August 2, 1999

VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF DECLASSIFIED ARCTIC IMAGES TO HELP RESEARCH GLOBAL WARMING

                              THE WHITE HOUSE

                       Office of the Vice President
___________________________________________________________________________
___
For Immediate Release                                   Contact:
Monday, August 2, 1999                                  202-456-7035

       VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF DECLASSIFIED ARCTIC
                  IMAGES TO HELP RESEARCH GLOBAL WARMING

    Calls on Congress to Fully Fund the Administration's Climate Change
                                Initiatives

     Washington, D.C. -- Vice President Gore today announced the
declassification and release of 59 satellite images of the Arctic Ocean
that will be used by scientists to better understand the interaction
between polar ice caps and global warming.

     Release of the high-resolution images was approved by the National
Imagery Mapping Agency at the request of the National Science Foundation
(NSF). NSF is the primary U.S. sponsor of SHEBA, an international
expedition to the Arctic that has documented changes in the ice pack
consistent with those expected as a result of global warming.

     "No place on Earth is more sensitive to global warming than the
Arctic, and these satellite images provide scientists with valuable data
for understanding how climate change affects this complex region," Vice
President Gore said.  "By making these satellite images available to the
scientific community, we take another important step toward meeting the
challenge of global warming."

     The Vice President announced the release at the National Geographic
Society, where he led a discussion on climate change with a group of
youngsters attending the Better World Science Camp. He was joined by Bill
Nye, the host of Disney's Bill Nye the Science Guy, who helped teach the
campers about the study of ice cores.

     In his remarks today, the Vice President also noted the recent drought
and heat wave gripping much of the country.

     "We had heat waves long before there was any threat of global
warming," Vice President Gore said. "But global warming is real and we
should act together now so that in the future our families will not have to
suffer more extreme weather of all kinds."

     SHEBA ? formally known as the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean
Project ? is jointly sponsored by the governments of the United States,
Canada, and Japan. As part of the project, a Canadian icebreaker was
deliberately trapped in Arctic ice for a full year in 1997 and 1998 so that
more than 100 scientists could take measurements of the atmosphere, ocean,
and ice. Over the course of the year, the ship drifted 1500 miles with the
shifting ice.

     Preliminary findings from SHEBA show that the Arctic ice sheet is
roughly five percent smaller, and one meter thinner, than in the 1970s.
Scientists believe that continued shrinkage of the ice pack could
accelerate global warming because ice reflects more incoming solar
radiation than the ocean does.

     The newly released satellite images show the area around the trapped
icebreaker over a period of several months. SHEBA scientists will use the
images, in conjunction with data gathered on the ice, to develop a better
understanding of changes in the ice's surface and reflectivity.

     Declassification of the images, taken by U.S. intelligence satellites,
was facilitated by MEDEA, a group of scientists that works closely with the
intelligence community to examine and use national security data for
scientific research. MEDEA was established in 1991 as an outgrowth of
discussions initiated by then-Senator Gore.

     "By working in partnership, our intelligence and scientific
communities are advancing vital research that will help us understand, and
meet, critical challenges like global warming," the Vice President said.

     Vice President Gore also called on Congress to fully fund the
President's Climate Change Technology Initiative and to drop legislative
"riders" that would hamper the Administration's efforts to address global
warming.

     The Administration, which secured a record $1 billion this year for
clean energy research and development, is proposing an increase to $1.37
billion in fiscal year 2000. So far, Congress has appropriated almost none
of the proposed increase. In addition, several appropriations bills include
language that could block ongoing initiatives, including voluntary programs
with industry that reduce energy waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

     "The evidence of global warming grows stronger every day, yet Congress
is trying to strangle common-sense programs that save energy, save
consumers money, and reduce global warming pollution," Vice President Gore
said. "I urge Congress to work with us, not against us, to meet the
challenge of climate change."

Today's report can be found at:
www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/NSTC/PCAST/pcastdocs.html

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