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Lamont Weekly Report – November
21, 2003
OFFICE
OF THE DIRECTOR
P.O. Box 1000, 61 Route 9W Palisades, New York 10964
<> REPORT SUMMARY <>
– The Earth Institute Science Lecture
–
– Letter from the Director –
____________________________________
<> EARTH SCIENCE LECTURE
"Climate and Society" by Dr. Mark Cane, G. Unger
Vetlesen Professor, Earth and Climate Sciences
Wednesday, December 3rd – 4:00 pm
Location: Schapiro Center, Davis Auditorium
(CU Morningside Campus, 120th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam)
Two decades ago, Mark Cane was the first scientist to accurately
predict the weather phenomenon known as El Nino. Since then,
his research has turned increasingly to climate's impact on
human society in areas such as agriculture, air pollution,
water management and health. Dr. Cane's presentation on Dec.
3 will address the lessons humans can learn from El Nino about
adapting to climate variability.
Reception immediately following the lecture.
<> LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR
Alcohol is a terrible thing, of course, and I would not recommend
to anyone that the drinking of same is a good idea. Nevertheless
it was the cause at a dinner earlier this week with good colleagues
from Joint Oceanographic Institutions Inc and Texas A &
M University for the conversation to divert from considerations
of management structures for the next phase of the ocean drilling
program to the sayings of Mahatma Ghandi.
In consequence, I learned that Ghandi believed that there
are seven things that can destroy us:
– Wealth without work
– Knowledge without character
– Pleasure without conscience
– Commerce without morality
– Religion without sacrifice
– Politics without principle
– Science without humanity
Very wise words, I thought – worth sharing.
Speaking of wisdom, I spent a large part of yesterday with
the Earth Institute External Advisory Board and had the pleasure
over lunch of listening to the inimitable Joel Cohen describe
his vision of the core issues of sustainable development –
listening to Joel makes me want to never speak in public again.
The depth of his insight and the clarity of his thinking is
a joy to experience.
Speaking of joy, I managed to spend a couple of hours on
the Maurice Ewing last night. Unfortunately she was alongside
in the Port of Newark at the time, but still it was good to
be on a ship again, and spend time talking with the disembarking
Chief Scientist Marcia McNutt and Captain Jim O'Laughlin.
On Sunday Ewing sails for Norfolk, VA where they will stay
for several weeks and will go through a series of routine
inspections for various required safety and other certifications.
Speaking of promotions, I am happy to report that Chris Small
has been promoted to our Senior Staff - he is now a Doherty
Research Scientist - please congratulate Chris the next time
you see him.
It is my youngest daughter's twentieth birthday this weekend,
so she and a substantial, but as yet fully identified herd
of her undergraduate friends plan on invading the tranquility
of my existence, so if I spend the weekend in the office you
will know why........
Thanksgiving next week - I plan on being away - if you too
are traveling, then be safe.
And have a great weekend,
– Mike
PS: Here are a couple of announcements that are worthy of
a second look - the first about ocean observations, the second
about the Ocean Drilling Program.
National Research Council's report Enabling Ocean Research
in the 21st Century:
Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories is now
available for purchase. This report is the result of a study
sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
The report evaluates the scientific and technical readiness
to move ahead with the establishment of a research-driven
ocean observatory network, and to highlight the outstanding
issues. These issues include the status of planning and development,
factors that affect the timing of construction and installation,
the cost and requirements for maintenance and operations,
needs for sensor development and data management, the impact
on availability of ships and deep submergence facilities,
and the role of research-based observatories within national
and international operational ocean observing systems being
developed and implemented.
To order your copy now, go to the website of the National
Academies Press (http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10775.html).
The price is $49.00, but if you order via the Internet, you
receive a 20% discount for the bargain price of $39.20. Or
you can order by calling the National Academies Press' toll-free
number 800-624-6242.
You can read the report online at: http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10775.html
Ever wondered if that project you've been contemplating
could benefit from ocean drilling, or how to get a geophysical
site survey funded, or simply what technologies will be available
in the new Integrated Ocean Drilling Program? JOI is sponsoring
a meeting in San Francisco the day before AGU (Sunday, Dec
7) designed to answer these questions.
The title of this meeting – Ocean Drilling and Site
Survey Introduction – makes clear the central purpose:
to identify the site survey data required for a competitive
drilling proposal. Some technologies in the IODP will be new
to most of us, and with these will come new demands on how
to organize a successful drilling campaign. Presentations
by technical experts plus informal discussion sessions will
provide useful information at ODaSSI for those planning to
participate in the IODP. The workshop announcement is available
at:
http://www.joiscience.org/USSSP/workshops/odassi.html.
This is a final call for the ODaSSI meeting; there's no fee,
but please register by sending an email to either of the conveners
by this Friday, November 21. The conveners are Gregory Mountain
gmtn@rci.rutgers.edu and Jeff Gee jsgee@ucsd.edu.
The meeting is open to all interested parties. Also, note
that the evening of Sunday the 7th is also the dinner to celebrate
the success of 20 years of the Ocean Drilling Program. The
dinner will be held at the City Club of San Francisco and
tickets ($30/person) must be bought online by November 30.
Tickets are available through the online credit card service
PAYPAL <http://www.oceandrilling.org/paypalforward.html>.
____________________________________
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