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