Information transfer

66 I S O - U N E S C O : Information Transfer. 2nd ed., I n t e r n a t i o n a l Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, 1982, 522 pp., ISBN 92 67 10058 0, ISO Standards H a n d b o o k No. 1 ; S F r 110.--. ISO is the specialized international agency for standardization, comprising the national standards bodies of nearly 90 countries. The object of ISO is to p r o m o t e d the d e v e l o p m e n t of standards globally with a view to facilitating international exchange of goods and services, and to p r o m o t e co-operation in the sphere of intellectual, scientific, technological and e c o n o m i c activity. ISO brings t o g e t h e r the interests of producers, users, governments and the scientific comm u n i t y . ISO standards are in wide use t h r o u g h o u t all c o n t i n e n t s in practically every area of t e c h n o l o g y . This h a n d b o o k no. 1 on i n f o r m a t i o n transfer is mainly c o m p i l e d for the scientific c o m m u n i t y , particularly for authors, publishers and librarians, but for t h o r o u g h readers as well. S o m e 60 international standards are grouped in f o u r parts: (a) Library Science and D o c u m e n t a t i o n ; (b) T e r m i n o l o g y ; (c) D o c u m e n tary R e p r o d u c t i o n and (d) Miscellaneous. S o m e samples of standards may illustrate the scope. ISO 215 - 1976 deals with presentation of c o n t r i b u t i o n to periodicals. ISO 214 - 1976 covers on

12 pages all aspects of abstracts for publications. ISO 690 - 1975 is on bibliographical references, and ISO 832 - 1975 supplues 40 pages of abbreviations used in various languages for bibliographic references. ISO 2108 - 1978 explains the International Standard B o o k N u m b e r i n g ISBN, and ISO 3297 - 1975 is for the International Standard Serial N u m b e r i n g ISSN (inter alia applied for periodicals). O t h e r standards provide transliterations of arabic and slavic cyrillic characters, or solve the puzzles of symbols for languages. ISO 216 - 1975 on writing paper A and B series is useful for everybody. ISO 3166 - 1981 supplies 40 pages of alpha-2 and alpha-3 codes for the representation of names of countries and is thus essential for a n y b o d y organizing an international meeting. ISO 2145 1978 on n u m b e r i n g of divisions and subdivisions in written d o c u m e n t s can be r e c o m m e n d e d to any graduate student. The b o o k presents essential background material for a n y b o d y engaged in the scientific c o m m u n i t y . J. H o t h m e r , F.R. G e r m a n y

T.D. Allan (Editor): Satellite Microwave Remote Sensing. Ellis H o r w o o d Series in Marine Science. Ellis H o r w o o d Ltd., Chichester, England (Halstead Press; a division o f J o h n Wiley & Sons), 1983, 526 pp., hardcover, L stg. 45.00. The u n t i m e l y demise of S E A S A T in O c t o b e r 1978 after little m o r e than a h u n d r e d days operations was a salutary r e m i n d e r to the scientific c o m m u n i t y that space is still the new frontier. Because S E A S A T was an e x p e r i m e n t a l satellite there was no back-up, and the scientists w h o had such high hopes for the mission objectives of m o n i t o r i n g marine c o n d i t i o n s using m i c r o w a v e sensors were dismayed to learn that no follow-up w o u l d be possible for nearly a decade. S E A S A T carried a set of m i c r o w a v e sensors that was specifically assembled

for the study of the sea surface, including a radar altimeter (ALT), and L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a wind scatterometer (SASS) and a scanning multi-channel microwave radiometer (SMMR). These sensors were supported by a visible and infrared r a d i o m e t e r (VIRR). Interest in the S E A S A T mission was world-wide, particularly in those countries with a need for a day/night, allweather surveillance of their coastal and off-shore waters. Prior to the launch of S E A S A T a group of E u r o p e a n scientists f o r m e d a planning c o m m i t t e e with