SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 126
WHEREAS, The Senate of the State of Texas is pleased to
recognize the Geronimo Creek Atmospheric Monitoring Station for
31 years of ongoing measurements of the aerosol optical depth,
total precipitable water, and total column ozone in the
atmosphere over Guadalupe County; and
WHEREAS, These ongoing measurements have become the
longest series of such measurements in the United States since
the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory measured aerosol
optical depth and total precipitable water at Table Mountain,
California, from 1926 to 1957; and
WHEREAS, The measured and photographic clarity of the sky
over the station has improved despite the periodic arrival of
volcanic aerosols from the historic 1991 eruption of Mount
Pinatubo in the Philippines, smoke from western states and
Mexico, dust from the Sahara Desert, and smog from the Ohio and
Tennessee Valleys; and
WHEREAS, The average total water vapor, which is the
principal greenhouse gas, has remained stable for 31 years,
despite the increase caused by the historic 1997-1998 El Niño
effect and the decrease caused by the extraordinarily dry
2010-2011 La Niña effect; these measurements were made by
instruments calibrated at Hawaii's high-altitude Mauna Loa
Observatory annually from 1992 to 2018; and
WHEREAS, Important discoveries at the Geronimo Creek
Atmospheric Monitoring Station led to a 1993 Rolex Award; the
station's findings have appeared in leading scientific journals,
including an error in the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration's ozone satellite that was published in Nature in
1993 and the discovery by Sarah Anna Mims of living microbes in
biomass smoke from Yucatan, Mexico, that began the new field of
science called pyroaerobiology, published in Atmospheric
Environment in 2004; and
WHEREAS, Forrest M. Mims III, scientist-in-residence at
the station, has described atmospheric conditions over Guadalupe
County while representing the county at the Alamo Area Council of
Governments; he has also described these conditions in many
scientific papers and in many of his science columns for the
Seguin Gazette and the San Antonio Express-News; he has devoted
many years to encouraging children, students, and citizen
scientists to employ photography and simple instruments he has
designed to record the clarity of the atmosphere over Texas; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 87th
Legislature, hereby recognize the Geronimo Creek Atmospheric
Monitoring Station as it begins its 32nd year of measurements of
aerosol optical depth and total precipitable water, the longest
such series in the United States; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for
the station as an expression of esteem from the Texas Senate.
Campbell
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President of the Senate
I hereby certify that the
above Resolution was adopted by
the Senate on March 9, 2021.
________________________________
Secretary of the Senate
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Member, Texas Senate