Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SR126 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 126
2	2	WHEREAS, The Senate of the State of Texas is pleased to
3	3	recognize the Geronimo Creek Atmospheric Monitoring Station for
4	4	31 years of ongoing measurements of the aerosol optical depth,
5	5	total precipitable water, and total column ozone in the
6	6	atmosphere over Guadalupe County; and
7	7	WHEREAS, These ongoing measurements have become the
8	8	longest series of such measurements in the United States since
9	9	the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory measured aerosol
10	10	optical depth and total precipitable water at Table Mountain,
11	11	California, from 1926 to 1957; and
12	12	WHEREAS, The measured and photographic clarity of the sky
13	13	over the station has improved despite the periodic arrival of
14	14	volcanic aerosols from the historic 1991 eruption of Mount
15	15	Pinatubo in the Philippines, smoke from western states and
16	16	Mexico, dust from the Sahara Desert, and smog from the Ohio and
17	17	Tennessee Valleys; and
18	18	WHEREAS, The average total water vapor, which is the
19	19	principal greenhouse gas, has remained stable for 31 years,
20	20	despite the increase caused by the historic 1997-1998 El Niño
21	21	effect and the decrease caused by the extraordinarily dry
22	22	2010-2011 La Niña effect; these measurements were made by
23	23	instruments calibrated at Hawaii's high-altitude Mauna Loa
24	24	Observatory annually from 1992 to 2018; and
25	25	WHEREAS, Important discoveries at the Geronimo Creek
26	26	Atmospheric Monitoring Station led to a 1993 Rolex Award; the
27	27	station's findings have appeared in leading scientific journals,
28	28	including an error in the National Aeronautics and Space
29	29	Administration's ozone satellite that was published in Nature in
30	30	1993 and the discovery by Sarah Anna Mims of living microbes in
31	31	biomass smoke from Yucatan, Mexico, that began the new field of
32	32	science called pyroaerobiology, published in Atmospheric
33	33	Environment in 2004; and
34	34	WHEREAS, Forrest M. Mims III, scientist-in-residence at
35	35	the station, has described atmospheric conditions over Guadalupe
36	36	County while representing the county at the Alamo Area Council of
37	37	Governments; he has also described these conditions in many
38	38	scientific papers and in many of his science columns for the
39	39	Seguin Gazette and the San Antonio Express-News; he has devoted
40	40	many years to encouraging children, students, and citizen
41	41	scientists to employ photography and simple instruments he has
42	42	designed to record the clarity of the atmosphere over Texas; now,
43	43	therefore, be it
44	44	RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 87th
45	45	Legislature, hereby recognize the Geronimo Creek Atmospheric
46	46	Monitoring Station as it begins its 32nd year of measurements of
47	47	aerosol optical depth and total precipitable water, the longest
48	48	such series in the United States; and, be it further
49	49	RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for
50	50	the station as an expression of esteem from the Texas Senate.
51	51	Campbell
52	52	________________________________
53	53	President of the Senate
54	54	I hereby certify that the
55	55	above Resolution was adopted by
56	56	the Senate on March 9, 2021.
57	57	________________________________
58	58	Secretary of the Senate
59	59	________________________________
60	60	Member, Texas Senate