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In Memoriam John Marmion Edmond MIT Professor John M. Edmond, a geochemist who graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1965 and received his Ph.D. at SIO in 1970, died unexpectedly on April 10th at age 57. He carried out important and pioneering work in a wide range of research subjects including the carbonate chemistry of seawater, hydrothermal vent chemistry, oceanic trace element distributions, continental weathering, the chemical compositions of rivers and lakes, and paleooceanography. This work stemmed from John's broad interest in understanding how the chemical composition of the oceans and other natural waters evolved and was maintained and altered in response to geological, biological and climatic processes. John was an observational scientist in the best SIO tradition, whose field work spanned the entire globe. He was widely know for his extraordinary wit and insight, and for his ability to come to the heart of a matter in only a few words. John was also an excellent teacher, whose many successful students have made major contributions in many areas of geochemistry. Here at SIO he is also fondly remembered as the founder of our long-standing TGIF tradition. John Edmond was a Fellow of the Royal Society, as well as of the American Geophysical Union. He was a recipient of the AGU's Macelwane Medal and of the Harold Urey Medal of the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry. He is survived by his ex-wife and two sons, who request that donations in John's honor be made to The Pine Street Inn, a shelter for homeless men and women in Boston at 363 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118, 617/482-4944. Calendar Friday, April 20 MARINE BIOLOGY SEMINAR - Bob Shadwick, SIO, will present "How to Tune a Fish: Muscle Dynamics in Swimming Skipjack and Yellowfin Tuna" in 4500 Hubbs Hall at 12 noon. (Bonnie Becker, bjbecker@ucsd.edu) SPECIAL SEMINAR - Ida Broker, head of the Coastal Engineering Department at the Danish Hydraulics Institute, will discuss DHI's coastal modeling capabilities in 4500 Hubbs Hall at 2:30 p.m. Monday, April 23 SPECIAL SEMINAR - Eugene Domack, Hamilton University, will present "Late Quaternary Sedimentation in Antarctica's Palmer Deep" in 4500 Hubbs Hall at 4 p.m. (Julie Bowles, jbowles@ucsd.edu) Wednesday, April 25 NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM'S BAJA CALIFORNIA LECTURE SERIES - Pat Abbott, SDSU, will present "Geologic History of Baja California: A Traveling Landmass" at the San Diego Natural History Museum's new Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan Theater., 7-9 p.m. In this intriguing lecture, learn about the geologic history of Baja California and how we can match geologic features back across the Gulf of California. Also discover how Baja California, isolated from most of North America by sea water and burning desert, has allowed plant and animal life to evolve new forms and adaptations that amaze and instruct. Price per lecture: Member, Senior 60 and over, full-time Student, Military, Children 6-17: $6 per lecture; Nonmember: $8 per lecture. Call (619) 232-3821 ext. 203 for reservations, or visit www.sdnhm.org (Wendy Eng-Rytell, weng-rytell@sdnhm.org) ECOLOGY LUNCHEON SEMINAR - Dr. David Checkley, SIO, will present "Pattern in the Pelagos: From Copepods in Langmuir Circulations to Fish in the California Current System" in 4500 Hubbs Hall at 12:15 p.m. (Erica Goetze, egoetze@ucsd.edu) Thursday, April 26 AOS SEMINAR - Jessica Lundquist will present "The Pulse of the Mountains: Understanding Snowmelt through Diurnal Cycles in Streamflow" in 330 NTV at 4 p.m. (Amber Rieder, amber@mpl.ucsd.edu) CALSPACE SEMINAR - Michael Rich, UCLA, will present "Next Generation Space Telescope" in room 4307, Jacobs School of Engineering (EBU1), UCSD, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Questions? Call 822-1597. Notices SIO ACADEMICS - Whenever you will be away from SIO on work-related travel, it is important for your insurance protection that you obtain approval before you leave. All such absences require advance approval by your Department Chair/Division Director, and absences of 8 days or longer also require advance Vice Chancellor approval. Please see your business office for leave forms and procedures. Approval is not needed for cruises on SIO ships, nor summer absences of academic-year (9-mo.) appointees, unless travel reimbursement is requested. WE WANT YOUR BLOOD - The Bloodmobile will be at SIO in the Marine Biology
Service Yard on Tuesday, May 1, 2001 from 9 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. All participants
will receive a Limited Edition Extreme Sports T-Shirt. Appointments honored
first, but walk-ins are also welcome. Please eat before donating. Bring
your picture identification and Donor I.D. Card if you have one. If you
have donated in the past 56 days, please disregard. UCSD EVALUATION OF VENDORS FOR CDL DATABASES - (test period ends May 4th) The California Digital Library (CDL) is moving the Melvyl Catalog and all locally loaded CDL databases (e.g., CURRENT CONTENTS, BIOSIS, GEOREF, etc) to new vendor platforms, in order to take advantage of new hardware and software. This will change the way these databases look and how you search them. Faculty, students, and staff are invited to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the databases offered by more than one vendor, as part of the selection process. Access the test databases online at http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/ucsd/transition.html. Contact Peter Brueggeman at pbrueggeman@ucsd.edu or x41230, if you have any questions. CONGRATULATIONS! - Congratulations Lynne! Professor Lynne Talley of the
Physical Oceanography Research Division has been chosen as the recipient
of the 25th Annual Rosenstiel Award. The award, presented by the University
of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, recognizes
outstanding scientists and researchers for their contributions to the
field of marine science. Excerpts from the award citation note: "Dr. Talley
is a seagoing oceanographer who has made one of the most singular contributions
to the exploration of the ocean and the unraveling of its many complexities...
Through her strong understanding of ocean dynamics and general ocean circulation
theory, Lynne's contributions have gone far beyond simply describing the
ocean's behavior and have led to fundamental new insights into the workings
of the global ocean-atmosphere system... Dr. Talley is famous for her
seemingly endless energy and her ability to infect her students and colleagues
alike with her enthusiasm for the research at hand." Congratulations!
ENGINEERING HANDBOOKS ONLINE - UCSD Libraries has licensed online access to CRC Press' engineering handbooks, including the Ocean Engineering Handbook. See http://www.engnetbase.com/search.asp . For a list of available titles, click on the "Engineering handbooks online", a link under Featured Sites on the SIO Library homepage at http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/. (Susan Berteaux, sberteaux@ucsd.edu, x20534) Ship News NEW HORIZON REPORT - Seafloor volcanic eruptions are unpredictable in time and space, and, consequently, have been exceedingly difficult to study. Yet, such eruptions along the mid-ocean ridge system are believed to be an important component of processes that control the formation of new ocean crust. Since 1993, real time access to the US Navy's hydrophone array (SOSUS system) has allowed NOAA-PMEL seismologists to monitor in real time the seismicity (earthquakes) along the Juan de Fuca and Gorda Ridges in the Northeast Pacific. Experience has shown that the intensity and pattern of seismic events may be diagnostic for volcanic (eruptive) versus tectonic (non-eruptive) events. An obvious benefit of real time, remote detection of mid-ocean ridge seismic events is the possibility of launching subsequent field responses to investigate the hydrothermal and new lava flows potentially associated with a seismic/eruptive event. Since 1993, NSF and NOAA-PMEL have mounted several rapid response shipboard expeditions to SOSUS detected seismic events. In 1993 (Co-Axial Segment, JFR), 1996 (Northern Gorda Ridge), and 1998 (Axial Volcano, JFR), rapid response and follow-up cruises documented new lava fields and intense event related hydrothermal venting. Starting on April 3, 2001, a new seismic event was remotely detected on the Jackson Segment of the Gorda Ridge. The intensity and pattern of the seismicity appeared once again to be consistent with an eruptive event. A rapid response cruise was quickly put together. Thanks to the cooperation of a lot of people at NSF, NOAA-PMEL, UCSD-SIO ship ops, the crew of the RV New Horizon, and all of the participating investigators and their home institutions, we were able to make the fastest directed response yet to a seismic event remotely detected by the SDSU system. Special thanks go also to Sandy O'Brien for her Herculean efforts to get needed radioisotopes to us on the ship. 16 scientists (UP, UW, AOS, RSMAS, and PMEL-NOAA), and 12 ships crew members departed Eureka at ~0930 4/10/01 after solving some last minute equipment glitches. We arrived on station at ~0200 4/11/01 and commenced CTD-rosette casts shortly thereafter. Over 4 days, 25 vertical CTD-optical-bottle casts, and 2 camera/MAPR (Miniature Autonomous Plume Recorder) later we had found no evidence of eruptive activity. We found near bottom particle anomalies with and without minor thermal anomalies (likely nepheloid layer), and a recurring, subtle (~0.003 oC), vertically very narrow temperature anomaly without any discernible particle anomaly at 2800 m, but no water column signal that can be confidently associated with hydrothermal venting, let alone an extrusive (eruptive) event. We endeavored to obtain vertical profiles of physical and chemical measurements in a pattern intended to greatly reduce the possibility that we simply "missed" existing hydrothermal plumes. Our intention was to thoroughly survey an expanding portion of the Jackson Segment in order to either find any hydrothermal plumes, or to support the assertion that this seismic event was not associated with an extrusive event and was not accompanied by increased hydrothermal venting at the seafloor. All of the water samples still need to be analyzed for diverse chemical species, including gases and trace metals that are diagnostic for hydrothermal discharge. However, our preliminary conclusions are that the April, 2001 seismic event did not represent an extrusive event. Such findings should be useful to seismologists in refining their ability to interpret future seismic event. --- Jim Cowen (UH), Ed Baker (PMEL), and the Gorda Ridge 2001 Event Response Team
R/V ROGER REVELLE
R/V MELVILLE
R/V NEW HORIZON
R/V ROBERT GORDON SPROUL
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