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News
Archive -- 2002
December
9, 2002
North Atlantic Oscillation Part of the Global Picture
San Francisco, Ca. – An especially cold winter
in Europe, lots of snow in Scandinavia or lots of rain
in the Mediterranean are all symptoms of what meteorologists
call the North Atlantic Oscillation, but a group of
Penn State researchers has gone beyond the symptoms
to try to decipher the dynamics of this atmospheric
pattern."
[MORE]
December
7, 2002
Coral Layers Good Proxy for Atlantic Climate Cycles
San Francisco, Ca. – Tree rings may tell how old
a tree is, but the rings or annual bands in some skeletal
coral may tell not only the age of the animal, but also
something of the dynamics of the ocean in which it grew,
according to Penn State and University of Miami researchers.
[MORE]
December
7, 2002
Prepare to Be Surprised By Future Climate Changes
San Francisco, Ca. – Current debate in the U.S.
on climate change often focuses on whether things will
really be as bad as scientists say they will be, but
according to a Penn State climatologist, perhaps the
question we should be asking is, are we confident that
things will be as good as they are saying.
[MORE]
December
6, 2002
Methane-Based Greenhouse and Anti-greenhouse Events
Led to Stable Archean Climate
San Francisco, Ca. – In the absence of oxygen,
methane may have been the most abundant greenhouse gas
in Earth's atmosphere, reaching a stable balance between
a greenhouse and anti-greenhouse until oxygen producing
single-celled organisms burst upon the scene, according
to Penn State researchers.
[MORE]
November
15, 2002
Serpentinite Seduction
University Park, Pa. – Geologist Derrill Kerrick
asks in a Perspectives column in Science: "Is
serpentinite indeed widespread in the subducted oceanic
plates, or is it a green herring?
[MORE] (pdf)
November
8, 2002
Map Data Goes Live With Voice, Gesture-Based Computer
System
University Park, Pa. – Emergency management teams,
faced with an approaching hurricane, can access GIS
map data through voice and gestures for real-time decision
making on issues ranging from protecting hazardous materials
sites to evacuating assisted-living facilities by using
a computer system developed by Penn State researchers.
[MORE]
September
19, 2002
Researchers Show Why Active Mountains Don't Get Taller
University Park, Pa. – Active mountain ranges like
the Olympic Mountains, Taiwan Central Range or the Southern
Alps are still growing, but they are not getting any
taller. River cutting and erosion keep the heights and
widths of uplifted mountain ranges in a steady state
according to an international team of geoscientists.
[MORE]
September
10, 2002
Online Portfolio Service Helps Students Document
Their Penn State Experiences
University Park, Pa. ---- Students capitalizing on a
new online portfolio service launched this fall will
leave Penn State with more than just a transcript and
a resume.
The service at www.portfolio.psu.edu
guides undergraduates through the process of collecting,
selecting, and reflecting on evidence of their academic
and co-curricular activities. Students can use free
50-megabyte personal Web space accounts to "publish"
that evidence in an e-Portfolio.
[MORE]
August
22, 2002
New Photo Map Introduces Penn State to College "Shoppers"
From the Penn State Newswire
Sensing the trend that high school students are “shopping”
for potential alma maters in part by looking for campus
maps on colleges’ Web sites, Penn State cartographers
crafted the new University Park campus photo map with
an index of hyperlinks that aims to highlight departments
and facilities in more than 200 buildings.
[MORE]
August
19, 2002
Obstacles Fall To Feasibility of Hybrid Fuel Cell
Vehicle
From the Penn State Science Information Office
A series of obstacles fell before the onslaught of a
Penn State geo environmental engineering graduate class
as they tackled and found solutions to all the barriers
preventing development of a hybrid fuel cell automobile
using hydrogen fuel cells and battery storage.
[MORE]
August
7, 2002
Jet Contrails Alter Average Daily Temperature Range
From the Penn State Science Information Office
University Park, Pa. – For three days after September
11, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded commercial
aircraft in the U.S., stranding travelers, hindering
mail delivery and interrupting courier service, but
for scientists at Penn State and the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater,
the three-day shutdown provided a rare glimpse of the
climate effects of jet contrails.
[MORE]
July
30, 2002
Ramani to Lead Mine Investigation Panel
From CNN
Harrisburg, PA---Governor Mark Schweiker is forming
a nine-member special commission to probe the causes
of the Quecreek coal mine accident, which left nine
miners trapped underground for 77 hours until their
dramatic rescue early Sunday morning. Raja V. Ramani,
professor emeritus of mining and geo-environmental engineering
at Penn State University, will head the group, which
will explore all aspects of the accident.
For the full story, go to CNN.
July
24, 2002
Variability in West Antarctic Ice Streams Normal
From the Science Information Office
University Park, Pa. -- Variability in the speed of
the ice streams along the Siple Coast of West Antarctica
is not an indication the ice sheet is stabilizing, but
rather, that capriciousness in the ice streams, their
rates and the location of the grounding line is normal
and will continue to occur, according to Penn State
geoscientists.
[MORE]
June
- July 2002
Dispatches from Tornado Alley
From the Penn State Newswire and Research/Penn State
It's summertime in Tornado Alley and the weather weenies
are out in force. From all over the world they've converged
on the southern Great Plains for a first-hand look at
some severe storms the ones that produce lightning,
hail, enough rainfall to cause flash floods, and, of
course, tornadoes. For dispatches from Tornado Alley,
go to Research/Penn
State
Online.
May
31, 2002
The 24-Hour Professor
From the Chronicle of Higher Education
Lee Grenci, Dave Babb, and David DiBiase discuss how
online teaching redefines faculty members' schedules,
duties, and relationships with students.
Read
the full story on the Chronicle of Higher Education
web site.
May
30, 2002
Nothing Special About Seismic Activity
From the Science Information Office
Washington, D.C. - Mysterious as the frozen continent
may be, Antarctica is no different from any other landmass
when it comes to the frequency of earthquakes, according
to Penn State geoscientists.
Read more.
May
29, 2002
Researchers Develop Methods to Characterize Diamonds
From the Science Information Office
Washington, D.C. - Diamonds may be a girl's best friend,
but the qualities that make some diamonds so sought
after are the same qualities that make them difficult
to characterize and fingerprint, according to a Penn
State geoscientist.
Read more.
May
28, 2002
Uncertainty in West African Climate Models Addressed
From the Science Information Office
Washington, D.C.-- Plans to meet the outcome of global
climate change are underway worldwide, but nowhere is
that planning more difficult than in West Africa where
the climate has some of the largest signals of change
and the climate models have the greatest level of uncertainty,
according to Penn State
meteorologists.
Read more.
May
17, 2002
Human Role In Global Change Probed In Magazine
"Suddenly all the arguments have begun to change"
regarding the role of humans in climate change, said
Penn State climatologist Eric Barron during the recent
Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science, a series
of six public lectures sponsored by the Eberly College
of Science and Pfizer Inc. "From 'are humans altering
the climate?' the question has changed to 'how significant
is climate change?' That's an extraordinary change of
focus," Barron noted. Barron's comments and other
experts' views on the causes of global changes from
"Earth: Our Role, A Special Report from the 2002
Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science"
appear in Research/Penn
State's May issue.
May
1, 2002
Barron Recommended As New Dean of EMS
University Park, PA ----Eric J. Barron, current director
of the Earth and Mineral Sciences Environment Institute
and distinguished professor of geosciences, has been
recommended as the new dean of the College of Earth
and Mineral Sciences. His appointment will be effective
July 1, 2002 pending approval by the Board of Trustees
at their May 10 meeting.
[MORE]
April
14, 2002
EMS Students Win College and Department Awards
University Park, PA ----Undergraduate and graduate students
were honored for their academic achievements at the
2002 Wilson Awards Banquet.
[MORE]
April 14, 2002
Hallgren Receives Hosler Award
University Park, PA ----Richard E. Hallgren, executive
director emeritus of the American Meteorological Society,
was honored with the Charles L. Hosler Alumni Scholar
Medal at Wilson Awards Banquet.
[MORE]
April 14, 2002
EMS Faculty Honored at Wilson Banquet
University Park, PA ---- Sanat Kumar, Harold Schobert,
and John Wyngaard won Excellence in Research awards;
David DiBiase and Eugene Clothiaux won Excellence in
Teaching awards; the Wilson Service award went to Richard
Tressler.
[MORE about the Wilson Banquet]
April
2, 2002
Watersheds minor wins Udall scholarship
University Park, PA ---- Kerry Pratt, a chemistry major
in the College of Science with a minor in watersheds
in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, is one
of three Penn State students to win a Morris K. Udall
Scholarship for students committed to a career focusing
on the environment.
[MORE about Pratt]
March
25, 2002
Furlong and Freeman receive University teaching awards
University Park, PA ---- Kevin P. Furlong, professor
of geosciences, will receive the Milton S. Eisenhower
Award for Distinguished Teaching and Kate Freeman, associate
professor of geosciences, has been awarded the Graduate
Faculty Teaching Award.
[MORE
about Furlong]
[MORE
about Freeman]
March
23, 2002
Free Web-based Tool Makes Colors a Snap
Los Angeles, Calif. - With a computer on nearly every
desk, mapping software is now available to just about
everyone, but choosing colors for maps is a job often
fraught with complexity and failure. Now ColorBrewer,
a web-based tool created by Penn State geographers,
can make choosing map colors fast and easy.
[MORE]
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