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Show Signpost- Friday, May 31, 1983 3 Volcanic gases affectclimatic conditions (Continued from pane 21 "Right now at Cable 2U, we have eight students who are getting practical experience with television. Although we're a fledgling operation, we're working with the Department of Communication to offer students more opportunities in cablecasting production and management." Currently four students at Cable 20 are console operators. The operators monitor both the signal being received by the satellite and what individual cable subscribers are receiving in their homes. They are responsible for switching the signal output from the program sources: satellite, character generator, slides or video tape. The other four students occupy management and production positions: station manager, producercopy writer, traffic engineer and calendar editor. Wolcott said, in addition to giving students television experience, Weber State Cable provides alternative educational programming for adults as a public service. Cable 20's programs air Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. After programming concludes, a community and campus calendar runs continuously until morning. Wolcott said that in the future, Weber State Ca'ile hopes to do more in helping students gain television experience by producing its own programs. "We hope to produce a student-run newscast, re-broadcasts of athletic and cultural events and other programs of interest to campus and community. Now we're constrained by limited financial resources, but we certainly don't lack program suggestions or enthusiastic students," said Wolcott. The students and staff at Weber State Cable are currently producing station identification and promotional spots, developing publicity materials and planning for the fall program schedule, which will likely include locally originated productions and extended viewing hours. (Continued from page 2) Volcanic materials thrown into the lower atmosphere also can produce short-term effects on the weather. For example, towns close to Mount St. Helens experienced dramatically decreased daytime temperatures and increased nighttime temperatures soon after the volcano erupted. Within a few days, however, temperatures in the region were back to normal. This short-term effect is similar to that produced by a heavy cloud cover: a cloud of debris blocks out sunlight during the day, and keeps heat radiated by the Earth from escaping at night. But winds, natural turbulence and rainfall soon disperse the cloud and return the weather to normal. Robock notes that his model does not predict climate in specific regions because it averages out over large areas. Even general predictions can't be made by considering the volcanoes alone. "There may be compensating factors," Robock says. "The eruption of El Chichon in 1982 was big enough to lower the average temperature of the Northern Hemisphere by half a degree centigrade, or almost one degree Fahrenheit, for years. But instead of cooling, we saw an elevation of temperature after its eruption. El Nino's wind brought a warming trend, and its effects overshadowed those of the volcano." El Nino, "The Child," often occurring around Christmastime, is the name given a dislocation of the world's largest weather system. Caused by a periodic heating of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, El Nino's influence can shatter normal weather patterns over much of the Earth. In addition to increasing our understanding of long-term cooling, the data from Robock's model may provide another benefit -- a more accurate assessment of the effects of carbon dioxide on climate. "By subtracting the contribution of volcanoes to climate, the trends caused by increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, including any indications of a greenhouse warming effect, should become clearer," he says. I r 5? mr, i , - " - :'. - r; r V I " ' I I l : lis I , I t .11' I ( - .. 4 v i l ; Wednesday May 22 and again on May 29, the Pepsi inflatable can was at Weber. Students from John Peterson's Public Relations management class were given the assignment to promote this year's Crystal Crest Award Ceremony. Students were lured to the "can", given free Pepsi, questioned on their knowledge of Crystal Crest, and entered '1 iifltw a drawing for Pepsi donated T-shirts with the Crystal Crest emblem on the back, free tickets to Crystal Crest and two backstage passes to meet Chubby Checker. The turnout appeared to be moderate but as one student said, "I didn't know about Crystal Crest before, but I do now and 1 think I'll go this Saturday and take mv wife." Cable 20 gives students TV experience FREE Mini-lessons - FREE Hot Dogs Windsurfing of Ogden Summer Opening Saturday, June 1, Noon - 5p.m. Hineview Reservoir - NEAR PORT RAMP or Road to Eden CSCW, INC Uli'LU- tilll'BVaUliLLLL: LLL U LrLlzlx fVO-Vl: LrLLLLLL' " LlrLL'LL, liVO-LL |