Sara Gille of UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography has documented an increase in water temperature that has occurred over the past 50 years in the sea region surrounding the Antarctic continent known as the “”Southern Ocean.””
Since 1950, a 0.17-degree Celsius increase was found in the 700- to 1,100-meter depth range, nearly doubling the global average. According to Gille, the implications of warming in the Antarctic region include the probable reduction of sea ice around the Antarctic continent, which could potentially alter the sea levels of water bodies worldwide. Because cold water holds carbon dioxide more efficiently, the temperature rise could have an adverse effect on the earth’s atmosphere, forcing it to store more greenhouse gases.
A fleet of marine “”robots”” deployed by the World Ocean Circulation Experiment in the 1990s obtained the evidence for Gille’s report. The robots, known as Autonomous Lagrangian Circulation Explorers, were released into different oceanic regions and at varying depths for 10 to 25 days. After gathering temperature data, the ALACE surfaced to transmit the information to a satellite. Gille used thousands of ALACE data points in her research.
Gille’s study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and can be found in the Feb. 15, 2002 issue of the journal Science.
Professor named associate editor for medical publication
Martin Stein, a professor of pediatrics at UCSD’s school of medicine, will serve as an associate editor on the newlylaunched Journal Watch Pediatrics and Medicine. The journal will be produced by the Massachusetts Medical Society, which also publishes the renowned New England Journal of Medicine.
Stein will serve as an expert of behavioral and developmental medicine on the newly formed editorial board. He will primarily focus his efforts toward articles dealing with the early recognition and intervention of adolescents with developmental delays, behavioral self-control deficiencies and setbacks in educational achievement and considerable family problems.
JWPAM will be the newest addition to the Journal Watch project, a series of investigative newsletters that provide clinicians with brief summaries of studies published in other medical journals relating to that area. JWPAM surveys over 28 prestigious medical publications on a monthly basis, seeking out studies that are significant to the field of pediatric medicine.
Stein became the first full-time practicing pediatrician to serve on UCSD’s medical school faculty in 1975. He has since worked to develop the medical school’s division of primary care pediatrics. In his work and teaching, he has integrated child development fundamentals into his general pediatric instruction. Stein authored the book “”Encounters with Children: Pediatric Behavior and Development,”” while also contributing work to the newest edition of Dr. Spock’s “”Baby and Child Care.””
JWPAM will be published 10 times per year. For more information about the new journal, you can visit the Journal Watch Web site at http://www.jwatch.org.
UC announces naming of new head of University Libraries
UC President Richard C. Atkinson announced the appointment of Daniel Greenstein as the new university librarian and executive director of the California Digital Library last week. Greenstein currently acts as the director of the Digital Library Federation in Washington, D.C.
Effective May 1, 2002, Greenstein will assume the management of a digital library project that boasts content and services ranking among the largest in the United States. The CDL is a joint program between the 10 UC campuses, and it concentrates on building increased access to content and services electronically for the academic community. Greenstein will also be responsible for library planning for the entire UC system.
Greenstein began his academic career as a senior lecturer in modern history at Glasgow University. It was at Glasgow that he became founding director of the university’s Arts Faculty Computing Facility. In 1996, he was appointed founding director of the United Kingdom’s Arts and Humanities Data Service.
