Lamont Weekly Report – May 7, 2004

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
P.O. Box 1000, 61 Route 9W Palisades, New York 10964

<> REPORT SUMMARY <>

– Recent Grant Awards –
– Recent Publications –
– New Hires –
– Current B & G Projects –
– Letter from the Director –
____________________________________

<> RECENT GRANT AWARDS

Bond, G., Lotti, R. The LDEO Deep-sea Repository and the Curating and Maintenance of the Sediment Library and Dredge Collection. NSF

Van Geen, A. Collaborative Research: Vertical Control of Groundwater Arsenic Concentrations in Shallow Aquifers of Bangladesh. NSF

Bohnenstiehl. D. Completeness Level Analysis of Sosus Seismicity in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Oregon State University

Cochran, J., A Detailed Bathymetric Study of Tectonic and Magmatic Processes at the Extremely Slow-spreading Gakkel Ridge. NSF

Karner, G., NSF Researchers - Egyptian Negotiations and Collaborations: Opening the Door for RCL Margins Proposals. NSF

Hemming, S., The Middle to Late Jurassic Terrestrial Vertebrate Faunal Transition in Northwest China: a Paleontologic, Stratigraphic and Geochronologic Study. George Washington University

Schlosser, P., Newton, R., Water Masses, Circulation Patterns, and Variability in the Central Arctic Ocean: Tracer Studies (tritium/he-2, oxygen isotopes, and C-14) During the 2005 Arctic Section. NSF

Balk, D., CIESIN: Gridded Global Population Density Extrapolation (GPDE) Maps to 2015. Food and Agricultural Organization.

<> RECENT PUBLICATIONS
(The following list is derived from the Lamont Publications Database which identifies all publications that hold a Lamont contribution number, thereby qualifying the publications as a Lamont paper).

Broecker W.S. Future global warming scenarios; Science, vol. 304, no. 5669, pp. 388-388, April 16, 2004.

Broecker, W.S. and E. Clark. Shell weights from the South Atlantic; Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, vol. 5, Art. No. Q03003, March 11, 2004

Broecker. W.S., E. Clark, I. Hajdas, and G. Bonani. Glacial ventilation rates for the deep Pacific Ocean; Paleoceanography, vol. 19, no. 2, Art. No. PA2002. April 2, 2004.

Brueckner, H.K. and H.L.M. van Roermund. Dunk tectonics: A multiple subduction/eduction model for the evolution of the Scandinavian Caledonides; Tectonics, vol. 23, no. 2, Art. No. TC2004 ,March 5, 2004.

Chase, Z. and R.F. Anderson. Comment on "On the importance of opal, carbonate, and lithogenic clays in scavenging and fractionating Th-230, Pa-231 and Be-10 in the ocean" by S. Luo and T.-L. Ku; Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 220, nos. 1-2, pp. 213-222, March 30, 2004.

Chen, D., M.A. Cane, A. Kaplan, S.E. Zebiak, and D.J. Huang; Predictability of El Nino over the past 148 years, Nature, vol. 428, no. 6984, pp. 733-736, April 15, 2004.

DeMenocal, P.B. African climate change and faunal evolution during the Pliocene-Pleistocene; Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 220, nos. 1-2, pp. 3-24, March 30, 2004.

Griffin, K.L., O.R. Anderson, D.T. Tissue, M.H. Turnbull, and D. Whitehead. Variations in dark respiration and mitochondrial numbers within needles of Pinus radiata grown in ambient or elevated CO2 partial pressure; Tree Physiology, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 347-353, March, 2004.

Hemming, S.R. Heinrich events: Massive late pleistocene detritus layers of the North Atlantic and their global climate imprint; Reviews of Geophysics, vol. 42. No. 1, Art. No. RG1005, March 18, 2004

Houghton, R.W., C.E. Tilburg, R.W. Garvine, and A. Fong. Delaware River plume response to a strong upwelling-favorable wind event; Geophysical Research letters, vol. 31, no. 7, Art. No. L07302, April 2, 2004.

Liepert, B.G., J. Feichter, U. Lohmann, and E. Roeckner. Can aerosols spin down the water cycle in a warmer and moister world?; Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 31, no. 6), ,Art. No. L06207, March 19, 2004.

Marra, J .The compensation irradiance for phytoplankton in nature; Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 31, no. 6, Art. No. L06305, March 19, 2004.

Otto, G.P., M.Y. Wu, N. Kazgan, O.R .Anderson, and R.H. Kessin Dictyostelium macroautophagy mutants vary in the severity of their developmental defects; Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 279. No. 15, pp.15621-15629, April 9, 2004.

Rousseau, D.D., D. Duzer, J.L. Etienne, G. Cambon, D. Jolly, J. Ferrier, P. Schevin. Pollen record of rapidly changing air trajectories to the North Pole; Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, vol. 109, no. D6, Art. No. D06116, March 30, 2004.

<> RECENT NEW HIRES
For the period 4/1/2004 – 4/30/2004

Beland, Joseph
4/12/04
Casual
OMA

Ebrahimian, Esther, C.
4/26/04
Sr. Staff Associate
IRI

Goldstein, Howard, H.
4/12/04
Research Staff Associate
OMA

Heard, Nathan
4/3/04
Casual
CIESIN

Johnson, Anthony, D.
4/5/04
OMA

Kathmann, Dietmar A.
4/5/04
Casual
OMA

McGillis, Wade
4/5/04
Doherty Research Scientist
Geochemistry

Stoltz, Sara
4/12/04
Research Staff Associate
OMA

Walsh, Justin, M.
4/5/04
Mechanical Tech.
OMA

Yin, Suzanne, E.
4/13/04
Casual
OMA

<> CURRENT B&G PROJECTS

• Oceanography Emergency Generator:
  Acoustical study required by Planning Board is complete. Erosion control details added to plans and application submitted for appearance at the Planning Board meeting, which is set for June 23rd. Generator/enclosure order has been placed.

• Greenhouse Project:
  Replaced defective sensors on weather station. Greenhouse complete.

• Marine Biology, Room 7:
  Lab has been gutted. All exterior metal walls have been fared out and covered with vinyl-covered gypsum. New doorway and entranceway to rear lab has been created.

• Seismology, Room 13:
  Lab painted and new floor tile installed. Installed electrical raceways. New lab A/C is complete. Lab is back in service but casework order not complete.

• Left Hand Turn Lane:
  Attended the meeting April 22 in the Alpine Municipal Building. Ray Long and I met with representatives from the NJDOT and the contractor who will be doing the work. Work will commence next week with some restriping on 9W and the project is slated for completion in January 2005. The main entrance will remain open during the construction. However, on occasion access will be restricted (we will give ample notice) when safety issues arise. The rear entrance gate will be opened whenever the front entrance is closed. Please use caution and reduce speed in the work zone.

• Geoscience Walk-In Freezer Replacement:
  Pierre Biscaye has processed the majority of his ice cores, thereby reducing the temporary rental storage space required. The purchase order has been issued and the new freezer has been ordered.

• Instrument Lab:
  New equipment has been purchased and installed for the main shop area. Purchasing is evaluating bids, in conference with 'Hero' Greg Myers (BRG) and Lenny Sullivan (B & G) received from the general contractors who have submitted proposals for the renovations in the Instrument Lab.

• Geochemistry Room 3:
  Lab contents are being stored or disposed of in preparation for renovation.

• Miscellaneous:
  – Replaced hot water tank Paleomagnetics.
  – Removed large downed tree on big lawn and repaired lawn damage.
  – Installed light blocking shades in the 1st floor conference room of Geoscience.
  – Replaced A/C units in 207C and 208A Oceanography.
  – Replaced A/C condensing unit in room 11 Geochemistry.
  – Continued with grounds clean up and repairing lawn damage caused by winter, plows etc. Please don't drive on the freshly seeded areas.

<> LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

Peter deMenocal's public lecture last Sunday was a full house again and attracted an apparently endless string of questions - thank you Peter for a tremendous presentation.

This past week, though incredibly busy, contains little that is worthy of report here, but next week has a number of important events. Two full days will be consumed by the salary review process - the Associate Directors will go through all the research staff salary increase recommendations and agree upon the merit raises for everyone.

On Thursday and Friday there will be a series of five 2-3 hour long workshops- to discuss the current draft of the Observatories' strategic plan - to review a draft of this plan, and to see the agenda for the workshops please go to http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/ldeo/dir/internal/. This activity is open to all Lamonters - please attend and contribute your thoughts and ideas to the strategic plan process.

On Friday at 3pm in the Monell Auditorium there will be the annual Mentoring Award event. The format will be different this year. We will start at 3pm with an hour-long 'round table' discussion among a panel of expert proposal writers. The target audience will be students, post-docs and junior staff who would like to learn more about how to be successful in this highly competitive business of securing federal funds to support basic research. The experts will be Robin Bell, Ed Cook, Martin Visbeck, and believe it or not, me. This will run till around 4pm, when we will present the award to this year's chosen superb mentor - so if you feel you know enough about proposal writing, turn up at 4pm. There will be the usual short but poignant ceremony, and then a reception to which everyone is invited.

One last thing ... the State of New Jersey is starting its road renovations on 9W - within the next few weeks they will be starting to work on our entrance. We do not anticipate having to close the entrance for more than a day or so at the most. If we do, then, we will let everyone know in advance and will open the back entrance. As part of this renovation we will be upgrading the front gates to electronic operation and will be replacing the guardhouse. But that is a few months in the future.

The weekend is but a few hours away.

Have a good one,

– Mike
____________________________________

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