Date: 3 April 1995
From: physnews@aip.org (AIP listserver)
Subject: PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE #220 (04/03/95)
DURING A FULL MOON Earth's average global temperature is
0.02 K warmer than during a new moon. Robert Balling and Randall
Cerveny at Arizona State were able to correlate daily measurements
of global temperature for the period 1979 to 1994 with the 29.53-day
lunar cycle. The scientists assert that their results underscore both
the accuracy of daily global temperature readings and the notion that
the lunar phase needs to be considered in studies of short-term
temperature variability on Earth. (Science, 10 Mar)
TITAN HAS HYDROCARBON SEAS OR LAKES separated by continents. This
assessment, by Stanley Dermott of the University of Florida and Carl
Sagan of Cornell, is a compromise between the notion (derived from
photochemical studies) that the hydrocarbon seas are global and the
notion (based on recent infrared and radar observations) that such
seas are discontinuous. Titan's orbit around Saturn is highly
elliptical. Since the tidal effect on large seas would have made
Titan's orbit more circular than it is, Dermott and Sagan argue that
the seas are small, perhaps more like crater lakes.
(Nature, 16 March)
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- T o d d E. V a n H o o s e a r -
``'''vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu - vanhoose@msu.edu - vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu
(._.) Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI USA
(_) Computer Laboratory - Department of Communication
`---' <A HREF="http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/">My Home Page</A>
"Lottery: a tax on people who are bad at math."
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