Toward an understanding of global change

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:5978704

In the international scientific community, the International Council of Scientific Unions has organized the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) to address the problems of global change. The objective of the IGBP is to describe and understand the interactive physical, chemical and biological processes that regulate the total earth system, the unique environment that it provides for life, the changes that are occurring in this system, and the manner in which they are influenced by human activities. The IGBP is currently in its preparatory phase, during which the program's goals and research components are slowly evolving and coming into focus. In this report, a limited number of high-priority research initiatives are recommended for early implementation as part of the US contribution to the preparatory phase of the IGBP. The recommendations are based on the committee's analysis of the most critical gaps, not being addressed by existing programs, in the scientific knowledge needed to understand the changes that are occurring in the earth system on time scales of decades to centuries. These initiatives will build upon the capabilities of the US program in global change.

• Research Organization: National Research Council, Washington, DC (United States). Committee on Global Change
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; DOD; NASA; NSF; NOAA; USGS; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States); National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (United States); National Science Foundation, Washington, DC (United States); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington, DC (United States); Geological Survey, Reston, VA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AI01-87ER60574
• OSTI ID: 5978704
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/60574-T1; ON: DE92004303; CNN: OCE 8713699
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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