the activities, and the themes and parameters of the monitoring programs (e.g., whether they focused on physical parameters such as algal blooms and water quality or biological resources such as fishes and corals). Organizing the information Once the surveys were completed, the information collected had to be entered into a database to ensure that it could be processed and used in a geographic information system (GIS) to allow users to make queries about regional monitoring activities. A new NetscapeTM home page was created, and the Internet was used to input the data electronically at FMRI into an OracleTM database located at ORCA's offices (Figure 1). This page, which is accessed by an assigned password, allowed the survey data to be entered quickly, checked easily, and printed out directly as the Internet page. The simple point-andclick interface had spaces for a variety of information parameters, including the project title; contact name, phone number, and e-mail address organizational affiliation; and project summary, including attributes such as site locations, sampling dates, methodology, and data use and users (Figure 2). Key words were also listed to enable future searches on the database. Developing a monitoring GIS The monitoring sites and temporal and thematic information inventoried are currently being incorporated into an ArcView II mapping and information assessment system. Complete with a query function, the system will allow users to map the data (Figure 3) and view the activities in a variety of ways, including: 1) spatially (i.e., where certain activities are occurring within the region); 2) thematically (i.e., what programs are monitoring for a certain species or parameter); and 3) temporally (i.e., what monitoring programs were occurring over a certain period of time). The system will also enable combinations of these query methods to be mapped and displayed together (e.g., to show all lobster monitoring during the fall seasons between 1989 and 1991), and tabular summaries of the information will also be available that can be either downloaded or printed out for further use. Other capabilities will include overlaying individual data queries on top of one another and zooming to increase the resolution of the mapped information. The integration process A planning process is now underway to bring together representatives of the major monitoring cy HOMESTEAD programs in the region through a series of integration workshops. The objective is to develop consensus on how to best integrate existing monitoring projects to address the environmental problems determined to be of highest priority within the South Florida ecosystem. ▲ Figure 2. Online project summary from the Florida Keys ecosystem monitoring survey conducted by NOAA and FMRI. The workshops are designed to be driven by the major problems identified by the management and scientific community during both the development of the draft sanctuary management plan and recent Federal and State efforts to address ecosystem restoration problems within the region. Goals of the workshop process, which will include the use of the ArcView II mapping system, include: 1) determining the information needed to identify, assess and ultimately implement priority management strategies and monitor their effectiveness over time; 2) evaluating the extent to which the existing mix of monitoring programs supports these information needs; and 3) determining, based on the information developed and knowledge of local experts, the modifications necessary to existing programs and new programmatic needs. It is the belief of the partners that this effort represents a unique approach to integrating a diverse and extensive body of monitoring investments by combining the use of the latest information technology-the Internet, a fully relational database management system and GIS capabilities-with the principle of a knowledgebased consensus-building process. It is hoped that by utilizing such technologies, the complex task of integrating the efforts of many programs and projects can be simplified.■ ▲ Figure 3. Gray scale rendition of an example of a potential ArcView II system map. Advances from the Shipboard ADCP Archive Center Shipboard Acoustic Doppler Cur rent Profilers (ADCP) have been an increasingly common configuration on most research vessels over the past decade. In 1994, the National Oceanographic Data Center established the Shipboard ADCP Archive Center (SAC) at the University of Hawaii (UH) (Caldwell, 1995). Through collaboration with scientists and computer specialists at the UH, the SAC continues to fine-tune its management system and provide high-quality data to the scientific community. The SAC has a node on the World Wide Web (WWW) (http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/caldwell/index.html) which provides inventories, plots of cruise tracks, cruise summaries, and data products. The primary data product is the ASCII standard subset of current velocity components averaged hourly in time and to 10 m intervals in the vertical. The subset also includes nearsurface temperature and ship velocity. Within the Web page, explicit instructions on obtaining and contributing data are provided. The high-resolution data, which are stored in the Common Oceanographic Data Analysis System (CODAS) at the time and space intervals as collected at sea and processed on shore, are presently not available through the WWW. However, they can be easily transferred upon request using other media, such as FTP through the Internet. An important technical management advance is the addition of machine signatures within the CODAS data storage system. This allows CODAS block files written on one type of computer to be read automatically by another with a different binary design; for example, CODAS software on an IBMcompatible PC can read CODAS block files created on a SUN. This will greatly facilitate distribution of CODAS data and software on CD-ROM, the medium most suitable for these voluminous sets. The NODC has plans for preparing CDROMS of shipboard ADCP in the near future. The SAC archive now consists of over 120 cruises. Although the archive continues to grow at a steady pace, the contribution of data from outside the ▲ Figure 1. Average surface flow (cm/s), based on 40,000 observations of ship drift, 85,000 satellite-tracked drifting buoys and 8,000 modern current measurements. The shading denotes root-mean-square variability of modern current observations; higher variability is lighter. (Sources and periods: historical ship drift, 1895-1993, National Ocean Data Center (NODC), NOAA; drifting buoys, 1986-1995: Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, NOAA, and Pelagic Fisheries Research Project, University of Hawaii; direct current measurements, 1987 to 1995: Shipboard ADCP Archive Center, University of Hawaii/NODC/NOAA. Source of figure: Hawaiian Ocean Atlas, http://satftp/atlas/.) sphere of influence of the UH scientists has been disappointing. The NODC strongly encourages shipboard ADCP data collectors to provide copies of their high-resolution data sets to the SAC. As the data accumulates, more and more applications will be possible, such as regional climatological charts. Figure 1, for example, shows a plot in which data from all cruises in the Hawaiian region at the 30 m depth level were synthesized with other current data sources (current meters and subsurface drifters) in preparation of an atlas (R. Lumpkin and P. Flament, SOEST, University of Hawaii, from the Ocean Atlas of Hawaii, http://satftp/atlas/.) References Caldwell, P. Earth System Monitor, 5 (3), March 1995, 16 pp. -Patrick Caldwell NODC Hawaii Liaison Office Dept. of Oceanography University of Hawaii 1000 Pope Road, MSB 317 Honolulu, HI 96822 E-mail: caldwell@kapau.soest.hawaii.edu NSIDC presents new edition of DMSP brightness temperatures and sea ice user's guide The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has reissued DMSP SSM/I Brightness Temperatures and Sea Ice Concentration Grids for the Polar Regions, User's Guide. This revised edition updates the User's Guide last published in 1989. The new guide contains information on the use of SSM/I polar stereographic products, including brightness temperatures, daily sea ice concentrations, and monthly averaged sea ice concentrations stemming from data collected by both the DMSP F8 and F11 satellites. The manual accompanies data distributed on CD-ROM and via the Internet. The spiral-bound information may be inserted directly into the three-ringed binder originally issued (which contains information on software that is no longer supported.) For more information on this product, contact NSIDC User Services at: NSIDC/WDC-A Campus Box 449 University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado 80309-0449 Fax: 303-492-2468 E-mail: nsidc@kryos.colorado.edu The NSIDC also maintains a Web site at URL: http://nsidc.colorado.edu. Contact: NSIDC NGDC publishes 1994 SAMPEX monthly plots The National Geophysical Data Center's (NGDC) has received January through December 1994 SAMPEX (NASA's Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle EXplorer satellite) monthly plots for publication in the February 1996 issue of Solar-Geophysical Data. SAMPEX is a polar orbiter and has access to interplanetary fluxes of solar energetic particles and galactic cosmic rays over the polar portions of its orbit. The plots contain fluxes of energetic electrons, protons, helium nuclei, and heavy ions. They can be used to identify the occurrence and magnitude of solar and interplanetary particle events. Contact: NGDC NODC releases revised Geosat The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) has issued a revised version of the CD-ROM containing wind/ Data products wave data from the U.S. Navy Geodetic Satellite (Geosat). The revised version corrects problems detected by the Geosat data analysis team in 29 of the first 30 days of data and also removes unnecessary end-of-line characters from the end of the data records. The space savings from the latter step made it possible to store all the wind/wave data on the new CD-ROM without compression (the original CD-ROM files were in compressed form.) These data cover the duration of the Geosat Geodetic Mission (April 1985 September 1986), and were declassified long before the altimetric height data from that portion of the mission. Significant wave height and radar backscatter strength (sigma-0) are the fundamental measurements included in the data set. In addition, wind speed values, based on several different models, are estimated from the backscatter measurements. Customers who received the original disc should contact the NODC User Ser CONTACT POINTS National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Climate Services: 704-271-4800 Fax: 704-271-4876 E-mail: orders@ncdc.noaa.gov Satellite Services: Fax: 704-271-4876 E-mail: satorder@ncdc.noaa.gov National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) 303-497-6958 Fax: 303-497-6513 Fax: 301-713-3302 E-mail: noaalib@libmail.lib.noaa.gov vices Branch to receive this replacement (CD-ROM NODC-64). Other Geosat data sets including the 4-disc set of recently declassified global altimeter data from the Geosat Geodetic Mission are also available from the NODC. Further details about the Geosat data products and an online order form for NODC CD-ROMs are available on the NODC Web site at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/. Contact: NODC NGDC releases new educational slide sets The National Geophysical Data Center's (NGDC) World Data Center-A for Paleoclimatology presents two new educational slide sets, which are currently available from NGDC. Each set of 20 slides includes vivid photographs of field research conducted around the globe, high-quality graphics of important datasets, and descriptive diagrams, which make these sets ideal instructional aides. Sets also include an accompanying narrative, a bibliography, and a vocabulary list. The first set is entitled Coral Paleoclimatology-Natural Recorders of Interannual Climatic Variability in the Tropical Oceans and Seas. The second new set is Low-Latitude Ice Cores-HighResolution Records of Climatic Change and Variability in the Tropics and Subtropics. Please contact the NGDC for current prices and purchase procedures. Contact: NGDC NCDC places images of significant weather events online The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Research Customer Service Group has placed a directory of over 100 GIF format images of significant weather events online. The images can be accessed through the NCDC's World Wide Web (WWW) Home Page at URL: http:// www.ncdc.noaa.gov. The directory includes images of most of 1995's hurricanes, previous year's storms such as Gilbert, Hugo, and Andrew, significant events such as the March 1993 blizzard, and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images of various locations, both of the United States and from overseas. Some Defense Mapping Satellite Program (DMSP) very high resolution images are also included. The directory will continue to be updated regularly. Contact: NCDC State of the climate, from page 7 Arctic in summer; an enhanced global mean hydrological cycle; and increased precipitation and soil moisture in high latitudes in winter. In addition, most simulations show a reduction in the strength of the north Atlantic thermohaline (conveyor belt) circulation, and a widespread reduction in diurnal range of temperature. The direct and indirect ef- are smaller when aerosol A general warming is expected to lead to more extremely hot days and less extremely cold days. Warmer temperatures will lead to more vigorous hydrological cycle, translating into prospects for more severe droughts and/or floods in some places and less severe droughts and/or floods in other places. Several models indicate and increase in precipitation intensity, suggesting more extreme rainfall events. Knowledge is currently insufficient to say whether there will be any changes in the occurrence or geographical influence of severe storms, e.g., tropical cyclones. Sustained rapid climate change could shift the competitive balance among species and even lead to forest dieback, altering the terrestrial uptake and release of carbon. The magnitude is uncertain, but could be between zero and 200 billion metric tons of carbon over the next one to two centuries, depending on the rate of climate change. Uncertainties in climate change studies Many factors currently limit our ability to project and detect future climate change. To reduce uncertainties, further work is needed on the following high priority topics: • Estimation of future emissions and biogeochemical cycling (including sources and sinks) of greenhouse gases, aerosols and aerosol precursors and projections of future concentrations and radiative properties. • Representation of climate processes in models, especially feedbacks associated with clouds, oceans, sea ice and vegetation, in order to improve projections of rates and regional patterns of climate change. • Systematic collection of long-term instrumental and proxy observations of climate system variables for the purposes of model testing, assessment of temporal and regional variability, and for detection and attribution studies. • Large rapid climate system changes (as have occurred in the past) are very difficult to predict. Future climate changes may well involve surprises. These arise from the nonlinear nature of the climate system. When rapidly forced, nonlinear systems are especially subject to unexpected behavior. Progress can be made by investigating nonlinear processes and subcomponents of the climatic system. Examples of such nonlinear behavior include rapid circulation changes in the North Atlantic and feedbacks associated with terrestrial ecosystem changes. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 3 9015 04031 9256 |