Petit won the David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism - News for his article, "Perilous Waters: A climate surprise may be brewing in the North Atlantic," which was published on April 1, 2002. As one of the judges on the award committee noted, "It was the first popular media article on the recently released data about freshening in the North Atlantic, and led to a host of other articles and media coverage on the topic in 2002." The story was based on a presentation at the 2002 AGU/ASLO Ocean Sciences Meeting by Robert Dickson of CFAS, The Laboratory, and colleagues in the United Kingdom and Germany.
As reported by Petit, Paris is currently almost 20 degrees Fahrenheit [10 degrees Celsius] warmer on average than Gander, Newfoundland, although at the same latitude. The North Atlantic Ocean's currents account for Europe's milder climate, but for four decades, an increased flow of fresh water has entered the North Atlantic and threatens to chill Europe and disrupt weather patterns worldwide. Petit interviewed a number of scientists who helped explain the phenomenon and commented on Dickson's research.
Petit's winning article may be read at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/features/petit_climate.htm
Patric Senson and Jim Handman won the Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism - Features for their program, "The Science of Climate Change," broadcast by CBC Radio on November 16, 2002. Handman is senior producer of Quirks & Quarks, and Senson was producer of this program. It was pegged to Canada's accession to the Kyoto accord and the Canadian government's release of a plan to achieve the country's climate change targets.
The award committee noted that the program "involves a host who leads a discussion that draws on contributions from a variety of experts who discuss various aspects of this important - and not-without-some-controversy - subject. And it is done in a fashion that both informs and maintains listener interest, so that, in the end, each can arrive at their conclusion.
The winning Quirks & Quarks broadcast may be heard at http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/quirks/archives/02-03/nov16.html#1
The Perlman and Sullivan Awards will be presented on December 10, during Honors Evening at AGU's 2003 Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California. Each award consists of a plaque and a $2,000 stipend.