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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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