this period, which are mutually
consistent with the stratospheric trends.
As with paleoclimate data, which is also
based on indirect proxies and/or limited
THE EGGS
12
spatial coverage, these results must be
interpreted with caution. However, they
provide the most thorough estimates
presently available of ozone changes
prior to the coincident onset of satellite
data and halogen dominated ozone
changes. If these apparent trends were
real, the radiative forcing by stratospheric
ozone since the 1950s would then have
been -0.15 ± 0.05 W/m2, and -0.2 W/m2
since the preindustrial. For tropospheric
ozone, it would have been 0.38 ± 0.10
W/m2 since the late 1950s. Combined
with even a very conservative estimate
of tropospheric ozone forcing prior to
that time, this would be larger than
current estimates since 1850 which are
derived from models that are even less
well constrained. These calculations
demonstrate the importance of gaining a
better understanding of historical ozone
changes.
Shindell D.T. and G. Faluvegi,
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2, 363 - 374,
2002.
The preface of the
new book of Stephen
Wolfram
Wolfram, founder of
Wolfram Research,
millionaire, creator
of Mathematica
and wonder kid,
has recently, after
10 years of work,
published the book
“A New kind of
Science”.
Stephen Wolfram, has recently, after some 20
years of work, published the book “A New Kind of Science”. The
book has received wide coverage, and a number of reviews have
appeared in scientific Newsletters and journals. This has happened
not because of the bold claim of the title but because of Wolfram
himself. For those of you to whom the name might sound unfamiliar,
he is the founder of Wolfram Research and creator of the wellknown Mathematica software, which made him into a millionaire
in his twenties. Wolfram has been a wonder kid of mathematics,
receiving his Ph.D. from Caltech at the age of 20 and being the
youngest recipient of the prestigious MacArthur award (known also
as “genious award”) at the age of 21. The book, which received
varying reviews, is based in computations with cellular automata
and deals with virtually everything.
Since several reviews have been published on the book, we
would not wish to add another here, given also the length of the
book (some 1200 pages). Anyway, we have only managed to read
the 3-page Preface up to now, and since none of the published
reviews dealt with it, we will briefly comment on it here.
We must say, that we were really impressed by the Preface
of the book since it contains more “I” ‘s than anything we have
managed to read up to now (excluding autobiographies). In the
first four paragraphs (twenty lines of text), there are eighteen “I”
‘s. The situation somewhat improves later, leaving us with a total
of seventeen paragraphs, fourty sentences, eighty-six lines of text
and fourty-three (43) “I” ‘s. A lot for a scientific book, isn’t it? We are
rather used to passive voice, in geophysics at least.
Physicist Max Delbruck, 1969 Nobel Prize in Medicine for
discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic
structure of viruses, said in his Nobel lecture: “The books of the
great scientists are gathering dust on the shelves of learned
libraries. And rightly so. The scientist addresses an infinitesimal
audience of fellow composers. His message is not devoid of
universality but its universality is disembodied and anonymous.
While the artist’s communication is linked forever with its original
form, that of the scientist is modified, amplified, fused with the ideas
and results of others and melts into the stream of knowledge and
ideas which forms our culture. The scientist has in common with the
artist only this: that he can find no better retreat from the world than
his work and also no stronger link with the world than his work”.
Clearly the “New kind of Science” is not presented by its creator as
a disembodied and anonymous work.
Well, anyway we do not intend to judge the book or the writer
here; we clearly are not in the position to do so. Just a habbit for
brief statistical analyses and philosophy of science.
-Ed
THE EGGS
13
A European field campaign to
study polar ozone loss and tropical
chemistry and dynamics
G. Amanatidis and N. Harris on the three phases
(Arctic, Antarctic, Tropics) of VINTERSOL
VINTERSOL (Validation of INTERnational Satellites and study of Ozone Loss) is a major European field
campaign studying polar stratospheric and tropical ozone. VINTERSOL (‘Winter sun’ in the Scandinavian
languages) is taking place from late 2002 until mid 2004. There have been three previous European campaigns:
the European Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Experiment (EASOE) in 1991/92; the Second European Stratospheric
Arctic and Mid-latitude Experiment (SESAME) in 1994/95; and the Third European Stratospheric Experiment on
Ozone (THESEO) in 1998/2000. Like them, VINTERSOL relies on support from national funding agencies and
from the Environment and Sustainable Development programme of EC DG Research.
Introduction
Individual VINTERSOL projects are briefly described
below (Annex 1). More information on VINTERSOL, including
the full planning document, can be found at http://www.ozonesec.ch.cam.ac.uk/. There are four main scientific themes
within VINTERSOL. These are:
· polar ozone loss
· ozone at mid-latitudes
· UV radiation
· tropical chemistry and dynamics
These are being addressed in the three main phases
of VINTERSOL in which detailed studies of atmospheric
processes are being made:
· intensive Arctic ozone loss studies in the 2002/03 winter/
spring;
· ozone loss studies in the Antarctic winter and spring 2003;
and
· balloon and aircraft studies in the tropics in early 2004.
In addition, a number of measurement and modelling
projects are running continuously through this period
yielding information on the longer time-scale processes in
the stratosphere, and there is a small balloon campaign in
the tropics in early 2003 in preparation for the main tropical
phase.
An important dimension for VINTERSOL is the involvement
of several new European satellite instruments. Measurements
from the ERS-2 GOME satellite instrument (operational since
THE EGGS
Figure 1: Balloon launch from Kiruna, Sweden.
1995) and from the POAM III instrument on the SPOT IV
satellite (operational since 1998) continue to be used. In
addition, measurements from the ODIN satellite (launched
in February 2001) and ESA’s ENVISAT satellite (launched in
March 2002, see article in The Eggs at http://www.the-eggs.org/
articles.php?id=18) are being validated and analysed.
14
loss) are addressed directly in VINTERSOL. The 2002/03
Arctic phase will involve several aspects:
· two European research aircraft (M55 Geophysica and
DLR Falcon);
· several large balloons at Esrange (Fig. 1);
· a Match ozonesonde campaign;
· ground-based measurements, including the NDSC uv-vis
comparison;
· existing satellite instruments (GOME, POAM III and
ODIN);
· a period of special study for data assimilation; and
· chemical transport modelling.
The M55 Geophysica and the DLR Falcon are based in
Kiruna during January and February 2003 in the EC EUPLEX
project. The Falcon with a remote-sensing payload acts as
a pathfinder for the Geophysica (with primarily an in situ
payload) directing it, for example, into synoptic and lee-wave
polar stratospheric clouds. The Geophysica is also studying
the chemical evolution in individual air parcels by measuring
in them twice a few days apart. Trajectory calculations based
on analysed and forecast winds from ECMWF are triggered
along all flight tracks. If the air masses return to within the
aircraft range, e.g. after they circled the polar vortex once,
they can be probed again. The NASA DC-8 is based in Kiruna
in January and early February, and is closely coordinated
with the Geophysica and Falcon. In March, the Geophysica
and Falcon are involved in ENVISAT validation with the
Geophysica based in Kiruna and the Falcon covering a wide
range of latitudes from the pole to the equator.
Three successful balloon flights took place in early
December 2002 within the CIPA/POSTA projects. Two flights of
the PSC Analysis gondola and one of the MIPAS-B instrument
were made from Esrange in synoptic scale PSCs (Fig. 2). The
PSC Analysis payload carried instruments for comprehensive
in situ measurements of chemical and physical properties of
PSC particles. The MIPAS instrument flew simultaneously
with the second PSC Analysis flight to study the interaction
between HNO3 gas phase abundance and PSC formation,
while the DLR Falcon aircraft performed upwind and downwind
flights to observe the larger scale properties of the PSCs. In
addition to these VINTERSOL flights, there are nine flights for
a variety of European payloads in ESABC (two flew in late
January and seven are planned for March) and two flights of
the NASA OMS remote balloon payload within SOLVE II (one
flew on mid December, and one is planned for March.)
An Arctic Match campaign involving about 500
ozonesondes and 13 stations is organised within the QUOBI
project. Air parcels in which ozone has been measured are
tracked and, if these air parcels are likely to pass over another
station, launch requests are issued to the stations. While
the main aim is to provide accurate estimates of ozone loss
rates for comparison with stratospheric models, two periods
of special interest have been identified. First, with the vortex
cold in November/December 2002, a Match campaign is being
run to study ozone loss in cold dark conditions. Second,
special attention is being paid to making good estimates of
the ozone loss as this is the period where there are significant
disagreements with photochemical models. The Match ozone
loss studies are complemented by other approaches using
ozonesonde, satellite and ground-based data.
Ground-based observations in the northern hemisphere
are being made throughout the 2002/2003 Arctic winter, using
instruments measuring stratospheric composition (UV-vis,
Figure 2: Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs) over Kiruna, Sweden, developed not
in a leewave situation but inside the vortex during December 2002. (courtesy of
C. Weisser, MPI Heidelberg).
The international dimension to earth observation studies is
increasingly evident. There is close collaboration between the
Arctic phase of VINTERSOL campaign and field campaigns
primarily associated with satellite validation. Close links,
including joint flight planning and data sharing, have been
forged with the NASA SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation
Experiment II (SOLVE II – see http://cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/
solveII/index.html) based on the successful cooperation in
SOLVE THESEO 2000 in the 1999/2000 winter. Cooperation
has also been agreed with the ENVISAT validation activities
(http://envisat.esa.int) organised by the European Space
Agency (ESA) and national space agencies through the
Atmospheric Chemistry and Validation Team (ACVT) and
particularly its ENVISAT Stratospheric Aircraft and Balloon
Campaigns (ESABC).
All three field campaigns have
extensive field activities in Kiruna, Sweden (68°N) during
the 2002/03 winter. The joint initiative involves over 400
scientists from the European Union, Canada, Iceland, Japan,
Norway, Poland, Russia, Switzerland and the United States.
Aircraft, large and small balloons, ground-based instruments
and satellites are being used to measure ozone and other
atmospheric gases and particles. The combined activities thus
aim to improve understanding of Arctic ozone depletion, and at
upgrading satellite observation of the ozone layer. In addition,
VINTERSOL significantly extends the scope and duration of
the other planned satellite validation activities, so enhancing
the quality of the measurements made by these satellite
instruments.
Arctic Ozone – November 2002
to March 2003
An improved understanding of polar ozone loss is one of
the major aims of VINTERSOL. A great deal has been learnt
in recent years, particularly during SOLVE-THESEO 2000, but
there are a number of outstanding issues which restrict our
ability to understand the processes leading to polar ozone loss
and to predict future ozone losses with confidence. Many of
these (vortex dynamics; particle composition; denitrification;
heterogeneous processes; the photochemical reactions
depleting ozone; empirically determined and modeled ozone
losses; and the relation between Arctic and Antarctic ozone
THE EGGS
15
FTIR, lidars and microwave instruments which are principally
from NDSC and NDSC-related sites), total ozone in the WMO
GO3OS, and UV radiation in the European UV network. These
are involved in the EU projects EDUCE, QUILT and UFTIR. In
addition, the lidar at Esrange is operational for several weeks
in January and February 2003. The NDSC comparison of
UV-vis instruments takes place between mid-February and
mid-March 2003.
Measurements from satellites such as GOME, POAM
III and ODIN are used for studies of the 2002/2003 Arctic
winter. The ODIN satellite, whose measurements include ClO,
HNO3, OClO and BrO, splits its time between astronomical
and atmospheric measurements. In normal observational
mode, atmospheric measurements are made about one day
in three. However arrangements have been made for an
additional fifteen days of atmospheric observations, so that
more measurements can be made in early 2003. Further with
a few days warning, it is possible to change the observational
schedule so that extended periods of observations can be
made in periods of special interest.
Satellite measurements from ENVISAT are not routinely
available for scientific use until after the commissioning and
validation phase. However the available data are being used in
chemical data assimilation models to produce synoptic maps
of several key species from ENVISAT and in cloud detection
schemes to identify PSCs and cirrus. In addition, GOME data
are being assimilated to provide ozone fields. SAGE III data
are also available in near real-time.
A range of models are being run in the 2002/03 winter
within the MAPSCORE, QUOBI and TOPOZ III projects.
SLIMCAT and REPROBUS are run throughout the winter with
full 3D chemical fields available within a few days, and other
3D CTMs will be run with longer delays. Detailed models
of PSC microphysics and chemistry are used to interpret
the measurements from the Geophysica and Falcon aircraft
and the PSC Analysis, MIPAS and other balloons. Any
widespread denitrification of the vortex is being studied with
composite model approaches linking microphysical models,
pseudo-Lagrangian trajectories including sedimentation, and
3D chemical transport models. Photochemical Lagrangian
models are used to study detailed chemical evolution, for
example the results of any aircraft Match flights and the ozone
losses from the Match ozonesonde campaign.
Antarctic Ozone – June to October 2003
The first ever Antarctic Match campaign will be run
between June and October 2003 within the QUOBI project. It
will be the most comprehensive analysis of ozone loss rates
in the Antarctic ozone hole. Nine stations will be involved in
the Match campaign with the participation of the Antarctic
research programmes from 8 countries (Argentina, Australia,
Figure 3: The important role of the tropical atmosphere (courtesy of P. Heynes, Univ. of Cambridge).
THE EGGS
16
Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, UK and USA). A
total of nearly 600 ozonesondes between 65° and 90°S will
be launched, corresponding to a launch frequency of 4-5
ozonesondes per day inside the vortex. Approximately 400
additional radiosondes will be launched to improve the quality
of the meteorological analyses provided by ECMWF. This will
improve the quality of the ozone loss estimates derived by
Match and other empirical ozone loss techniques. In addition,
it will have the benefit of assisting the meteorological agencies
in understanding the factors which limit the quality of their
forecasts in this data-sparse part of the world.
The Match campaign will be supplemented by satellite
studies, ground-based measurements and modelling. In
particular, this will be the first winter at either pole where
ENVISAT measurements are made operationally, so the
chemical and particle fields will be well characterised. This
means allow detailed, well-constrained studies of the observed
ozone loss rates can be made. The experience gained in the
Antarctic should significantly improve our understanding of the
processes occurring in the Arctic.
either gradually as part of the general atmospheric circulation
or rapidly in convective storm systems (Fig. 3). A number of
issues related to the tropical upper troposphere and the lower
stratosphere which are important for ozone and climate in the
future are:
· how water vapour enters the stratosphere, given the
unexplained long-term trend in water vapour in the lower
stratosphere;
· how short-lived species such as the methyl halides and
NOx emitted at the surface are transported into the upper
troposphere and stratosphere;
· the influence of the tropical UTLS on global stratospheretroposphere exchange;
· the formation, composition and impact of cirrus clouds in
the tropical UTLS;
· the role of convective systems in determining the
composition of the tropical UTLS;
· how well current meteorological models to describe the
tropical UTLS; and
· an improved quantification of the NOx production by
lightning, a prerequisite to evaluate the impact of aircraft.
These issues are important in order to assess the
chemical impact on the UTLS of biomass burning, changes
of agricultural practices and pollution from the fast growing
populations in tropical developing countries. In addition the
transport of air out of the tropical UTLS into mid-latitudes is
one of the critical factors which determine the composition of
Tropical phase – January to March 2004
The source of chemical species involved in stratospheric
ozone depletion at global scale, lies in the tropics where they
are transported vertically from surface level to the tropopause
by deep convection. This vertical transport can take place
Table 1: Timetable of European projects related to VINTERSOL.
THE EGGS
17
air in the mid-latitude lower stratosphere.
The main sub-tropical phase will involve balloons and
aircraft campaigns in the HIBISCUS and TROCCINOX
projects. It will take place in January and February 2004 in
Sao Paolo State in Brazil. Small balloon and long duration
MIR balloon flights will be launched from Bauru and the
M55 Geophysica and the DLR Falcon will be deployed
nearby. There is good cooperation with a number of Brazilian
universities and research establishments. Ozonesondes and
additional radiosondes will be launched in the region of Bauru,
and there will be access to the measurements made by the
lightning network and 2.6 GHz radar. In addition, coordinated
measurements will be made from the ground station at La
Rιunion and full use will be made of the measurements
collected during tropical flights of in service commercial
aircraft within the MOZAIC and CARIBIC projects. Further,
global fields of many chemical constituents in the UTLS will be
provided by satellite instruments such as those on ENVISAT
and ODIN. These plans are being developed and will be
modified in the light of the preliminary phase in February 2003.
A scientific workshop will take place from 15-17 May 2003 at
DLR Oberpfaffenhofen.
with the ESA ENVISAT validation program is an important
responsibility of the core group during VINTERSOL. There
are many European researchers who are involved in both
activities, and effective collaboration at all levels benefits both.
To this end common access to VINTERSOL and validation
measurements is being promoted, a goal facilitated by the
fact that NILU is acting as data center for both activities. For
similar reasons, it is important to collaborate with SOLVE II,
the validation campaign for the NASA SAGE III instrument and
with the ILAS 2 validation campaign.
In order to maximize the benefits of the campaign activities,
high quality meteorological analyses and forecasts, including
special products, during the active phase are set up for the
planning of operations and for the interpretation of results.
Near real-time access to a wider range of measurements
are also valuable in planning aircraft and balloon flights
and for identifying periods for more intensive ground-based
measurements.
ANNEX 1: Brief description of projects
(Table 1)
(These projects are part of the European Commission
Environment and Sustainable Development Programme)
Coordination
VINTERSOL projects:
An important objective during the planning and
implementation of VINTERSOL is to ensure maximum
effective coordination between all the projects, including new
collaborations both within Europe and worldwide. To this end
a core group has been established to work with EORCU to
advance the plans and implementation of VINTERSOL. The
core group contains researchers with a range of scientific
expertise and knowledge of the activities within VINTERSOL.
It includes representatives from the EC Science Panel on
Stratospheric Ozone, the individual projects and EORCU:
Georgios Amanatidis EC DG Research
Geir Braathen NILU (Norway)
Martyn Chipperfield Univ. Leeds (UK)
Neil Harris EORCU (UK)
Hennie Kelder KNMI (Netherlands)
Niels Larsen DMI (Denmark)
Martine De Maziere BIRA-IASB (Belgium)
Gιrard Mιgie CNRS (France)
Donal Murtagh Chalmers Univ. (Sweden)
Jean-Pierre Pommereau CNRS (France)
John Remedios Univ. Leicester (UK)
Hans Schlager DLR (Germany)
Leopoldo Stefanutti Geophysica-GEIE (Italy)
Fred Stroh FZ Julich (Germany)
Petteri Taalas FMI (Finland)
Peter von der Gathen AWI-Potsdam (Germany)
The main tasks of the core group are the coordination
of the measurements by different projects, promoting
scientific interpretation, public awareness, etc. It facilitates
the exchange of field data and scientific resources through
the production of periodic update of activities (with NILU),
organization of meetings and workshops, and through informal
channels. The NADIR database of NILU is the repository for
all field measurements made during VINTERSOL as well as
relevant model results. VINTERSOL participants have signed
data protocols covering the use of VINTERSOL and ECMWF
data.
Maintaining good communication and effective coordination
THE EGGS
APE-INFRA, CIPA, EDUCE, EUPLEX, HIBISCUS,
MAPSCORE, POSTA, QUILT, QUOBI, TROCCINOX, UFTIR
Related projects:
CARIBIC 3, GOA, MOZAIC III, TOPOZ III
APE-INFRA (The Airborne Platform
for Earth observation Infrastructure),
duration: 24 months, starting date: 01/1/2002, coordinator:
L. Stefanutti, Geophysica-GEIE ([email protected])
The absence of a high-altitude powered platform, like the
Geophysica, has been, in the past, a major disincentive to the
development of “in situ” stratospheric scientific instrumentation
and has, therefore, disadvantaged European research in this
field. Now the Geophysica is the only available stratospheric
platform for the European scientific community, and has
already made an important contribution to the study of ozone
depletion and to our understanding of the tropical lower
stratosphere and upper troposphere. No single European
country has the necessary knowledge and expertise to
maintain the Geophysica programme at a national level. The
consortium of this project brings together community partners
from Italy, Germany, U.K., Sweden and France with extracommunity partners from Switzerland and Russia to develop
a unique European aircraft platform whose access is open to
all European countries interested in environment and climate
research.
APE-INFRA aims to substantially improve the use of, and
access to, Europe’s only stratospheric aircraft platform through
a broad spectrum of activities contained in the following
objectives:
· The general scientific utility of the aircraft will be enhanced
substantially by aeronautical maintenance and improvement to
the platform.
· The user base will be expanded by the testing of newly
installed instruments.
· The access to the platform for forthcoming missions, and
18
for new instruments, will be facilitated by consolidation of the
management structure.
· The performance of the payloads and of the platform will
be demonstrated to potential users, in dedicated mini scientific
demonstration campaigns (i.e. the first mission of this platform
to the sub-tropics supporting the TROCCINOX (Tropical
Convection, Cirrus, and Nitrogen Oxides Experiment) project;
the first Geophysica mission to validate ENVISAT in the Arctic
and at the Mid-latitudes supporting not only the ESA/ASI/
BMBF/DLR ENVISAT validation activities but also the Arctic
EUPLEX (European Polar stratospheric cloud and Lee wave
Experiment) project. Furthermore cross validation of aerosol,
temperature trace gases and ozone sensors installed on board
the Geophysica will be carried out using measurements from
balloon and/or ground based instruments in the region where
the aircraft is operated.
APE-INFRA will improve the aircraft in accordance with the
wishes of the facilities’ users, and the International Scientific
Community at large. APE-INFRA is, therefore, a completein-itself project for enhancement of European infrastructure
that will provide significant added value to the European and
nationally-funded efforts to develop a world-leading highaltitude research platform. Europe will, for the first time, have
the use of a stratospheric research aircraft on a stable basis.
This fact will undoubtedly increase the confidence with which
the European User community can plan complex missions and
develop new instruments, and so remove a key hurdle to the
further broadening of the user base. In summary, this project,
including the involvement of partners both inside and outside
the European Union, and its close complementarity with the
European Economic Interest Grouping (Geophysica-GEIE),
conforms closely to the desirable model for development
of European infrastructure outlined at the Conference on
Research Infrastructure, Strasbourg, 19-20 September 2000.
and their gas phase environment. The payloads consist of
an aerodynamic focusing lens and a mass spectrometer for
measurements of condensed H2O and HNO3, together with
detection of dissolved trace gases. Optical particle counters
provide particle concentration and size distributions, and
backscatter sondes measure the backscatter ratio at four
wavelengths and depolarisation. Physical phase and refractive
indices of the particles are derived from these measurements.
Finally, observations are made of near-gondola environment,
especially temperature and water vapour. Nearly identical
instrumentation will be used within a large cryo-chamber to
perform simulations of PSC particle formation over a wide
temperature and gas phase range. Temperature and the gas
environment of the chamber will be monitored and changed,
both systematically and in a way to simulate the particle
evolution in connection with the balloon-borne observations.
Over periods of hours and days, composition, size distribution,
and phase of aerosols will be continuously measured. The
meteorological conditions in connection with the balloonborne
field measurements will be analysed by non-hydrostatic
meteorological mesoscale model calculations, providing highresolution temperature histories of the observed air parcels.
Microphysical and optical models will be used to calculate the
chemical compositions, physical phase, size distributions, and
optical properties of PSC particles, which can be compared
directly to the field and laboratory measurements. The
investigations will provide measurements of the chemical
composition of PSC particle, including dissolved content of
trace gases together with information on particle volume and
physical phase. Cryo-chamber simulations of PSC formation
will characterise the condensed and gas phase. Microphysical
model simulations and comparisons with the experimental
results will lead to concluding recommendations for PSC
microphysical and optical modelling, e.g. in terms of new
pathways for particle formation, updated estimates on freezing
and condensation rates, or refractive indices.
CIPA (Comprehensive investigations of
polar stratospheric aerosols),
duration: 24 months, starting date: 1/10/00, coordinator:
Dr. N. Larsen, Danish Meteorological Institute ([email protected])
Climate models predict that increased concentrations
of greenhouse gases may cause lower temperatures in
the stratosphere and more widespread formation of polar
stratospheric clouds (PSC). Results from chemical and
optical PSC analyses will provide knowledge about PSC
particle formation, required by atmospheric chemistry and
microphysical models to calculate more reliable scenarios
for the ozone layer in a future climate. The investigations aim
at strengthening the scientific base, needed to implement
the European Union’s environmental policy in support of the
Montreal Protocol, by contributing to improved understanding
of some basic physical and chemical processes in the
atmosphere which have a strong influence on stratospheric
ozone depletion. The objective is to obtain a detailed
knowledge of the pathways to formation of different types of
PSCs. This is accomplished by balloonborne measurements
of particle chemical composition, size distributions, phase, and
optical properties in combination with large-scale cryo-chamber
experiments. The investigation combines three activities as
an integrated research project: Field measurements, largescale laboratory simulations, and microphysical and optical
modelling. Balloon-borne experiments will be performed
from Kiruna using multi-instrument payloads to measure
the chemical and physical characteristics of PSC particles
THE EGGS
EDUCE European database for Ultraviolet Radiation
Climatology and Evaluation),
duration: 36 months, starting date: 1/6/00, coordinator: Dr.
Gunther Seckmeyer, Institute for Meteorology and Climatology
([email protected])
Measurements of spectral UV irradiance at 35 locations,
are used to develop a European UV climatology. By the
close of this project, some stations will have spectral UV
measurements spanning more than ten years. A major aim
of this proposal is to analyse long-term data sets for evidence
of trends in UV radiation, which may now become visible for
the first time. The UV climatology and its analysis is achieved
by a combination of radiation measurements, ancillary data,
an appropriate QA/QC programme and radiative transfer
modelling. The European UV database, generated in the
former SUVDAMA and URRAPPF projects, will be developed
further and exploited. The deliverables are relevant to
research in atmospheric chemistry, biology, human health
and material effects. User-friendly access to the database for
these communities will be established.
The objectives of EDUCE are:
· to describe a climatology for ultraviolet (UV) radiation in
Europe and find evidence for UV trends
· to extend the European UV database to host more
stations and longer time series
19
PSC particles? What is the relative importance of synoptic and
Lee-wave PSCs for chlorine activation and Arctic ozone loss?
Can observed ozone loss rates be explained by the currently
accepted ozone loss cycles given simultaneously observed
ClO, BrO, and NO/NOy mixing ratios?
Dedicated strategies have been developed to
approach these questions, by combining comprehensive
in-situ observations of gas-phase composition, aerosol/
particle properties, and physical parameters from a highaltitude research aircraft (M-55 Geophysica) with LIDAR
observations from a lower-flying aircraft (DLR Falcon). Data
interpretation will be carried out employing a hierarchy of upto-date microphysical and chemical-dynamical models of the
stratosphere.
The primary results of EUPLEX are a series of high quality
data sets and model simulations that will be of great interest to
the entire stratospheric research community, and in particular
to groups pursuing the study of the evolution of stratospheric
ozone in the light of future climate change. Answering the
above questions is expected to result in the establishment
or improvement of quantitative theories or parameterisations
of PSC formation, heterogeneous chemical activation, and
chemical ozone depletion, that are a prerequisite for numerical
simulations to predict the future state of the ozone layer.
Figure 4: MIR Balloon launch from Bauru (courtesy of J.-P. Pommereau,
CNRS).
· to maintain the European UV database and make its
structure more user-friendly
· to provide tools for the easy use of the data in the
database and simplified submission of data
· to develop and apply methods for quality assurance at
the database
· to develop methods for quality control at the sites and
apply them in quality audits
· to develop and apply radiative transfer models for the
interpretation of the measurements.
During the project, the needs of the end-users with respect
to data products that may be obtained from the database are
identified and addressed. A statistical analysis is made of the
spectral data submitted to the European database. With the
help of 1-D radiative transfer models, climatological maps of
the ultraviolet radiation in Europe are generated. Statistical
analyses are made to show in which wavelength range a trend
of UV radiation will first become visible. The number of years
required to detect a trend in UV irradiance is determined based
on the uncertainty and variability of measurements at different
sites. The dataset is searched in order to find evidence for
such a trend and model studies will be employed to explain the
reasons for it. Data from 35 European stations is submitted to
the database in a uniform format. A new computing unit is used
to extend the European UV database to host data for longer
periods of time and for new stations. Tools are developed
for efficient submission, searching and extraction of data.
Methods will be used to mark the data in the database with
flags which inform about possible instrumental or atmospheric
anomalies during the measurement time.
HIBISCUS (Impact of tropical convection on the upper
troposphere and lower stratosphere at global scale),
duration: 36 months, starting date: 1/01/2002, coordinator:
Dr. J-P. Pommereau, CNRS ([email protected])
The source of chemical species involved in stratospheric
ozone depletion at global scale lies in the tropics where they
are transported vertically from surface level to the tropopause
by deep convection. Among most important species and
aerosols specific to the tropics which could have an impact
on ozone and climate in the future are: the amount of NOx
production by lightning, and the chemical impact of biomass
burning, change of agricultural practices and pollution from fast
growing population in tropical countries. HIBISCUS is to study
the vertical and horizontal transport from the upper troposphere
to the lower stratosphere including the contribution of mesoand small scale waves associated to deep convection, to
assess the quality of current operational global meteorological
models in the tropics, and to explore the mechanism which
controls the amount of water vapour reaching the stratosphere
and the possible causes of its trend in the stratosphere, the
impact on chemistry of short lived active chemical species
lifted by convection, as well as of aerosols on the formation of
thin cirrus at tropopause levels and their impact on chemistry
and radiation transfer. The approach, based on successful
techniques developed for the Arctic European campaigns
in the 90’s, is to combine in situ measurements by a variety
of instruments flown on small balloons (Fig. 4)for few hours
in Brazil during the summer convective season and on long
duration balloons for several week around the world at the
tropics, with state of the art transport, microphysical, radiative
and chemical modelling. Long duration balloons planned
combine in situ measurements of meteorology, O3 and H2O
on constant level superpressure balloons at and immediately
above the tropopause (80 and 60 hPa) and remote sensing
in the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere of
temperature, aerosol and of chemical composition from IR
Montgolfier flying above, at 24-27 km.
Specific anticipated deliverables are: a validation of satellite
EUPLEX (European polar stratospheric cloud and lee wave
experiment), starting date: 1/5/2002,
duration: 24 months, coordinator: Dr. F. Stroh, Institute for
Stratospheric Chemistry (ICG-1), Forschungszentrum Juelich
GmbH ([email protected])
EUPLEX will address some key questions of Arctic
stratospheric ozone depletion that are not yet answered to a
satisfactory extent: How do PSCs form and are observed, PSC
growth and properties – in both synoptically cold regions and
in regions of lee-wave activity – in accord with microphysical
theory? How can observed denitrification and dehydration
processes be explained? Are observed halogen activation
rates consistent with the theory of heterogeneous activation on
THE EGGS
20
(particularly ENVISAT) measurements at the tropics and the
determination of the altitude down to which their measurements
could be reliable; a study of the accuracy of global operational
meteorological models (particularly ECMWF) in the tropics and
of possible causes of deviations (i.e. mesoscale waves); an
evaluation of the amplitude of NOx production by lightning and
alternatively lifting from biomass burning and urban pollution
needed to understand the relative impact of aircraft exhaust,
measurement of the frequency and geographic distribution of
sub-visible cirrus at global scale.
via vertical redistribution of nitric acid and water by large
particles.
Experimental work: Balloon-borne in situ analysis of
composition and other properties of stratospheric aerosol
(aerosol composition mass spectrometer). Aircraft-based
remote sensing LIDAR measurements of aerosol distribution
and phase of the particles. Balloon-borne remote sensing
FTIR measurements of vertical concentration profiles of PSC
relevant trace gases (MIPAS and satellite data). Aerosol
chamber experiments on formation and phase transitions
of stratospheric aerosol particles at simulated atmospheric
conditions (AIDA experimental facility).
Modelling work: Comparison of experimental data with
thermodynamic models of particle composition. Testing
microphysical models of aerosol dynamics (condensation/
evaporation, vertical redistribution by sedimentation,
particle freezing/melting). Improve, implement, and validate
parameterisations of aerosol processes in CTM and GCM
models.
Sub-projects:
1. Aerosol chamber investigations of polar stratospheric
particles: Effect of p,T variations on particle composition and
phase (Mφhler and Schurath, FZK).
2. A comprehensive study of polar stratospheric aerosols
(Mauersberger and Schreiner, MPIK-HD).
3. Denitrification and Dehydration in the Arctic Polar
Vortex: Observations, Modelling, Consequences (Oelhaf and
Ruhnke, FZK).4. Aircraft-based LIDAR measurements of
polar stratospheric aerosols and meso-scale model forecasts
(Flentje and Dφrnbrack, DLR)
MAPSCORE (Mapping of Polar Stratospheric Clouds and
Ozone levels relevant to the Region of Europe),
duration: 36 months, coordinator:
Dr J. Remedios,
University of Leicester ([email protected])
Stratospheric ozone levels over the region of Europe are
profoundly influenced by lower stratospheric temperatures and
the stability of the polar vortex, as ozone loss is sensitive to the
threshold nature of polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) formation
and denitrification. This coupling is very important with respect
to the evolution of climate over the next fifty years. The
MAPSCORE project will enable European scientists to fully
exploit existing datasets from field and satellite campaigns
by providing maps of PSC properties, maps of denitrification,
new observations of PSCs, and fields from chemical data
assimilation for entire winter/spring periods. These datasets
will provide added-value in the form of new products enhancing
existing datasets.
The objectives of the MAPSCORE project are (1) To enable
European scientists to fully exploit existing datasets from field
and satellite campaign by providing validated maps of PSC
behaviour and denitrification, calculated from sub-grid scale
microphysical models, in the stratosphere over Europe; (2) To
provide validated maps of chlorine activation, and polar ozone
depletion rates, from chemical assimilation models integrated
with detailed sub-grid scale microphysical models, to support
European scientists engaged in characterising ozone trends
on short term and on climatic timescales; (3) To provide addedvalue products to the European stratospheric ozone observing
system by deriving new information on PSCs from atmospheric
data interpreted by novel laboratory measurements of optical
properties, and by employing the chemical assimilation model
to describe the hemispheric behaviour of ozone and related
species.
The milestones and the expected deliverables of the project
are: Microphysical model/mountain wave cooling. Database
of PSC refractive indices; improved radiative transfer tools,
chemical data assimilation model with PSC microphysics;
Maps of PSC properties, denitrification, and chemical species;
new laboratory measurements, new observations of PSCs;
Validated datasets and assessments of the accuracies of
products.
QUILT (Quantification and Interpretation of Long-Term UVVisible Observations of the Stratosphere),
duration: 36 months, coordinator: Dr G. Braathen, Norsk
Institut for Luftforskning - Norwegian Institute for Air Research
([email protected])
As the stratospheric halogen loading is going to reach a
maximum in the next few years, the challenge is to reach the
level of understanding that will enable reliable prediction of the
future evolution/recovery of ozone. In this perspective, it is
essential to develop and maintain means for accurate longterm monitoring of the stratosphere. The aim of QUILT is to
optimise the exploitation of the existing European UV-visible
monitoring systems by which O3 and the related free NO2,
BrO and OClO can be measured from the ground, balloons and
satellites. QUILT will provide an assessment of the chemical
ozone loss over the last decade and through 2000-2003. This
will be achieved through joint efforts in analysis improvements,
consolidation of existing data series, and the near real time
integration with state-of-the-art chemical transport models.
The general aim is to use the existing ground-based,
satellite and balloon borne UV-visible data as well as 3D
atmospheric modelling tools for quantifying ozone loss in
the past, to monitor its development in the present and to
investigate its relation to active halogen and nitrogen species.
The project includes four main specific objectives: 1) To create
a homogeneous, quality controlled data set out of the existing
O3, NO2, BrO, and OClO data from zenith-sky balloon and
satellite measurements. 2) To improve the analysis algorithms
and thereby the quality of the derived columns and profiles.
3) To use the established data set for the validation and
improvement of 3D atmospheric models and the study of
seasonal variations and trends of ozone and related species
POSTA (Multiphase processes in the polar stratosphere: in situ
measurements and simulations),
coordinator: Ulrich Schurath and Ottmar Mφhler,
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut fur Meteorologie und
Klimaforschung
The POSTA project cluster aims on improved understanding
of multi-phase processes that control composition, size
distribution, and phase of cold polar stratospheric aerosol
particles in view of their impact on stratospheric ozone, (a)
directly via chlorine/bromine activation and (b) indirectly
THE EGGS
21
in the stratosphere. 4) To provide Near Real Time data and
quality controlled long-term data to the scientific end-user
community.
The milestones and the expected results of QUILT are:
Month 0-35: Start of DOAS analysis optimisation for groundbased balloon and satellite platforms. Month 6-36: Start of
Near Real Time activities and the NRT Arctic Ozone-loss
Bulletin. Month 12: Workshop for discussion of spectral
analysis methods. Near Real Time activities and integration
of measured data for model simulations. Month16-35: Start
of model simulation studies for determination of ozone-loss
variables. Month 24, 35: Workshop/progress meeting on main
project objectives and final meeting.
clouds. All these processes are far from being understood.
An improved understanding of the chemical and physical
processes of the tropical tropopause is needed for predicting
future ozone and climate changes. The first scientific objective
is to improve the knowledge about lightning-produced NOx in
tropical thunderstorms by quantifying the amounts produced in
well-characterised cloud formations, by scaling up the results
of the mission to provide global estimates of lightning NOx,
by comparing it to other major sources of NOx, and thereby
assessing its global impact. The second scientific objective
is to improve the current knowledge on the occurrence and
transport of other trace gases (including water vapour and
halogens) and particles (ice crystal and aerosol particles) in
the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere in connection
with tropical deep convection as well as large scale upwelling
motions. The scientific objectives of TROCCINOX will be
addressed by performing a field experiment in the tropics
including measurements on different spatial scales. Two
fully instrumented research aircraft, an M55 Geophysica and
a Falcon will probe the large scale structure of the upper
troposphere and lower stratosphere during transfer flights to a
tropical destination. During an intense measuring campaign at
the tropical site the aircraft operations will be coordinated with
detailed ground-based and space borne systems. Numerical
modelling of the observed processes will be carried out to
improve understanding and quantification of the observed
processes and assessments of their global impacts. The data
analysis and the modelling component will provide improved
descriptions of processes relevant to global climate problems
(e.g. the production of NOx by lightning). This will serve to
reduce the large degree of uncertainty in our understanding
of the climate system, within the limits of the problems
addressable in the present study. The results will be published
and provided for advice in ongoing assessment and decision
processes.
QUOBI (Quantitative understanding of ozone
losses by bipolar investigations),
duration: 36 months, starting date: 1/1/2002, coordinator:
Dr P. von der Gathen, Stiftung Alfred-Wegener-Institut fuer
Polar und
Meeresforschung- Forschungsstelle Potsdam
([email protected])
The main objective of the proposed work is to test our
quantitative understanding of the chemical mechanisms that
destroy ozone in the wintertime Arctic stratosphere and to
improve the representation of these processes in chemical
models of the atmosphere. Chemical ozone destruction
rates in two polar winter/spring periods will be determined in
different ways. Firstly, ozone profile data will be gathered by
the use of ozonesondes. Within two campaigns, one in the
Arctic and one in the Antarctic, several hundred ozonesondes
will be launched in a co-ordinated manner such that single airparcels will be probed twice (Match method). Secondly, data
from several satellite-borne instruments (POAM III, OSIRIS,
SAGE III, ILAS II and instruments on board of ENVISAT) will
be used in the same way as the ozonesonde measurements.
In order to validate the Match results, comparisons with other
experimental techniques, i.e. a vortex average method and a
tracer correlation method, will be performed. An important part
of the project is the critical comparison of the Match results
with several box/trajectory models as well as state-of-theart 3D chemical transport models. Discrepancies between
measured and modelled ozone loss rates will be identified
and attributed to different meteorological conditions. As the
latter ones differ significantly between Arctic and Antarctic, the
proposed bipolar approach improves the chance of identifying
the reasons of possible discrepancies.
The results from this project will contribute to a better
understanding of the processes which lead to ozone
destruction and thereby to the improvement of models that
predict future ozone change.
UFTIR (Time series of Upper Free Troposphere observations
from a European ground-based FTIR network),
starting Date : 01/01/2003, duration: 30 months,
coordinator: Dr. M. De Maziere, Belgian Institute for Space
Aeronomy ([email protected])
UFTIR will exploit existing time series of FTIR ground-based
spectra at five European NDSC sites, covering 28°N to 79°N
latitude, to improve the understanding of long-term changes
of greenhouse and related gases in the troposphere. The time
series will be extended by 22 months during the project. The
target species are N2O, CH4, HCFC-22 (CHClF2), CO, C2H6,
and O3.
The main specific objectives are:
- To revise and homogenise the analyses of available
experimental data for providing consistent time series of distinct
tropospheric and stratospheric abundances of the target
gases. A common strategy for retrieval and characterisation of
the vertical distributions of the target gases from FTIR groundbased measurements will be established.
- To provide quantitative trends and associated
uncertainties for the target gases over about the last decade,
as a function of latitude throughout Western Europe, focusing
on the troposphere.
- To integrate the data in model assessments of the
evolutions of tropospheric abundances.
UFTIR will make the community prepared to deliver
tropospheric data for validation and synergistic exploitation
TROCCINOX (Tropical convection, cirrus and
nitrogen oxides experiment),
starting date: 1/03/2002, duration: 36 months, coordinator:
Prof. Dr. U. Schumann, Deutsches Zentrum fόr Luft-und
Raumfahrt, e.V., Institute for Atmospheric Physics (ulrich.sc
[email protected])
The global budget of nitrogen oxides is very uncertain
mainly because of unknown sources of nitrogen oxides from
lightning, most of which occurs over the continents in the
tropics. Besides nitrogen oxides formation, deep convection
contributes to aerosol formation, transports water vapour and
tracers, contributes to cirrus formation, and may contribute
to the activation of halogen compounds in tropical cirrus
THE EGGS
22
of new satellite experiments like ENVISAT. UFTIR adopts an
integrated approach, combining network data and numerical
models of the atmosphere, to achieve the multiple objectives
listed above. The experimental data are measurements from
all European NDSC FTIR instruments, at 5 NDSC sites.
The longest series start in the mid-eighties. The models are
3D CTM of the troposphere and lower stratosphere. A 4D
variational data assimilation system of the stratosphere will
be exploited in the data validation studies. The first task
is to optimise recently developed inversion algorithms for
FTIR ground-based data, focusing on the retrieval of the
target tropospheric abundances, and to develop a common
retrieval strategy. This will be supported by investigations
of the associated spectroscopy and of the parameterisation
of the FTIR instruments lineshape functions. The retrieved
products will be validated against correlative data from the
NDSC, in-situ networks, and satellite data, and their error
budgets will be assessed. The strategy will be implemented
and time series of distinct tropospheric and stratospheric
abundances of the target gases will be derived consistently at
all sites. At the same time, time series of column abundances
of enhanced accuracy will be delivered.All time series will be
archived at NADIR, and possibly at NDSC depending on their
compliance with the NDSC objectives. The next task consists
of the quantitative determination of trends, including levels of
significance. Different statistical methods will be compared
and optimised for the time series concerned. Trend values
will be checked for consistency with complementary data.
Minimum requirements for trend detection will be determined.
The last step is to integrate the data in model simulations of
the evolution of GHG and O3 precursors in the troposphere
and lowermost stratosphere. Experimental data constraints
will enable model improvements. Assessments of our current
understanding of tropospheric changes, of changes in the
budget of chemically active GHG like O3 and CH4, and of
the consistency with emission inventories will be formulated.
Results will be disseminated widely, via the WWW, reports,
publications, and contributions to international assessments
(IPCC, WMO, SPARC, …). ENVISAT- and other satelliteprojects looking at new tropospheric products are major endusers of UFTIR.
fluxes across the extra-tropical tropopause and (iv) to locate
pollution sources of certain halocarbons. The central objective
of CARIBIC 3 is to improve our understanding of fundamental
physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere, which
are important for global change. CARIBIC 3 objectives are
to determine the temporal-spatial distribution of over 60 trace
gases (including all greenhouse gases related to the Kyoto
protocol, virtually 100 % of all halogenated compounds in
support of the Montreal Protocol, NO, ~15 hydrocarbons, etc.)
and ~10 physical/chemical aerosol parameters in the UT/LS,
to investigate seasonal and inter-annual changes and longterm trends, to identify their source and sink regions, and to
quantify the contribution of different source processes to the
observed concentrations.
CARIBIC 3 primarily uses an experimental approach,
supported by comprehensive model studies: an airfreight
container equipped with state-of-the-art measurement devices
will be operated over a period of 4 years aboard a passenger
aircraft (with a 9-12 month gap to change an A340). Using
additional meteorological analyses, the data are extensively
compared with model results and other data sets.
Website: http://www.caribic-atmospheric.com/.
GOA (GOME Assimilated and Validated Ozone and Nitrogen
Dioxide Fields for Scientific Users and for Model Validation),
duration: 24 months, coordinator: Prof. H. Kelder, KNMI
([email protected])
The project aims to extend and improve the O3 and NO2
products of GOME. A new technique for the combined retrieval
and assimilation of NO2 will be further developed and applied. A
five year data set of assimilated fields of O3 and NO2 based on
GOME total column and profile observations will be generated.
The global fields of O3 and NO2 will be made freely available
to the scientific community. The data sets will be compared
to independent observations obtained during measurement
campaigns and from monitoring networks. These validation
results will be made available as well. The data sets will be
confronted with output from global chemistry-transport models
to improve their modeling capability of current and future
changes of ozone and chemically active greenhouse gases.
The comparisons of model results with observations will also
be used to specify requirements for measurements of chemical
compounds for future chemical missions.
The O3 and NO2 products from GOME will be improved,
extended and exploited. Improvement of GOME data: A new
algorithm for the combined retrieval and assimilation of NO2
will be further developed and used. Extension of GOME data:
Value added products, i.e. assimilated 3D O3 fields will be
generated based on the existing GOME products. Estimates
of the tropospheric O3 and NO2 columns will be provided
using data assimilation. Exploitation of the data: State-of-theart chemistry – transport models will be used for two purposes,
1) to improve modeling capability based on comparisons with
the five year data base of assimilated fields, and 2) provide
observational groups with requirements on accuracy, spatial
and temporal coverage. The observational and model data will
be made available through a web site.
The milestones and the expected results of the project
are:
- A new and tested algorithm for the combined retrieval and
assimilation of NO2.
- A five year data set of assimilated ozone and NO2 fields.
- A web interface to this data set for public issue.
CARIBIC 3 (Civil aircraft for regular investigation of the
atmosphere based on an instrument container),
duration: 48 months, starting date: 1/01/2002, coordinator:
Dr. Carl A. M. Brenninkmeijer, Max-Planck-Institut fόr Chemie
([email protected])
There is a severe lack of detailed and systematic data
from the mid- and upper troposphere and lower stratosphere
(UT/LS). The CARIBIC approach to regularly survey the
atmosphere from passenger aircraft is a cost effective
approach which yields an unique, extremely valuable data
set. The data to be collected will be representative being thus
especially suitable for the validation of models. CARIBIC 3 will
considerably help to reliably calibrate satellite observations,
e.g., made by MOPITT or SCIAMACHY. In addition,
CARIBIC 3 contributes to solve many fundamental scientific
problems, e.g., (i) to much better quantify the tropospheric
budget of O3 and many other trace gases, in particular the
greenhouse gases CO2 and CH4, the nitrogen oxides and
the organic chlorine, bromine, and iodine compounds, (ii)
to better understand the abundance and in situ formation of
aerosol particles in the UT/LS, and (iii) to quantify trace gas
THE EGGS
23
TOPOZ III (Towards the prediction of stratospheric ozone III:
the partitioning of the NOy Components),
- A data base of tropospheric ozone and tropospheric NO2
column estimates.
- An extensive validation data set of the above fields.
- A critical assessment of atmospheric chemistry-transport
models.
- Suggestions for improved requirement for measurements
of chemical compounds in the atmosphere.
duration: 36 months, starting date: 1/1/2002, coordinator:
Dr W. Kouker, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, Institut
fόr Meteorologie und Klimaforschung (wolfgang.kouker@imk
.fzk.de)
The reliability of current models to predict the future state
of the atmosphere is limited due to problems in the modelling
of processes related to the NOy compounds which control the
ozone budget in the stratosphere. This gap will be filled within
this project by the joint investigation of the related processes
performed by research groups analysing ENVISAT data, using
CTMs and data assimilation models, and by using ChemistryClimate-Models (CCMs) to finally simulate a most reliable
prediction of the stratospheric ozone layer.
The scientific objectives of the project are a detailed
investigation of the chemistry of the NOy species in
stratosphere, with respect to the unresolved problems such as
the disagreement of the calculated NOx/NOy ratio to measured
ratio and the inadequate implementation of the processes
related to the denitrification in the CTMs and CCMs, and the
improvement of CCMs in order to predict the future state of the
atmosphere.
Based on the investigation of measurements of previous
campaigns and a detailed comparison of non-standard
ENVISAT data being retrieved within the project with CTMs
and data assimilation models the current main deficiencies
in the modelling of the stratosphere will be eliminated. These
improvements enables the project partners developing CCMs
to identify and quantify mutual effects of dynamical, chemical,
and radiative processes, and at last to make a best estimate
of the further development of the atmospheric composition
and climate change (until the year 2020). The results of this
project will increase the knowledge on the chemistry of the
stratosphere, the reliability of models to simulate the (past,
present, and future) behaviour of the stratospheric ozone layer
and hence enable the EU policies to pass resolutions based on
most reliable simulations.
MOZAIC III (Measurement of Ozone, Water vapour, Carbon
monoxide and Nitrogen oxides by Airbus in-service aircraft),
duration: 36 months, starting date: 1/3/00, coordinator:
Dr Jean-Pierre Cammas, Centre National de la Recherch
Scientifique, Laboratoires d’Aιrologie ([email protected])
The project proposes actions to detect, understand, assess
and predict global change processes and to contribute to the
European component of the global observing systems. It
answers to interrogations of the origin, budget and evolution
in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) of
chemical species (ozone, water vapour) which have impact
on air quality and climate, with special attention to the impact
of aircraft emissions. The MOZAIC-III project is designed
for the evaluation of ozone and water vapour budgets in the
tropopause region. It takes full advantage of the measuring
capabilities of the in-service aircraft already equipped and
of the database (O3, H2O) built up since August 1994. The
purpose is to improve the current understanding on the
processes active in this region of the atmosphere (UT/LS), and
particularly on the aircraft impact.
MOZAIC-III corresponds to installation, on the aircraft
measuring units, of new CO and NOy devices and to
the extension of the existing database of O3 and H2O
measurements below 12 km altitude with simultaneous
measurements of CO and NOy, in order to better characterise
the origin of the air parcels sampled and the combined effects
of transport and chemistry. The database is opened to the
European research community. Data are analysed using
statistical correlation, modelling of chemistry and dynamics,
satellite data (ENVISAT, METEOSAT, TOVS) and assimilation
methods.
The duration of the series over almost 9 years allows
to analyse trends, interannual variability, and correlations
between species. The numerous data collected at a quasi
global scale are used to improve current understanding
of tropospheric chemical and dynamical processes and to
quantify the ozone budget in the UT/LS region: stratospheric
contribution, transport of pollution from PBL, free tropospheric
formation, productions from NOx emitted by aircraft and NOx
induced by lightning, surface deposition, chemical losses.
The relation between upper tropospheric water vapour and
sea surface temperature over tropical, sub-tropical and midlatitude regions is investigated.
From the whole set of data collected since 1994, it is
expected to assess the budget and trends of ozone and water
vapour in the UT/LS, to reduce uncertainties on stratosphere /
troposphere exchanges, to improve existing 3D CTM models
and to better quantify the impact of subsonic aircraft. These
results are of major concern for the evaluation of climate
change.
THE EGGS
Georgios Amanatidis
European Commission, DG Research, Belgium
[email protected]
and
Neil Harris
EORCU, University of Cambridge, UK
[email protected]
24
WORLD SPACE CONGRESS
The space community and
human space flight
Sophie Cash on the lack of confrontation to fundamental
questions about human space flight
The World Space Congress on 10th-19th October 2002 drew over 5,000 delegates from around the world to
Houston, Texas, home to NASA΄s Johnson Space Center. As Sophie Cash reports, “speakers at the congress
presented a smorgasbord of challenging, new space missions, but the question of public support for
manned space flight, one of the most fundamental issues for the future of space research, was represented
mainly by silence and obvious avoidance. There was far too little awareness and acknowledgement among
the delegates that scientists and governments will have to confront this issue before they can expect their
ambitious projects to be pursued.”
The World Space Congress on 10th-19th
October 2002 drew over 5,000 delegates from around the
world to Houston, Texas, home to NASA΄s Johnson Space
Center. Speakers at the congress presented a smorgasbord
of challenging, new space missions, but the question of public
support for manned space flight, one of the most fundamental
issues for the future of space research, was represented
mainly by silence and obvious avoidance. There was far too
little awareness and acknowledgement among the delegates
that scientists and governments will have to confront this issue
before they can expect their ambitious projects to be pursued.
This congress, a rare (decennial) event is a joint gathering
of the committee on Space Research and the International
Astronautical Federation, along with the latter’s associates the
International Academy of Astronautics and the International
Institute of Space Law. The program, constructed on the theme
‘the new face of space’, was packed with science presentation
sessions, workshops and interdisciplinary lectures on topics
ranging from Moon missions to climate change issues, from
the search for life in the universe to plasma rocket propulsion.
The vision outlined for the next 25 years of space science was
inspiring. Future challenges that we face include building an
X-ray telescope with a resolution one thousand times better
than the Hubble Space Telescope, capable of seeing the
edge, the ‘event horizon’ of a black hole; and the creation of a
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gravitational wave sky map revealing the ripples caused by the
big bang explosion.
Whatever the topic, there was generally a strong emphasis
on humans-in-space. Plans for a myriad of different human
space flight missions were presented. These included the
new NASA science-driven future, with plans for a step-wise
mission via the L1 Earth-Moon Lagrangian point, to install
huge telescopes with mirrors over 10m in diameter, and
the less official plans for making Mars into a permanently
inhabited outpost. However, the case for sending humans
into space, as opposed to robotic or remote observational
methods, was rarely touched upon and never truly justified.
What considerations must the space community weight up to
help create public support for ambitious human space flight
missions, to make them a possible future reality?
The history of human spaceflight is laced with political
struggle and national pride. This is not to deny that there have
often been some unanticipated and widely-felt effects. For
example, the race to the moon in the 1960s paved the way
for the communication and Earth observation satellite systems
that affect our daily lives. Perhaps more importantly, though
less measurably, when those first Apollo 11 mission images
of Neil Armstrong on the Moon were broadcast worldwide, it
captured the public imagination, and inspired many to devote
their lives to scientific study. Getting to the Moon had an
25
astronomical price tag that would have been tossed aside if
the only motivation had been scientific study of its rocks! At the
current levels of space agency funding, we have two options:
either play safe, with small scale inexpensive missions close to
home, or go big, and attract the funding for the sort of ambitious
plans that were outlined at the World Space Congress. The
former option, which is the one that has been adopted over the
past few decades, is not very attractive even in its own terms.
It has resulted in less and less public interest and confidence,
as many planetary probes crash down into the planets they
were sent to investigate. So it is worth reopening the question
of why and how much the `new face of space΄ should be about
big human space flight missions.
The World Space Congress failed to raise that question. At
Houston the scientific needs for ambitious astronaut missions
were made very clear. Our nearest neighbour planets possess
geological clues about the birth and evolution of the planets in
the solar system. Detailed topological and geological surveys
are necessary to better understand climate evolution, and to
be able to tackle such fundamental questions such as ‘how did
the planets form?’, and ‘has life existed on other planets?’. To
look at the edge of the Universe we need bigger telescopes.
Space stations at the Lagrangian points are necessary to
act as telescope construction sites and as staging posts for
launching missions to Mars. But to promote these goals,
the space community must identify and encourage political
incentives. Current events as well as past history show that
political incentive is crucial; for example the International
Space Station (ISS) getting funding. Replacement of the
battered Russian space station MIR by the ISS is costing the
USA, Europe, Japan and Russia $400 billion, but in a climate
of increased fear of terrorist attack and economic insecurity
this collaboration between former enemies appears to be both
strategically and commercially astute.
The military motivation for developing advanced technology
receded with the end of the cold war. Most people agree that
development of new technology is no longer an important
emphasis for space programs, although the ISS has spawned
some interesting progress in robotics. We must also consider
the appeal of pioneering, of pushing the limits and inspiring
people with the beauty and wonder of creation. Has ‘humansin-space’ become old news to the general public? Dangerous,
new or especially visual projects get the limelight, for example
the 1997 Mars Pathfinder project (which inspired some of my
fellow students to study space science). Most people agree
that sending a man to Mars would be fascinating; but people
are sceptical about the benefit to society of spending vast
amounts of money on such a mission, especially when things
can easily go wrong.
The challenge to the space community is to justify why
our governments should invest millions in manned exploration
of our solar system, within the context of the world’s present
political and economic climate. The plans outlined for future
space missions seemed divorced from reality within our cosy
World Space Congress; money was not a popular word.
Perhaps ESA is displaying a more realistic attitude to the
future. Instead of purchasing exhibition space at the World
Space Congress, they chose to invest in the conference for
‘Sustainable Development for Third World Countries’ earlier this
year, looking for solutions to poverty via space technology. In
addition, ESA provided funding for several hundred European
undergraduate students to attend the World Space Congress.
Detailed lunar habitat designs presented at Houston were fun
and inventive, but it is unlikely that world decision-makers will
be convinced purely on grounds of scientific progress and
sustaining human life in the universe (when the Earth is hit by
a gigantic meteorite), in the light of impending war and famine
crises in Southern Africa. It simply is not ethical to sustain a
handful of people on Mars at $5 million per spacesuit when 2
billion people in the world survive on a handful of rice each day.
Space science is played on an international stage, and must
find relevance in the political scene for the dreams presented
at the World Space Congress to become reality.
Sophie Cash
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
University of Leicester, UK
[email protected]
Opinions presented in this Newsletter do not necessarily reflect offficial EGS/EGU opinions or opinions of the Editorial Office of The Eggs. In this case, however, we
would like to note that Sophie Cash makes some points that are socially highly relevant and thought-provoking -Ed.
THE EGGS
26
The EGS working group
on Biogeosciences
JP Gattuso on the effort to increase the visibility of biological
sciences within EGS/EGU
The biota and the physical Earth system tightly interact. Environmental forcing has driven evolution of life
and the biota has a significant effect on, for example, the hydrological cycle as well as on the chemistry of the
rocks, atmosphere and oceans. It also affects and responds to climate, and provides a wide range of services
to humans. Comprehension of the functioning of the Earth system therefore requires interaction of several
biological, geophysical and geochemical scientific disciplines. Most of these disciplines are covered in the
European Geophysical Society. Biological sciences represent the only area that is not covered as such. JeanPierre Gattuso< Chairperson of the EGS/EGU Working Group on Biogeosciences, describes the rationale,
aims and subgroups of the WG.
Rationale
•the response of ecosystems to global environmental
change and its feedback on climate
•the use of paleo-records to document past climate
changes
•the contribution of Earth observation techniques to the
study of biogeochemical cycling and global change
•research on ecosystem use and management of resources,
including bioremediation and ecosystem restoration
•the geological history and the evolution of life
•the use of isotope geochemistry to investigate
biogeochemical cycling and global change
The working group comprises several subgroups which will
report on significant advances in their respective area and help
promoting meetings on cross-cutting issues such as the ones
listed above. Below is a list of the subgroups and examples of
issues of interest. Their scope can be expanded and anyone is
welcome to get in touch with the vice-chairpersons to discuss
any aspects, including suggestions to organize sessions at the
annual general assemblies.
The biota and the physical Earth system tightly interact.
Environmental forcing has driven evolution of life and the biota
has a significant effect on, for example, the hydrological cycle
as well as on the chemistry of the rocks, atmosphere and
oceans. It also affects and responds to climate, and provides
a wide range of services to humans. Comprehension of the
functioning of the Earth system therefore requires interaction
of several biological, geophysical and geochemical scientific
disciplines. Most of these disciplines are covered in the
European Geophysical Society. Biological sciences represent
the only area that is not covered as such. Its contribution is
scattered among the various EGS sections and presently does
not have a significant visibility. The Biogeosciences working
group (WG) has been launched in 2001 to increase the visibility
of biological disciplines within the EGS, attract new members
and promote interaction of Biology with Geology, Hydrology
and Geophysics. Tight coordination with the existing EGS
sections and WG will be essential; it will be achieved through
co-sponsorship of symposia.
The working group will become one of the divisions of the
new European Geosciences Union (EGU) that is launched in
2003.
Subgroups
Paleo-biogeosciences: This subgroup will tightly interact
with the EGS section on Climate. Issues of interest include:
•How do biological processes affect proxy records?
•Validation of proxies
•Time scales of interest: past centuries as well as glacialinterglacial
•Paleoecology and paleoclimatology
Aims
The aim of the Biogeosciences WG is to promote
interdisciplinary research such as:
•the role of ecosystems in the global carbon and nutrient
cycles
THE EGGS
Terrestrial ecosystems, including continental aquatic
systems: This subgroup will tightly interact with the EGS
27
section on Climate. Issues of interest include:
•Carbon sources/sinks as a function of species, age,
climate, nitrogen loads and geographical locations
•Soil, wood and leaves biomass respiration and the
partition of the ecosystem carbon exchanges
•Biogeochemistry of land use change and forest
management
•Linkages between biogeochemical and hydrogeological
processes in shallow ground-water systems coastal plains
•Land-atmosphere interactions; stock change approach
versus flux measurements
•Biogeochemistry of streams and lakes
F-06234 Villefranche-sur-mer Cedex
France
Phone: +33 (0) 493 763 859
Fax: +33 (0) 493 763 834
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr.
Jelle
Bijma
(Vice-Chairman,
PaleoBiogeosciences)
Carbon Group
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Am Handelshafen 12
D-27570 Bremerhaven
Germany
Phone: +49 (471) 4831 1831
Fax: +49 (471) 4831 1425
E-mail: [email protected]
Oceanic systems: This subgroup will tightly interact with
the Ocean Sciences and Climate sections. Issues of interest
include:
•Primary production and the functioning of the carbon
pump at all time scales, from seconds to millennia?
•Higher trophic levels and their biogeochemical impact.
•Role of microbes and viruses in the cycling of carbon and
nutrients
•Nutrient limitation
•Calcium carbonate and opal production and dissolution
•Cycling of dissolved organic matter
Dr. Michel Frankignoulle (Vice-Chairman, Coastal
systems)
Universitι de Liθge
Unitι d’Ocιanographie Chimique (B5)
B-4000 Sart Tilman
Belgium
Phone: + 32 4 3663326
Fax: + 32 4 3662355
E-mail: [email protected]
Coastal systems: This subgroup will tightly interact with
the Ocean Sciences and Climate sections. The rationale of
separating the coastal and open oceans is that the coastal
zone is more directly affected than open water systems by
anthropogenic changes. Also, assessing its role in ocean
biogeochemistry is much less advanced and requires
consideration of specific processes that are of much different
importance than in the open ocean (land inputs, sediment
transport, carbon burial, water dynamics). Issues of interest
include:
•Contribution of the coastal ocean biogeochemistry to
oceanic processes
•Response of biological processes to anthropogenic
perturbations
•Export of organic matter and sediment to the open ocean
Dr. Frances Westall (Vice-Chairman, Geomicrobiology
and exobiology)
Centre de Biophysique Molιculaire
rue Charles-Sadron
45071 Orlιans Cedex 2
France
Phone: 02 38 25 79 12
Fax: 02 38 63 15 17
Email: [email protected]
Prof. Riccardo Valentini (Vice-Chairman, Terrestrial
systems)
University of Tuscia
Department of Forest Science and Environment
Via S. Camillo de Lellis
01100 Viterbo
Italy
Phone: +39 0761 357394
Fax: +39 0761 357389
E-mail: [email protected]
Geomicrobiology and exobiology: This subgroup will
tightly interact with the Solid Earth Geophysics, Planetary
and Climate sections. It will also have strong connections to
Aquatic sciences. Issues of interest include:
•Mineral biogenesis, dissolution, and metabolism
•Signatures of life in the fossil record
•The search for life in extreme environments on Earth
•Production and consumption of biogenic gases
•Origin and evolution of metabolism and metabolic
pathways
Prof Andrew J. Watson (Vice-Chairman, Open ocean
systems)
School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 1603 593761
Fax: +44 1603 507719
E-mail: [email protected]
Officers of the Biogeosciences Working Group
As mentioned above, anyone is welcome to get in touch
with the vice-chairpersons to discuss any aspects, including
suggestions to organize sessions at the annual general
assemblies.
Dr. Jean-Pierre Gattuso (Chairman)
Laboratoire d’Ocιanographie de Villefranche
CNRS-UPMC
B. P. 28
Jean-Pierre Gattuso
Chairman of EGS Biogeosciences Working Group
[email protected]
THE EGGS
28
ESA publishes ISS Education Kit
The European Space Agency (ESA) has published an International Space Station (ISS)
Education Kit to meet the requirements for teaching Space and in particular subjects
related to the ISS to European students, aged 12-15.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has
published an International Space Station (ISS) Education Kit
to meet the requirements for teaching Space and in particular
subjects related to the ISS to European students, aged 12-15.
The kit includes simple, modular and interdisciplinary
material based on existing European curricula making it
applicable to the teaching of a wide range of subjects, such
as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Art
& Design.
The pedagogical content has been developed in
coordination with a network of teachers, some of whom
attended the TEACH SPACE 2001 conference at ESA’s
ESTEC centre in the Netherlands. It includes practical
exercises that can be carried out in the classroom as well
as supporting material (a video, CD-Rom, posters of the ISS,
overhead projector transparencies, a useful glossary as well
as web and bibliography references).
The main objectives of the kit are to:
-Introduce the ISS as a motivating and ideal tool for
teaching;
-Increase the awareness and interest in science and
technology research in space among the youth;
-Stimulate curiosity and creativity through active
participation;
-Highlight the important contributions being made by space
THE EGGS
technology and science to the well-being of society;
-Focus on future, possible areas of space research
and technology, as well as the importance of international
cooperation and cross-cultural interaction.
The kit is only available in English but ESA plan to translate
it into other languages as well as produce follow-up units in
the coming years. These will also be available through ESA’s
educational web pages.
If you teach students aged 12-15 or work in education and
are prepared to give your feedback on the content then please
send a letter, fax or email with your details (school/ company
address, age range of your students etc.) to the following
address and you will receive a copy:
Ms Solveig Pettersen
ISS Utilisation Strategy and Education Office
ESA/ESTEC
P.O. Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0) 71 565 5755, Fax: +31 (0) 71 565 4499
Email: [email protected]
From the ESA Portal
29
An excellent summary of DOM in the oceans
Biogeochemistry of marine dissolved organic matter
Denis A. Hansell and Craig A. Carlson
Published by: Academic Press
ISBN: 0123238412
YEAR : 2002
PRICE : 89.95 €
Interest in marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) is very high because it plays an important
role in oceanic and global carbon cycling, which in turn impacts weather. Understanding
the processes involved in the transformations of carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, and other
major elements in the oceans has been a primary goal of marine biogeochemists and
oceanographers over the past decade. This book, in 16 chapters with over 170 figures and
tables, reports on the major advances in this area by a distinguished group of international
chemical and biological oceanographers. Additionally, it focuses on the role of DOM in
elemental cycling-where the greatest informational need currently exists.
This new book provides an
excellent summary of the present
state of knowledge of the biogeochemistry
of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in
the oceans. From the very first chapter
where the story of DOM is introduced and
discussed from the point of view of why
should we care anyway, through to the
middle of the book where chapters discuss
the chemical nature of the various DOM
pools, to the final chapters discussing the
role of DOM in a range of environments, this
book provides a stimulating and interesting
coverage of the various different aspects
of DOM biogeochemistry. Prior to this text
many other books have touched upon
the subject of DOM and the role it plays
in the ocean carbon cycle but none have
delved so deeply and thoroughly into the
biogeochemical role of DOM.
The initial chapters focus on the difficulties
that are inherent in the measurement of both
the bulk concentrations of DOM (Jon Sharp)
and those that are faced in the chemical
analysis of DOM (Ron Benner). However,
having read these chapters, instead of being
left with a feeling of despondency about
the potentially insurmountable analytical
problems facing researchers, we are left
with a feeling of optimism that science and
scientists can surmount these problems.
The fourth chapter, written by one of the
co-editors, Craig Carlson, provides an
excellent summary of the production and
removal mechanisms of DOM and the
following chapters cover such subjects as
the dynamics of both DON and DOP and
the role of marine colloids in the cycling of
THE EGGS
30
DOM and trace metals. Other topics covered
are the carbon isotopic composition of DOM
and the role of photochemistry in the cycling
of DOM.
There are two chapters that discuss
a little studied component of the marine
DOM pool: CDOM (chromophoric dissolved
organic matter). This optically active part of
the bulk DOM pool is ignored in discussions
of the biogeochemistry of DOM despite its
presence in seawater having been known
since the late 1930’s. The first of these two
chapters, by Neil Blough and Rossana Del
Vecchio, gives an excellent overview of the
subject and presents the sources and sinks
of CDOM in the coastal zone. This topic is
further developed in the next chapter where
Norman Nelson and David Siegel discuss
CDOM in an open ocean environment,
the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series Station
(BATS). The final quarter of the book covers
the role of DOM in the coastal zone, in
sediment pore waters and in the Arctic
Ocean.
The penultimate chapter, written by
Dennis Hansell, discusses the role of DOC
in the global carbon cycle. The subject
is discussed from the broadest temporal
and spatial scales and is an integrated
summary of many of the previous chapters
and highlights the need to link the measured
concentrations of DOM to the physical and
biological processes occurring in the oceans.
It is only through this we will truly begin to
understand the role of DOM in the global
carbon cycle. Indeed, this book comes out
at time when the research on DOM is facing
the challenge of integrating these results
into global carbon cycle models and the
final chapter from Christian and Anderson
addresses this subject.
This book is both an excellent text book for
students wishing to study the biogeochemical
role of DOM in the oceans, as well as an
outstanding reference text for researchers
wishing to consult a well written, well edited
text that is both informative and interesting.
Each of the sixteen chapters in the book has
an excellent selection of figures and tables
and provides a wealth of information on the
subject.
Given the quality of this book the price
of $89.95 is very reasonable and although
it may prove to be a little prohibitive for
most students, the wealth of information
in it means that it is a worthy investment.
Moreover, I am sure that many of the
chapters will soon become essential reading
for many oceanography and biogeochemistry
courses.
Emma J Rochelle-Newall
LOV-UMR 7093 (Laboratoire
d’Ocιanographie de Villefranche sur Mer)
Station Zoologique, B.P. 28, F-06234
Villefranche-sur-Mer
FRANCE
[email protected]
An up-to-date classic textbook for undergraduates and graduates
An Introduction to Geophysical Exploration
Philip Kearey, Michael Brooks, Ian Hill
Published by: Blackwell Science, Oxford, London, Edinburgh, Malden (MA),
Victoria, Paris
ISBN: 0-632-04929
YEAR : 2002
EDITION : 3rd Edition
#PAGES : 264
PRICE : 43.76 €
The Publisher makes the following presentation of this book: “The new edition of this classic
text provides a general but comprehensive introduction to the most important methods
and techniques of geophysical exploration. These methods represent a primary tool for
investigation of the subsurface and are applicable to a wide range of problems. This new
edition incorporates many suggestions made by users of the first edition and covers all the
major advances and developments in exploration geophysics. New chapters on radiometric
surveying and geophysical borehole logging are included in addition to new sections on
vertical seismic profiling, marine gravimeters, time-domain electromagnetic methods, noncontacting resistivity measurements and ground-penetrating radar. The authors have also
expanded their treatment of three-dimensional seismic surveying and seismic stratigraphy.
The lucid style of the first edition is maintained and a major addition to this new edition
is the inclusion of a set of problems at the end of each main chapter. “ Contents: 1. The
Principles and Limitations of Geophysical Exploration Methods 2. Geophysical Data
Processing 3. Elements of Seismic Surveying 4. Seismic Reflection Surveying 5. Seismic
Refraction Surveying 6. Gravity Sruveying 7. Magnetic Surveying 8. Electrical Surveying 9.
Electromagnetic Surveying 10. Radiometric Surveying 11. Geophysical Borehole Logging
This new edition of “An
Introduction to Geophysical
Exploration” provides a global view of
geophysical exploration, trying to emphasize
concepts and giving priority to clarity rather
than providing detailed descriptions. No
doubt that this volume will once again prove
to be a classic textbook for undergraduate
and graduate students in geology,
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31
geophysics, and for anyone interested on
Earth science.
Several books deal with Geophysics. We
could classify them, from a general point of
view, on those which treat physical aspects
related to Earth Science, and those which
observe the problem from another point
of view, namely those procedures used to
extract information from subsurface and
their interpretation. This volume belongs to
the second category. The volume contains
enough material for a course on applied
geophysics, and is well adapted for use as a
text for any of several shorter courses.
The book combines both theoretical
and applied topics. Avoiding a boring
mathematical treatment, it is pursuing instead
the application of every geophysical method.
The book describes major geophysical
techniques from an up to date perspective.
In every aspect, it follows a systematic way,
which facilitates the comprehension. The
authors try to provide a broad, rather than
a narrow but deep one, view of the different
classical geophysical techniques. In this
sense, the covered subjects are sometimes
treated in less depth than one might wish.
When this is true, however, references to a
deeper treatment are usually provided. It is
also worth noting that when the student gets
to the final stage of some particular chapters
that possess minor processing complexities
(e.g.: potential fields), will find himself in a
position that will allow him to develop his own
software, getting, for example, magnetic or
gravity anomalies.
The text is organized in 11 chapters,
covering the broad spectrum of geophysical
exploration in a largely accessible way.
Each one is arranged according to a natural
progression of ideas. Generally speaking, the
line of presentation is as follows: fundamental
concepts of the discipline, its main physical
principles and concepts, an up to date
exposition of surveying instruments, a brief
mathematical background, an explanation
of the method, its interpretation and some
applications. Every chapter ends with a
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selective and illustrative set of student
exercises.
The first chapter introduces the different
exploration methods, by performing an
interesting intercomparison where every
limitation is discussed. In the next chapter,
data acquisition with a summary of sampling
theory fundamentals is introduced. Although
brief in extension, this chapter is of the
highest importance to the best understanding
of the remainder of the book. The rest of the
volume is dedicated, chapter by chapter,
to specific disciplines: seismic techniques
(reflection and refraction), gravity and
magnetism, electrical and electromagnetic
surveying, radiometric method, and finally,
borehole logging. Special emphasis is given
on seismic methods, dedicating three full
chapters (more than 100 pages from a total
of 249), and so this part could be considered
the heart of the book.
The different chapters are well above
average in readability and content. The style
is clear, and the notation is well chosen.
While color is almost absent, it also proves
unnecessary, and figures are clear, with
informative captions. The examples are
interesting, useful, and, I could say, even
timeless.
Dr. Manuel Catalan
Head of Geomagnetism Department
Seccion de Geofisica
Real Instituto y Observatorio de la
Armada
San Fernando 11100, Cadiz
Spain
e-mail: [email protected]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:Several new features in this issue
22/01/2003
In this issue, we introduce the submission of job positions, a printable version of the whole issue in pdf and a column about
education.
Job positions can now be submitted (free of charge until August) on-line ( http://www.the-eggs.org/submit/jobs.php ) by
institutions, research groups, companies etc. Geophysicists that are looking for a job will be able to browse through the submitted
ones in March (when the 3rd issue will be published).
A printable version of the first and second issues are now also available in pdf format for users to download and browse
through in the peace of their Institution’s coffee room (and, of course, also elsewhere). This feature is available by clicking on the
“click here to download printed issue” on the left frame of the Newsletter’s homepage.
We also introduce a new column, “Education”, which will present news and subjects relevant to education about geophysics
in all levels, i.e. from primary school to the University level.
We hope that these new features will contribute to our Newsletter’s usefulness to the geophysical community.
There was a slight delay in the publication of the second issue. I moved to another University recently, and so did our
publication office. This created a delay for which I apologise. Our next issue will be published in March, in time.
Kostas Kourtidis
Editor-In-Chief
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33
Mine Water Pollution - ( Course )
delegates with: ~ an appreciation of the individual elements
whch influence performance of a network; ~ a knowledge of
the impact on performance each element might have, both
singularly and as the composite network; ~ an awareness
of the potential for improved data management assisting
network management decisions; ~ an appreciation of network
modelling potential - and limitations; ~ an awareness of the
potential for integrated solutions for network management
31/03/2003 - 04/04/2003 - Newcastle University
This course examines the environmental impacts of water
pollution arising from all forms of mining activities. The causes,
forms and assessment of mine water pollution are covered
within a hydrogeological and hydrogeochemical framework.
Emphasis is placed upon the practical application of theory
in evaluating the environmental risks associated with mine
water with particular consideration of site assessment and
water quality monitoring strategies. This is supported by
practical exercises and computer modelling approaches to risk
assessment which are designed to consolidate participants’
understanding of the concepts involved. Case histories
are used to demonstrate appropriate pollution prevention
measures, water treatment and remediation technologies,
and the course includes field exercises at the UK’s new
National Mine Site Remediation Research Facility, based on
the North East of England, which is sponsored by the CL:AIRE
initiative.
Newcastle University
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/hydroinformatics/
Lisa Allsopp IGDS Programme Coordinator School of
Civil Engineering and Geosciences Newcastle University
NE1 7RU [email protected]
3rd IAGA/ICMA Workshop Solar
Activity Forcing of the Middle
Atmosphere - ( Meeting )
15/09/2003 - 18/09/2003 - Prague, Czech Republic
Newcastle University
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/hydroinformatics/
Program Committee: J. Lastovicka, L.L. Hood, C.H.
Jackman, E.S. Kazimirovsky. Abstract deadline 30.6.2003.
Effects of the solar activity in the broadest sense (X- and UVradiation, total irradiance changes, space weather phenomena
including geomagnetic storms and high energy particles) on
the neutral middle atmosphere and lower ionosphere (~ h =
10-120 km). One of aims is to help to resolve the question of
the role of solar activity in the observed long-term changes in
the middle atmosphere and lower ionosphere.
Lisa Allsopp IGDS Programme Coordinator School of
Civil Engineering and Geosciences Newcastle University
NE1 7RU [email protected]
Water Conservation & Demand
Management - ( Course )
02/06/2003 - 06/06/2003 - Newcastle University
Jan Lastovicka Institute of Atmospheric Physics,
Bocni II, 14131 Prague 4, Czech Republic [email protected]
http://www.ufa.cas.cz/html/conferences/IAGA2003/
iaga2003.html
The course reviews the industry and regulatory background
which has moved water utility managers away from the
traditional “predict and provide” approach to water resources
management. Methodologies for demand forecasting,
assessing the economics of demand management and
monitoring leakage performance are essentail skills for water
professionals. Sessions on communication and education will
guide on raising awareness amongst water users. The course
includes information technology and web workshops, with
ample time for discussion of issues raised with speakers. A
feature of the course is a syndicate project running through
the week which will focus on performance indicators and cost
effectiveness in an international setting.
Jan Lastovicka, Institute of Atmospheric Physics,
Bocni II, 14131 Prague 4, Czech Republic [email protected]
9th Intern. Conf. on Harmonisation
within Atmospheric Dispersion
Modelling for Regulatory Purposes - (
Meeting )
01/06/2004 - 05/06/2004 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen /
Germany
Newcastle University
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/hydroinformatics/
Lisa Allsopp IGDS Programme Coordinator School of
Civil Engineering and Geosciences Newcastle University
NE1 7RU [email protected]
09/06/2003 - 13/06/2003 - Newcastle University
This conference will include such topics as validation and
intercomparison of models, model evaluation methodology,
regulatory models, short distance dispersion modeling,
meteorological pre-processing, urban scale and street canyon
modeling, mesoscale meteorology and air quality modeling,
and environmental impact assessment. The home page will be
available very soon. For any question, please do not hesitate
to contact me. With best regards Peter Suppan
The course examines the key components of Water
Distribution Network Management and will provide the
Dr. Peter Suppan Institute for Meteorology and Climate
Research (IMK-IFU) Atmospheric Environmental Research
Water Distribution Network
Management - ( Course )
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34
Kreuzeckbahnstr. 19 D-82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen
[email protected]
http://project.ifu.fhg.de/harmo9/index.html
will be in the approximate range 11,500 NOK to 16,000 NOK.
Details and a reservation form will follow on the web page in
due course. General information on UNIS, Longyearbyen, and
Svalbard can be found at http://www.unis.no/.
There will be scientific sessions covering several relevant
topics, and one session celebrating the 25th anniversary
of Nordlysstasjonen (The Auroral Station) in Adventdalen.
This Special Session will be chaired by Alv Egeland. More
information to follow on the web page.
To make sure you get a place at this meeting, kindly send
your notification of interest to [email protected] or another member
of the Scientific Organising Committee as soon as you can,
but before 1 February 2003. Indicate, if you can, a title or
the general subject of your talk or poster. The deadline for
registration and abstracts will be 1 June 2003.
Dr. Peter Suppan Institute for Meteorology and
Climate Research (IMK-IFU) Kreuzeckbahnstr. 19 D-82467
Garmisch-Partenkirchen [email protected]
30. Annual European Meeting on
Atmospheric Studies by Optical
Methods - ( Meeting )
13/08/2003 - 17/08/2003 - Longyearbyen, Svalbard,
Norway
Local Organising Committee: Dag Lorentzen, Fred
Sigernes, Jon Børre Ørbæk Scientific Organising
Committee: Michael Gausa, Georg Hansen, Ulf-Peter
Hoppe (chair), Berit Kjeldstad, Jøran Moen, Finn Søraas
http://alomar.rocketrange.no/atmospheric_studies/
The 30. AM will be held at Longyearbyen, Svalbard in
Norway in the time period 13 to 17 August 2003. The Meeting
is organised at the University Courses on Svalbard (UNIS).
The meeting web page will be updated with the programme
and other information as the workshop draws closer. You will
also find information here on the venue of the meeting, the
weather and sights that you can expect. We are working on a
package that will get you from Oslo, Norway to the meeting and
back to Oslo, all expenses covered. The cost of this package
THE EGGS
The Local Organising Committee
[email protected]
35