EC44-5-116 Christmas at Wartime

Should we celebrate Christmas during war times? Why not? Does it help the heartache to sit glumly in the corner and moan? Will this help one or will it help the boy or girl in the service of his or her country? In these war times with all their bad influences and horrible happenings we need to keep up at home every type of mellowing influence and to search out all the inspirational ideals available. It's fun to make gifts. Much of the joy of Christmas comes in the anticipation and preparation. The making of gifts adds personal touch for both the giver and the one who receives the remembrance. The suggestions given in this circular have been chosen for their timeliness of materials available and usefulness. This publication was donated in the memory of Patricia Clare Bennett Meyer by her children.

An Intercomparison of Regional Atmospheric Circulation and the Melt Season Loss of Arctic Snow Cover and Sea Ice Extent Across the Land-Ocean Boundary

This study is designed to compare the monthly continental snow cover and sea ice extent loss in the Arctic with regional atmospheric conditions including: mean sea level pressure, 925 hPa air temperature, and mean wind direction among others during the melt season (March-August) over the 29-year study period 1979-2007. Little research has gone into studying the concurrent variations in the annual loss of continental snow cover and sea ice extent across the land-ocean boundary, since these data are largely stored in incompatible formats. However, the analysis of these data, averaged spatially over three autonomous study regions located in Siberia, North America, and Western Russia, reveals a distinct difference in the response of snow and sea ice to the atmospheric forcing. On average, sea ice extent is lost earlier in the year, in May, than snow cover, in June, although Arctic sea ice is located farther north than continental snow in all three study regions. Once the loss of snow and ice extent begins, snow cover is completely removed sooner than sea ice extent, even though ice loss begins earlier in the melt season. Further, the analysis of the atmospheric conditions surrounding loss of snow and ice cover over the independent study regions indicates that conditions of cool temperatures with strong northeasterly winds in the later melt season months are effective at removing sea ice cover, likely through ice divergence, as are warmer temperatures via southerly winds directly forcing melt. The results of this study set the framework for further analysis of the direct influence of snow cover loss on later melt season sea ice extents and the predictability of snow and sea ice extent responses to modeled future climate conditions

Bovine Tb Eradication Project – Recognizing Hot Button Issues

The Michigan Departments of Agriculture, Community Health, and Natural Resources, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Michigan State University work cooperatively together as the bovine TB eradication project partners. The interagency group combines expertise in epidemiology, veterinary and human medicine, pathology, wildlife biology, animal husbandry, regulatory law and policy and risk communications. The stakeholders, those impacted by the disease, include agriculture and tourism industry representatives, “Mom-and-Pop” businesses, hunters, wildlife enthusiasts, farmers, Local Health Departments and legislators. The regulatory agencies are the above mentioned project partners, excluding MSU and USDA Wildlife Services, both of which offer services to agencies and stakeholders. Eradicating bovine TB would not be difficult if there were no social issues surrounding it. The economy, hunting traditions, animal management, tourism and human health are all impacted by regulatory response to the disease. Often the social issues play a large role in decision making, therefore it is important to understand your clientele and anticipate public reaction to policy changes and requirements.

Diatoms and Tonsteins as Paleoenvironrnental and Paleodepositional Indicators in a Miocene Coal Bed, Costa Rica

Fresh-water diatoms are present in coal, and tonsteins (altered volcanic ash) are interbedded with the coal, in the Miocene Venado Formation on the southwest margin of the Limon Basin, in Provincia Alajuela, northern Costa Rica. The Venado Formation is composed of more than 300 m of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, limestone, volcaniclastics, and coal beds. The coal beds are of unknown lateral extent and mainly occur in the middle part of the formation. The Pataste coal bed occurs near the middle of the formation and is divided into three parts by two tonstein layers. The abundance of biogenic opaline material (diatoms) in the coal is believed to be a direct response to an influx of silica from volcanic tuffs that Later altered to the tonsteins. Diatoms are a useful microscopic tool for identifying the depositional environments of the Pataste coal deposit. The diatoms identified include Aulacosira ambigua, Pinnularia sp., Eunotia spp., and Achnanthes exigua, among others. The abundance of Aulacosira arnbigua suggests that an open-water lacustrine environment was present locally. Achnanthes exigua and the remaining diatom species are benthic forms that lived in shallow fresh-water to slightly acidic swamp environments. The different types of diatoms found in the coal indicate that swamp environments were intermixed with lacustrine environments during the formation of the peat deposit or that the coal records environmental changes through time.