Palmer LTER: Making News, Making Names

An article in a recent issue of U.S. News and World Report features Palmer researchers William Fraser and Donna Patterson, mentioning the LTER program.

"Antarctic Meltdown: Is the Heatwave on the Antarctic Penninsula a Harbinger of Global Climate Change?" by Charles W. Petit, who visited Palmer during the past research season is available online at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/000228/warming.htm

As a result of the recommendation David Karl (Principal Investigator, PAL LTER) formulated and submitted to the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN), the term Southern Ocean has been approved for U.S. Government use.

In September 1998 ACAN had forwarded Karl’s recommendation, with ACAN endorsement, to the Foreign Names Committee, (FCN) which has jurisdiction over the naming of ocean areas.

Recently the Foreign Names Committee reported its decision to the full U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

According to the report, "The Committee's most significant decision during the reporting period [April-October 1999] was the adoption of the term Southern Ocean as a standard name for the body of water surrounding the continent of Antarctica..."

The FNC staff found that the term enjoyed some usage in general geographic references (e.g., The Times Atlas) and wide usage in scientific and research literature. The National Science Foundation in particular favored the adoption of the term because, in the absence of a Board-approved name, its publications were inconsistent with community literature.

In a parallel activity, the International Hydrographic Hydrographic Organization has decided (through a referendum of its member states) to use the term Southern Ocean in the next draft of its Special Publication No. 23, "Limits in the Oceans and Seas."