BITNET: A TOOL FOR COMMUNICATIONS AMONG GEOGRAPHERS*

BITNET is a telecommunications network for higher education. The network's general characteristics, services, the availability of BITNET to academic geographers, and their use of the system are examined. Although more than 80% of geography faculty in the United States and Canada are at BITNET-supported institutions, a survey of AAG Specialty Group chairs suggests that geographers' actual use of BITNET is relatively low.     

Circulation and mixing in estuary outflows

The outflow of brackish waters from the Tees estuary on an ebb tide forms a plume which is initially spread by the action of gravity. Under quiescent conditions, the rate of vertical mixing of the brackish field is relatively slow and an area of low salinity may form in the surface waters as a result of the superimposition of the outflow plumes from successive tides. A field area of some 70 km² has been observed to be enclosed by the 34.2 × 10^?3 contour.Averaged over a tidal period, the estuary outflow from the Tees forms a broad plume of low-salinity water which extends to seaward of the 20-m contour. The movement of the field thereafter depends on the residual coastal drift which runs either to the northwest or to the southeast with a typical speed of 0.015 m s^?1. The tidally averaged vertical mixing coefficient in this offshore field was estimated to be about 10^?4 m^?2 s^?1, which is similar to that off the Wear estuary and an order of magnitude smaller than that calculated for the waters off the Humber.     

The Practical Salinity Scale 1978: Fitting the data

Three equations have been fitted to new data relating the electrical conductivity of seawater to the Practical Salinity Scale 1978. These equations have been designed for the reduction of in-situ measurements of temperature, pressure, and conductivity from anywhere in the world oceans. The standard deviation of the fit is roughly equivalent topm0.0015permilin salinity depending on the pressure at which the data is taken and, as such is commensurate with the best accuracy attainable with modern instruments.     

Foraminifera,testate amoebae and diatoms as sea‐level indicators in UK saltmarshes: a quantitative multiproxy approach

The vertical distribution of foraminifera, testate amoebae and diatoms was investigated in saltmarshes in the Taf estuary (south Wales), the Erme estuary (south Devon) and the Brancaster marshes (north Norfolk), to assess the use of multiproxy indicators in sea‐level reconstructions. A total of 116 samples were subjected to regression analyses, using the program calibrate, with duration of tidal flooding as the dependent variable. We found that the relationship between flooding duration and taxa was strongest for diatoms and testate amoebae and weakest for foraminifera. The vertical range of testate amoebae in saltmarshes is small. Their lower tolerance limit in present‐day saltmarshes occurs where tides cover the marsh less than a combined total of 7 days (1.9%) in a year. However, they are important sea‐level indicators because information for sea‐level reconstruction is best derived from sediments that originate in the highest part of the intertidal zone. Diatoms span the entire sampled range in intertidal and supratidal areas, whereas the upper limit of foraminifera is found very close to the highest astronomical tide level. Local training sets provide reconstructions with higher accuracy and precision than combined training sets, but their use is limited if they do not represent adequate modern analogues for fossil assemblages. Although analyses are time consuming, a regional training set of all three groups of micro‐organisms yields highly accurate (r² = 0.80) and precise (low value of root mean square error) predictions of tidal level. This approach therefore could improve the accuracy and precision of Holocene sea‐level reconstructions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infrared constraints on the dark mass concentration observed in the cluster Abell 1942

We present a deep H -band image of the region in the vicinity of the cluster Abell 1942 containing the puzzling dark matter concentration detected in an optical weak lensing study by Erben et al. We demonstrate that our limiting magnitude, H =22 , would be sufficient to detect clusters of appropriate mass out to redshifts comparable with the mean redshift of the background sources. Despite this, our infrared image reveals no obvious overdensity of sources at the location of the lensing mass peak, nor an excess of sources in the I − H versus H colour–magnitude diagram. We use this to constrain further the luminosity and mass-to-light ratio of the putative dark clump as a function of its redshift. We find that for spatially flat cosmologies, background lensing clusters with reasonable mass-to-light ratios lying in the redshift range 0< z <1 are strongly excluded, leaving open the possibility that the mass concentration is a new type of truly dark object.     

Till in the marine environment

Till is of common occurrence in the marine environment and can be both subglacial and proglacial in origin. Former glacial margins are often represented by till tongues, that are interbedded with stratified glaciomarine sediment, and the relationship is readily mappable using seismic reflection techniques. It is inferred that within individual till tongues, sediment-gravity flow deposits form transitional contacts with till of subglacial origin, but these contacts cannot be distinguished on seismic profiles. These unstratified, gravity-induced deposits formed in close proximity to the glacial source at the grounding line are considered to be secondary tills (flow-till complex) in terms of the INQUA classification of tills. Till-tongue successions and till deltas are large, ice-marginal depocentres associated with floating front ice-margins, and appear to be closely related in origin. Tabular and hummocky moraines of the mid-Norwegian Shelf also are considered to be products of floating-front margins and represent a large proportion of the retreat tills formed during ice recession. Seismostratigraphic evidence for channelisation in ice-marginal deposits appears to provide a means of distinguishing between former tidewater and floating-front margins.     

The JPL deep-well mid-infrared array camera

We describe the development of a mid-infrared camera intended for use at the Palomar 5-m telescope and at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. The camera is based on Rockwell's HF-16 128×128 Si:As BIB array. This array is unusual in that it has a well depth of approximately 30 million electrons; this will allow the use of traditional broadband astronomical filters (N and Q) while keeping a reasonable field-of-view. Measured array performance indicates that it has a read noise of 1100 electrons and shows non-linearities of <1% up to 65% of full well. In this paper, we discuss the array and its operating characteristics and we give a brief overview of the camera design.National Research Council research associate at JPLSummer Undergraduate Research Fellow at JPL