AGU Journal Highlights

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I. Highlights, including authors and their institutions

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The following highlights are from Geophysical Research Letters
(GRL). The research papers related to these Highlights will be
printed in the next paper issue of the journal following their
electronic publication.

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3. GPS data confirmed by a single source

The first reported results on a measuring technique for weather and
climate change prediction using Global Positioning System (GPS)
satellite data indicates that ground-based confirmation is not
needed to analyze the data. Wickert et al. ["GPS radio occultation
with CHAMP: Atmospheric profiling utilizing the space-based
single difference technique"] compared direct atmospheric
observations from a German satellite, a method called the "single-
difference technique," with previous satellite observations that
were confirmed through ground systems using the standard
"double-difference technique." The current process was needed to
correct for GPS signal scrambling imposed by the U.S. Department
of Defense until 2000. The researchers show that information from
the single difference technique is comparable to the double,
prompting them to conclude that the new technique can be used for
future atmospheric temperature and climate trend measurements.

Authors:
Jens Wickert, Georg Beyerle, Volker Schwieger, and Christoph
Reigber, Kinematics and Dynamics of the Earth, Potsdam,
Germany;
George A. Hajj, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Source: Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) paper
10.1029/2001GL013982, 2002

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4. Report offers detailed summary of closely watched Mt. Etna
eruption

Last year`s Mt. Etna volcanic eruption is widely considered the
most thoroughly monitored eruption in history. Patane et al.
["Tomographic images and 3D earthquake locations of the seismic
swarm preceding the 2001 Mt. Etna eruption: Evidence for a dyke
intrusion"] offer a complete summary of the seismic events, from
the tremors preceding the blast through the opening of fractures
that led to six eruptive centers activated simultaneously during one
of the world`s most intense eruptions in the past 30 years. The
researchers used tomographic mapping techniques to create a
three-dimensional look at part of the volcanoes` plumbing, finding
that a mass of rising magma, or dike, caused an intense series of
shallow underground earthquakes before the rupture. The
researchers identified 2,645 earthquakes in the week after the July
2001 eruption, which allowed them to accurately localize the
source of the magma that fed the active volcanic processes and
estimate its movement through the vents that led to the surface of
the mountain.

Authors:
Domenico Patane and Ornella Cocina, National Institute of
Geophysics and Vulcanology, Catania, Italy;
Claudio Chiarabba, Pasquale De Gori, Milena Moretti, and Enzo
Boschi, National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology, Rome,
Italy.

Source: Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) paper
10.1029/2001GL014391, 2002
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AGU Journal Highlights - 7 June 2002

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