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2006 Science Spotlights
"Science Spotlights" are examples of INSTAAR research, education, and societal outreach.
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CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH SEAL LEADS TO CHILDREN'S BOOK ON ANTARCTICA Diane McKnight published a children's book entitled "The Lost Seal" which describes an unexpected encounter with a seal pup in the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, more than 5 miles inland from the sea. The book chronicles the eventual rescue of the seal, weaving in educational information about a cold desert ecosystem unfamiliar to most school children. Illustrated by Dorothy Emerling, "The Lost Seal" also contains illustrations and comments by dozens of elementary school students from Australia, New Zealand, England and the United States. Along the way, the readers learn some microbiology and hydrology; they also experience what it is like to be a scientist working in the extreme Antarctic environment. The book was published by LTER's Schoolyard Program and Moonlight Publishing LLC of Boulder in collaboration with the NSF, CU-Boulder and the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University. It was timed to coincide with the International Polar Year, which will feature two seasons of fieldwork in the arctic and Antarctic by scientists worldwide beginning in March 2007. The main goal is to better understand the role the polar regions play in global environmental processes. Image: portion of book cover.
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GLACIERS ADDING MORE TO GLOBAL SEA RISE THAN ICE SHEETS Tad Pfeffer gave a presentation at the national American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting titled "Disappearing Glacial Ice: A Global Synthesis" based on his work with fellow INSTAARs Mark Meier, Mark Dyurgerov, Robert Anderson, Suzanne Anderson, Shad O'Neel and Ursula Rick. Their study was based on the several hundred thousand small glaciers and small, pancake-shaped ice masses known as ice caps spread around the world in polar and temperate regions. Because of the challenge in inventorying each individual glacier, the researchers used a mathematical "scaling" process to estimate and characterize more remote glacier volumes, thicknesses and trends by factoring in data like altitude, climate and geography. Their research shows that small glaciers and ice caps have been contributing more to rising sea levels in recent years than the large Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. In total, the small glaciers and ice caps are shedding about 400 billion tons of ice yearly -- nearly equal to the volume of Lake Erie. Earth's sea level currently is rising at about 3 millimeters per year and could rise by several feet or more by the end of the century if warming on Earth continues, according to recent studies. Image: Meltwater spills off the calving margin of the Columbia Glacier, Alaska. Photo: Tad Pfeffer (INSTAAR).
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M. Dyurgerov: INSTAAR Biography |
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SKI MOGULS MOVE UPHILL... REALLY! David Bahr (INSTAAR Affiliate) and Tad Pfeffer have used time-lapse photography to demonstrate that ski moguls move uphill, a counter intuitive result. The uphill propogating "kinematic waves" are created by skiers that scrape off the downhill side of one mogul and then pile that snow on the uphill side of the next mogul. The net effect is that each mogul gains material on top, loses material on the bottom, and therefore migrates slowly uphill (centimeters a day). Mogul dynamics resemble other "self-organizing" systems like flocks of birds and LCD crystals. Furthermore, moguls move along ski trails like electrons on a wire. By treating each trail junction as a logic gate, a fully functional (albeit very slow) computer can be constructed from moguls. This research may help ski areas better plan how and where to place gates on trails. Ski racers might also benefit from understanding the physics of mogul movement. The bumps that the last racer is skiing are compressed toward them compared to the first skier. Bahr and Pfeffer's research is ongoing at the Mary Jane/Winter Park Ski Resort. Image: Small portion of one of the hundreds of still images collected for the mogul study.
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FIRST SHIP-BORNE MEASUREMENTS OF OZONE FLUXES TO THE OCEAN Detlev Helmig, Jacques Huber and other members of INSTAAR's Atmospheric Resarch Lab have worked with colleagues to obtain the first ship-borne direct measurements of ozone fluxes to the ocean. Ozone is a greenhouse gas that can warm the earth's climate by absorbing heat energy from the earth, then releasing it into the atmosphere. While scientists have learned a great deal about how ozone is created and destroyed in the atmosphere, there are still many missing pieces of the puzzle, especially for the oceans. The research team spent several years developing an ozone + NO chemiluminescence instrument that allows continuous ozone flux measurement by the eddy correlation technique from a sampling tower on the bow of a ship. The instrument was deployed on NOAA's research vessel Ron Brown in collaboration with scientists from NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory. Ozone flux data were obtained for a total of 7 weeks in 2006, covering more than 1000 miles in ocean surface in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Chile. The new data will improve understanding of the basic physical processes at work and how they relate to feedbacks between atmospheric ozone and climate change. The team also hopes to develop a simplified representation of those processes that can be incorporated into global climate models. This research is a collaboration between four institutes and supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Image: the instrument components for ozone flux measurements mounted on the sampling tower on NOAA’s Ron Brown research vessel .
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DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT HUMAN REMAINS SPARKS PARTNERSHIP, DOCUMENTARY James Dixon helped discover 10,300-year-old human remains in southeast Alaska in 1996 that have provided new insights into the lives of ancient people and helped cement a partnership between local tribes and scientists. Dixon was a lead researcher who studied the bones, the earliest human skeletal remains ever found in Alaska or Canada. In the project's early days, Dixon recognized the significance of the cooperation between the Tlingit and Haida tribes, scientists and government officials. The successful partnership and the knowledge gained from the ancient bones and artifacts found in the cave are explored in a new 30-minute documentary titled "Kuwóot yas.éin -- His Spirit Is Looking Out From the Cave." The documentary was released on video this summer by the Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau, Alaska, in collaboration with the Tongass National Forest, Denver Museum of Nature and Science and the National Park Service. It was funded in part by the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs. Image: Tlingit tribe member Yarrow Vaara helps excavate the entrance to "On Your Knees Cave" on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska.
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UNDERGRADUATE MENTORING: SUNLIGHT'S EFFECT ON AQUATIC ORGANIC MATTER Undergraduate Cuong Huynh (CU Boulder) is being mentored by Natalie Mladenov and Diane McKnight on a project to uncover new ways in which sunlight affects aquatic organic matter. Cuong's efforts are funded by CU-Boulder's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and Bioscience Undergraduate Research Skills and Training Program (BURST). The main goal is to equip Huynh with an understanding of the research method and skills in analytical and laboratory techniques, while at the same time answering some interesting research questions. Degradation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) by ultraviolet light - also known as “photobleaching” - can cause complex compounds in vegetation to be broken down to simpler compounds which are more readily consumed by bacteria. Huynh has been running experiments using a high-powered solar simulator to reproduce the process of photobleaching with plant leachates and DOM samples. Huynh is also using a new statistical modeling tool in order to quantify changes in the optical properties of DOM as a result of photobleaching. This research experience is a stepping stone to Huynh’s main interest: the chemical structure of plants and their medicinal properties. He plans to present the results of his research at an international meeting in 2007 - the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology (SIL2007). Image: Cuong Huynh running experiments.
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NO PERVASIVE HOLOCENE ICE-RAFTED DEBRIS (IRD) SIGNAL IN THE NORTHERN NORTH ATLANTIC? John Andrews, Anne Jennings, and colleagues have assembled marine core records of ice-rafted debris (IRD) off North Iceland, East Greenland, and Labrador that are at odds with an earlier and oft-cited study showing a pervasive ~1.5 thousand year periodicity of IRD delivery during the Holocene (last ~11,400 years). Andrews et al. used quantitative X-ray diffraction on the < 2 mm sediment fraction of four well-dated cores from different ice-dominated regions. There were significant differences in the trends of the IRD as well as an absence of a pervasive millennial signal. These results suggest that IRD delivery to the northern North Atlantic is not synchronized regionally nor is periodic. Moreover, the results should make researchers question the underlying environmental forcing behind the earlier studies' data (hematite-stained quartz sands). Although the ~1.5 thousand year cycles in this and other records may be associated with solar forcing, the specific link to ice rafting appears ambiguous. The varying trends in the new data suggest that the Holocene oceanographic/climate evolution of each region should be considered individually. Andrews et al.'s preliminary results were published in a special August 2006 issue of the PAGES Newsletter about the National Science Foundation's Earth System History (ESH) program. More publications are underway. Image: Iceberg in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Photo: Gifford Miller.
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PAGES Newsletter (5 mb PDF) |
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TROPICAL FOREST CO2 EMISSIONS TIED TO NUTRIENT INCREASES Cory Cleveland and Alan Townsend have completed a study of tropical forest soils showing that even small changes in nutrients could have a profound impact on the release of CO2. The new study, which took place in 2004 and 2005 in Costa Rica's Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve, included a series of 25 meter-square plots that were fertilized with phosphorus, nitrogen, or a combination of the two. Soil respiration was measured using plastic tubes in the ground running into vented, closed chambers. The fertilized plots yielded surprisingly large releases of CO2 to the atmosphere. The new results have global implications because human activity has changed the availability of both phosphorus and nitrogen over many parts of the tropics. Moreover, Earth's soils are believed to store several times more carbon than all of the planet's vegetation. Phosphorus and many other nutrients are regularly transported around the Earth by global wind patterns, sometimes riding on huge transcontinental dust clouds. There is strong evidence that humans are increasing the size of these dust clouds as both land-use patterns and climate change, which in turn can change the availability of nutrients to forests. Nitrogen pollution also is increasing around the world, including in tropical forests, a result of fossil-fuel combustion and crop fertilization activities. Human activity has changed the availability of nitrogen all over the world, especially in the last 50 years. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and featured on the NSF News website on 20 June. Published in the 5 July 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Image: Scientist Cory Cleveland measures soil respiration in Costa Rica's Golfo Dulce Forest.
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PNAS article |
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DAVID ANDERSON RECEIVES ARTHUR S. FLEMING AWARD David Anderson received the 2005 Arthur S. Fleming Award from George Washington University for excellence in scientific research, one of three recipients. The award recognizes excellence in the federal workforce. Recognized by the president of the United States, agency heads, and the private sector, the winners are selected from all areas of the federal service. Anderson and his colleagues at NOAA have developed a popular and often-used archive of paleoclimate records of past climate change, the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology. These observations extend the instrumental record of weather observations back thousands of years, providing a longer record of climate variability. The paleo records also provide insights into possible future climate change. The Fleming medal ceremony was held in Washington DC on June 13, 2006. Image: Portrait of David Anderson.
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JOHN BEHRENDT ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN POLAR SOCIETY John C. Behrendt was elected President of the prestigious American Polar Society in spring 2006. The Society, founded in 1934, has a mission to foster interest in research and exploration in the Arctic, Antarctic, and polar-like regions. Behrendt made his first trip to Antarctica in 1956 as a graduate student, where he wintered over at Ellsworth Station, and has continued his work in Antarctica on 12 additional expeditions, the last in 2003. He is one of the world’s 2 or 3 people who have worked in the U.S. Program in Antarctica in parts of six successive decades. The Behrendt Mountains in Ellsworth Land were named for him as a result of an over- snow traverse that he led using Sno-Cats in that area in 1957-58. Behrendt was employed by the U.S. Geological Survey for 31 years, has also been a member of the U.S. State Department delegation to 22 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, and has authored two books about his Antarctic experience, in 1998 and 2005, respectively -- ”Innocents on The Ice; A Memoir of Antarctic Exploration, 1957,” and “The Ninth Circle; A Memoir of Life and Death in Antarctica, 1960 – 1962.” His current research at INSTAAR includes the study of geophysical evidence for subglacial late Cenozoic volcanism beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. In addition to Antarctica, Behrendt carried out geophysical investigations in West Africa, the Atlantic continental margin of the U.S., and the Rocky Mountains. He makes his home in Boulder, and always has a backpack ready for another expedition to the world’s most remote continent. Image: Portrait of John Behrendt.
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J. Behrendt: INSTAAR Biography |
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COTTONWOODS STUDIED AT SAND CREEK MASSACRE SITE Jeff Lukas and Connie Woodhouse, assisted by Henry Adams, carried out a dendroecological study of the riparian cottonwood forest at the recently established Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in southeastern Colorado, under the guidance of the National Park Service, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, and the Northern Arapaho Tribe. The objectives of the research were to identify trees that may have been alive at the time of the massacre (1864), describe the overall age and spatial structure of the stands, and link these patterns of tree establishment with hydrological and climatic variability over the last century and longer. While no trees were definitively dated to 1864, the tree-ring evidence indicates that multiple trees were alive at that time, probably as seedlings or saplings, confirming the belief of tribal members that “witness trees” were still present at the site. The temporal and spatial patterns of tree establishment are consistent with the prevailing flood-driven model of cottonwood establishment in western North America; the initiation dates of the three major age classes coincide with probable flood events on Big Sandy Creek. The completed study provides the Park Service and its tribal partners with data critical to managing the cottonwood forest at Sand Creek as both a natural and cultural resource. The study was the subject of a feature article in the Daily Camera, a Boulder-based newspaper: Witnesses to horror - CU researchers study Sand Creek cottonwoods by Erika Engelhaupt (April 29, 2006). Image: Cottonwood at Sand Creek. (Photo: NPS website).
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Sand Creek Massacre: Wikipedia |
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INSTAAR COLLABORATES ON LOCAL WATERSHED CURRICULUM: "MY H2O" Colleen Flanagan, under the direction of Diane McKnight, led the development of a teacher curriculum guide and resource kit promoting awareness of the Boulder and St. Vrain watersheds. The guide, entitled "MY H2O", blends Colorado state educational standards in science, language arts, geography and math into activities, educational games, story plots and community action tasks. The guide’s hands-on, minds-on projects are enhanced by a resource kit that contains supplies necessary to implement each activity. Copies were distributed to area public and private schools in Spring 2006, primarily for use in fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms. The project was a joint effort by INSTAAR and the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research Program (NWTLTER), with a number of collaborators in several local school districts and governmental agencies. The curriculum supplements the children’s book My Water Comes from the Mountains by Tiffany Fourment, funded by NWTLTER and INSTAAR and distributed to Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts in 2004. Funding for the curriculum guide was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the CU-Boulder Outreach Committee, the City of Boulder and the Watershed Approach to Stream Health, or WASH, a partnership of communities in Boulder County formed to protect water quality. Other support came through Schoolyard NWTLTER, connecting the Colorado Front Range communities with the alpine systems of the mountains, and administered by INSTAAR. Image: MY H2O logo.
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My Water book (scroll downward) |
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ALAN TOWNSEND NAMED DIRECTOR OF THE NORTH AMERICAN NITROGEN CENTER Alan Townsend was named director of the North American Nitrogen Center (NANC), one of five centers around the world that together comprise the core structure of the SCOPE and IGBP sanctioned International Nitrogen Initiative (INI). Nitrogen is essential for life, and our ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen into synthetic fertilizers is a mainstay of agricultural productivity, and thus of our ability to feed billions of people. Yet, the global nitrogen cycle is also being changed at scale and pace that exceeds any other major biogeochemical element, with a growing litany of environmental and health consequences. Thus, the North American Nitrogen Center and the INI are dedicated to optimizing the use of nitrogen in food production, while minimizing the negative effects of nitrogen on human health and the environment as a result of both food and energy production. Core activities of the INI include scientific assessment, development of solutions to solve a wide variety of nitrogen-related problems, and interactions with policymakers to implement these solutions. Image: Portrait of Alan Townsend.
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BOULDER MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS VISIT INSTAAR AND NSIDC More than 180 eighth-graders from Boulder's Southern Hills Middle School visited the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) on Friday, April 28, for an excursion involving lab tours, talks, science games and a field trip along Boulder Creek. The eighth-graders sampled the aquatic insect life along Boulder Creek during the visit as part of an ecosystem education project coordinated by INSTAAR. They also toured INSTAAR's sediment, radiocarbon, stable isotope, dissolved organic matter, pollen and tree-ring dating labs. The event included a talk by INSTAAR research associate William Manley, titled "Global Warming and the Arctic in 3D" that will included an animated "fly-through" of the Arctic region. A second talk, by INSTAAR doctoral student Craig Lee, focussed on an archaeology project tied to ancient artifacts revealed by melting from the world's receding glaciers as a result of warming temperatures. The Southern Hills students also toured NSIDC facilities. NSIDC, part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, conducts research around the world and archives and distributes data on snow, avalanches, glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice and ice cores. NSIDC is a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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GRAD STUDENT PENS EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL ABOUT ANTARCTIC SCIENCE Karen Cozzetto was the main contributor to an educational website, entitled "77 Degrees South", that showcases the life, times, and research of several groups of scientists working in the largest ice-free region of Antarctica: the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Cozzetto's focus was on the Antarctic "Stream Team", which studies the hydrology and ecology of glacial meltwater streams and is managed by Diane McKnight. The website is geared towards middle and high school students, and presents science and happenings on the southernmost continent in the form of fun journal entries with lots of photos. Journal topics range from glacier dynamics to diving in ice-covered lakes for low-light algae photosynthesis research, from eclipses to the ins and outs of helicopter travel, and from the intricacies of environmentally managing our human waste to the top signs you’ve been in the field for three months. Most of the entries from the 2005-2006 field season were by Cozzetto and posted with the help of volunteer website designer Emma Hernandez (Cozzetto was also the main contributor in 2003-2004 and 2002-2003). The site has been viewed by people on all seven continents and several journal entries have been selected for inclusion in NSF’s Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE). The website is supported and hosted by the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. Image: Diane McKnight and Josh Koch (both INSTAAR) investigate algal life in Garwood Valley, Antarctica, January 2006. Photo: Karen Cozzetto.
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EARTH'S PAST SUGGESTS FUTURE POLAR MELTING MAY RAISE SEA LEVEL SOONER THAN EXPECTED Gifford Miller was a member of two research teams that combined paleoclimate evidence from the Last Interglacial period with climate and ice sheet modeling to infer that Earth's warming temperatures are on track to melt the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets sooner than previously thought and ultimately lead to a global sea level rise of at least 20 feet. If the current warming trends continue, by 2100 the Earth will likely be at least 4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than present, with the Arctic at least as warm as it was nearly 130,000 years ago. At that time, significant portions of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets melted, resulting in a sea level about 20 feet (six meters) higher than present day. These studies are the first to link Arctic and Antarctic melting during the Last Interglaciation, 129,000 to 116,000 years ago. The results were published in two adjacent papers in the Mar. 24, 2006 issue of Science. Image: Pink shows areas of southern Florida that would be submerged if the sea level rose about 20 feet (six meters.) Courtesy of Jeremy Weiss and Jonathan Overpeck, The University of Arizona.
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INSTAAR SCIENTISTS DISCUSS POLAR RESEARCH AT PUBLIC EVENT FOR UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR John Behrendt, Jim White, Karen Cozzetto, and several other CU-Boulder scientists shared their experiences in the arctic, Greenland and Antarctic at a March 22 campus event in a prelude to the next International Polar Year, or IPY, in 2007. Titled "Countdown to IPY," the free, public event focussed on past and current research efforts at Earth's polar regions by CU-Boulder faculty and graduate students. The event also included a brief history of IPY, an international, interdisciplinary research campaign last held in 1957, which will involve the efforts of more than 60 nations beginning next year. IPY will officially run from March 2007 to March 2009 to allow for two full seasons of field work in the arctic and Antarctic. Participating scientists will use high-tech tools ranging from satellites, autonomous vehicles and remotely operated climate stations to GPS, laser altimeters and supercomputers to better understand the roles the polar regions play in a variety of global processes. Researchers involved in IPY will address such issues as dwindling sea ice, shrinking ice sheets and glaciers, thawing permafrost and creatures ranging from polar bears and penguins to marine life and microbes.
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BOB ANDERSON ELECTED A FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION Robert S. Anderson was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union for “fundamental and pioneering contributions in quantitative geomorphology, geochronology, hydrology and glaciology." Fellowship is bestowed on only 0.1% of the total AGU membership of about 35,000 in any given year and recognizes scientists who have attained acknowledged eminence in the geophysical sciences. Anderson has been a leader in the distinctive combination of rigorous field measurements and numerical modeling. His approach involves monitoring modern systems, numerical modeling of these systems constrained by modern rates, and establishment of a chronology that constrains the longer term pace of landscape evolution. He has successfully applied this approach to classic problems of geomorphology such as eolian transport, rock abrasion, and the evolution of glacial valleys and whole landscapes. Anderson’s keen desire to understand the processes that drive landscape evolution has led him to work (a) at scales from sand-grain trajectories to mountain ranges, (b) in environments from deserts to the Arctic, and (c) with techniques from fluid mechanical simulation to cosmogenic radionuclide dating. Throughout his distinctive and varied scientific contributions, Anderson has shared his work and publication history with a long list of students and colleagues. Though the work has obviously benefited from their talent and energy, Anderson’s enduring and distinctive contribution is clearly visible. His collaborative and generous approach continues with his role as the founding editor of the new AGU journal JGR-Earth Surface. Image: Portrait of Bob Anderson
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Image: Portrait of Bob Anderson and John Andrews on their way to the AGU honor's ceremony to be awarded Fellowship. Photo: Suzanne Anderson.
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JOHN ANDREWS ELECTED A FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION John T. Andrews was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Focus Group) "for his seminal contributions to the Quaternary history of North America and the North Atlantic Basin." Fellowship is bestowed on only 0.1% of the total AGU membership of about 35,000 in any given year and recognizes scientists who have attained acknowledged eminence in the geophysical sciences. This award recognizes the contributions Andrews has made in publishing innovative and thought-provoking papers at the cutting edge of the discipline, in three principal areas: (1) studies of the behavior of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, (2) papers on relative sea level history (methods, theory, and modeling), and (3) research on ice sheet ocean interactions (including Heinrich events). Andrews has been a driving force behind the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, helping to establish its international reputation for excellence in science; he also served as Chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences, at the University of Colorado. He was elected President of the Quaternary and Geomorphology Division of GSA and President of the American Quaternary Association (AMQUA), and he provided leadership on several initiatives of the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences. John Andrews has inspired an entire generation of students, many of whom have gone on to establish successful programs at major institutions and Universities elsewhere, spawning their own cadre of students. Thus John’s diaspora of highly trained students and their “offspring” form a truly enormous group of students in Quaternary Geosciences. Image: Portrait of John Andrews
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