CONTACT:  Patricia Viets, NOAA            FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                          6/1/98

Three scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been honored by the International Association for Great Lakes Research for a paper they published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

Troy L. Holcombe and Lisa A. Taylor, both of NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center in Boulder, Colo., and David F. Reid of NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., received the award along with colleagues John S. Warren of the Canadian Hydrographic Service, and Charles E. Herdendorf of Ohio State University.

The scientists received the association's prestigious Chandler-Misener Award, which is presented annually to the authors of the paper judged to be most notable in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. Their paper, "Lakefloor Geomorphology of Western Lake Erie," presents a discussion of western Lake Erie geology, as revealed by new bathymetry that the authors compiled. The paper includes a full-color bathymetric map of western Lake Erie.

The paper was evaluated on the basis of originality, substantial research contribution, and clarity of presentation by a panel of judges chosen from the association's officers and general membership.

The bathymetry and resulting paper are an outgrowth of NOAA's Great Lakes Data Rescue Project, carried out at NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center, and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. An international agreement between NOAA and the Canadian Hydrographic Service serves as the basis for U.S. and Canadian cooperative efforts to assemble new bathymetry for the four Great Lakes shared by the two countries. This is the second year in a row that NOAA scientists have won the award.