University Daily Kansan / Thursday, October 29, 1987
Nation/World
Scientist says climates may change
Experts say 'greenhouse' effect may become noticeable within ten years
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The long-debated "greenhouse" warming of Earth could become noticeable in the next decade, a climate expert said yesterday.
While weather varies naturally from year to year, the "greenhouse effect should rise above the level of natural variability by the 1990s," said James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
He was among several speakers at the opening session at the First North American Conference on Preparing for Climate Change.
Many scientists have warned in recent years that Earth's atmosphere is being changed into a greenhouse environment, trapping more heat and thus can escape into space and thus raising the temperature of the planet.
They said that this is a result of
adding carbon dioxide and other gases to Earth's atmosphere, largely through burning fossil fuels and wood.
Stephen Schneider of the National Center for Atmospheric Research told the weather and environmental experts that there is no debate on whether the warming would occur, only over the amount and the results.
Alan Hecht, director of the U.S. National Climate Program Office, added, "It's clear now that there are changes coming, and we're going to face up to some ways of dealing with it in the coming decade."
Most studies of the greenhouse effect have concentrated on the results of doubling carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a long-term outlook for the future. James Hansen, said Hansen, adding that the problem was more immediate than that.
The changes have been obscured by normal variations in the weather, he said, but would become large enough in the 1990s to be noticed. Even a change as small as a warming in Earth's average temperature will cause an (1.8 degree Fahrenheit) will lead to changes that can be noticed, he said.
While possible changes are figured in terms of the average temperature, it will result in more extreme days — more days of 90 degrees Fahrenheit — which can affect people, crops, energy use and other parts of society.
Added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has raised the planet's average temperature asobout 0.6 degrees Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit) over the last century, but in the coming 100 years the rise could be 2 degrees to 5 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit), Hansen added.
But just over the next few decades an increase of 1 degree to 2 degrees Celsius "will make the Earth significantly warmer than it has been," he said.
The most likely results of a warming include increasing rain and snowfall in some areas, warming of the polar regions in winter and a cooling of the summer, Hecht said. He said that this could lead to changes in farm areas.
J. A. W. McCullock, director of the Canadian Climate Center, said long-term effects could mean the melting of glaciers and rise in levels and threatened coastal areas.
Inland, he said, dryness would likely lower the level of the Great Lakes, reduce the water available for hydroelectric energy, lower agricultural yield, damage wetlands and increase the threat of forest fire.
Jewelry, currency retrieved from Titanic
The Associated Press
PARIS — A safe and a satchel raised from the wreck of the Titanic were opened on live television yesterday, yielding sgay banknotes, coins and jewelry, including a gold pendant with a small diamond and the inscription, "May This Be Your Lucky Star."
The program, "Return to the Titanic Live" also presented some evidence that a fire in the hold held a role in its sinking 75 years ago.
A purser's safe brought up from the wreck last summer contained an
assortment of gold-colored British coins, whose value was estimated by an expert on the program to be about $5,000.
The leather satchel was opened to reveal jewelry, a watch, wads of American currency and an object — possibly a stickpin case — with the initials "R.L.B." It apparently belonged to Richard L. Beckwalt, a first class passenger who escaped the sinking ship on a lifeboat with his wife. A razor blade box bearing Beckwalt's initials also was found.
The satchel also contained the inscribed pendant and a bracelet
with the name "Amy" written in tiny diamonds.
The currency was said to be ... excellent condition, although it looked soggy and muddy. "I should recognize the Yankee dollar when I see it, but I don't," said the show's host, actor Telly Savalas.
The artifacts were scooped from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean from an expedition to the sunken luxury ship Abeking, a two-hour international broadcast.
Inside the studio, uniformed guards with shotguns and automatic weapons guarded the artifacts
insured for $10 million, while the black tie audience of scientists and investors watched the production.
Viewers also saw other artifacts recovered by the expedition, including the oceanliner's giant bell, porthole, an 18-inch dome-shaped china and silvered silver servants trays.
Expedition organizers said physical evidence recovered in the dive shows that a coal fire softened the hull.
The program also said evidence recovered from the wreck indicated a fire in the Titanic's hold played a role in its sinking.
Cuomo backers find committee leaders have police records
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Two politica activists who hope to draft New York Gov. Mario Cuomo to run for president asked two other draft-Cuomo committees to join their effort, unaware that the other groups were run by a convicted bomber and a militant anti-nuclear activist.
James W. Brandon and Marc A. Brailou, co-chairmen of the Draft Cuomo for President Committee, seemed shocked yesterday to hear the resumes of their counterparts on the other draft committees.
"We're not private eyes," said Brailou, a 31-year-old financial analyst in suburban Washington. "We want to be safe and secure with the phone checking on these guys."
Cuomo has repeatedly said he had no plans to run for the Democratic nomination. Cuomo's spokesman, Francis Sheehan, said the governor had "absolutely nothing to do with these committees."
Brandon, a former Arkansas state legislator who later worked for Sen. David Pryor, D-Dark, said he and Bratlow laid a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission and then touched with the other two committees.
Brandon said he wrote a letter to Victor Vancier, listed as head of the National Draft Cuomo Committee, and wrote that he was appointed to Eugene Stilp, founder of the
"It was very innocent," Brailov said. "We went into the FEC and got a list of draft-Cuomo committees."
Cuomo for President Committee.
Vanderi, a Queens, N.Y., resident once a leader of the militant Jewish Defense League, faces sentencing tomorrow for a series of fire bombings in New York City between 1984 and 1986. He was also sentenced to two years in prison in 1979 for plotting to bomb and burn New York property owned by the Egyptian government and its employees.
Asked if he knew Vancier was a convicted bomber, Brandon told a reporter, "No, dear, I didn't know his occupation."
When told that Vancier faced sentencing tomorrow, Brandon said,
"Then I doubt if I'll hear from him."
Stilp, of Harrisburg, Pa., was escorted out of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting in 1985 after he poured a red liquid he called "sybilic blood" on the commissioners' table. He had been trying to prevent the NRC from voting to restart Three Mile Island's Unit 1.
Brailov said Stilp wouldn't tell them anything, but had proposed to talk the invitation over with his colleagues.
"We never heard from him again," Brailov said.
Stilp was out of his office yesterday. A woman who answered the call said Stilp was a research analyst at the congressional conservation committee.
Stilp, a non-practicing lawyer, made an unsuccessful run for Congress in 1986.
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