Toward an Understanding of Global Change Initial Priorities for U.S. Contributions to the International Geosphere - Biosphere Program (1988) / Chapter Skim
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2. Supporting Needs for Program Development
2. Supporting Needs for Program Development
Pages 27-44
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From page 27... ...
the exceedingly broad scope of the program, the need to blend new technology with traditional observational techniques on a worldwide scale, the need to plan and sustain a coordinated research and documentation effort over many decades, and the need to present to the public and policymakers in a timely and comprehensible manner the conclusions on complex issues of substantial and growing public concern. A number of common themes should guide the development of specific plans for research and observations to be carried out as part of the TGBP: .
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From page 28... ...
DOCUMENTING GLOBAL CHANGE At the core of the IGBP must be a systematic effort to document the significant changes on a global scale over the coming decades. This effort overlaps, but is distinct from, research initiatives aimed at elucidating key processes involved in such changes and efforts to examine the record of the past.
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From page 29... ...
Enhanced understanding resulting from process studies becomes reflected in improved algorithms in such models. Documentation of global change, on the other hand, implies determination of the time history of the state variables themselves.
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A final factor critically important to global change is the documentation of ah these items in a manner that wiD enable scientists 20 years from now to determine whether observed changes are real or merely artifacts of the way the measurements were made or interpreted. Difficult though it may be to sustain such measurements, documenting global change requires that they be sufficiently comprehensive both to enable the causes of observed changes to be inferred
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From page 31... ...
For other variables, such as temperature, we must rely on an extensive network of observations and international data exchange maintained for other purposes. For yet others, such as precipitation or subsurface ocean circulation, acceptable techniques applicable routinely on a global scale do not yet exist, and a research and development effort is called for to enable the most critically important gaps to be filled.
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From page 32... ...
The research and information management structures in IGBP should reflect the inherent characteristics of preinstrumental data. Additional Comments The conceptual distinctions made above between process studies, ongoing measurements, and earth history provide broad indications of the range of IGBP activities and as such may assist in defining programmatic structure for a measurement strategy, but they should not be regarded as rigid prescriptions.
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From page 33... ...
MEASUREMENT STRATEGY Implementation of [ong-term Space-based and In Situ Measurements The list of potentially important long-term global measurements is Tong and has not yet been reviewed in detail by this committee. Careful consideration will have to be given to the selection of the most critical variables for special attention, particularly in relation to the end-to-end performance attainable by augmenting existing data gathering and analysis activities, both remote sensing and in situ, and in relation to the potential for development of new techniques suitable for global deployment.
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From page 34... ...
The committee recommends that planning continue vigorously for the deployment in the mid-199Os of a more comprehensive long-term interagency and international Earth Observing System, with major components aboard a number of polar-orbiting platforms, supplemented by particular instruments in tropical and geostationary orbits, and building upon existing, ongoing research and operational observing programs. Special attention should be given to the integration of the space-derived data from EOS with complementary in situ data and vaTiciation studies to derive long-term analyzed global products containing documented information.
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From page 35... ...
with the ICSU practices for fuH access for scientists from ah nations. It would be essential that leading scientists spend significant blocks of time in residence in order to facilitate training of students and young scientists in global change research.
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From page 36... ...
It is thus essential to extend traditional concepts of data management to include the recapture and preservation of these derived products and the means to make them accessible to a group of users who may not be familiar on a day-to-day basis with aD the details of the original data stream. The sheer volume and complexity of primary data relevant to global change enforce utilization wherever possible of higher level syntheses or abstractions that have already been made by some other competent user.
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From page 37... ...
However, the volume and complexity of even present conventional data streams from in situ sensors are severely taxing the available capabilities, and major upgrades will be necessary to meet the information needs of the coming decades. In addition to the WDCs, there are operational exchange mechanisms in disciplinary areas for specific purposes that overlap with TGBP requirements, for example, the real-time exchange of meteoroTogical and ocean surface layer data over the WMO Global Telecommunications System for use in weather prediction.
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From page 38... ...
A top-down consideration of the entire system should include the end-to-end performance requirements for Tong-term measurements. The special needs of data from process studies at specific sites and investigations of global history, as weD as possible institutional arrangements for international exchange of all types of data, need to be considered.
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From page 39... ...
, and World Climate Research Program (WCRP) are often cited as models of institutional arrangements that give guidance to the ]
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From page 40... ...
The World Climate Research Program involves atmospheric science, oceanography, and land surface processes. Here the WMO/ ICSU links have been augmented by new arrangements between the ]
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From page 41... ...
, the International Forum on Earth Observations using Space Station Elements (IFEOS) , and the Coordination Group of Space Station Partners on the Use of Polar Platforms for Earth Observations.
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From page 42... ...
Universities make up the most central, pervasive, and stable infrastructure to provide the needed knowledge base, to develop the global model components, and of course, to educate an appropriate and adequate talent base to pursue the quest of understanding the earth system in the coming decades. Substantial research expertise also exists in a variety of industrial and nonprofit laboratories, which can offer specialized capabilities not available in university or federal laboratories.
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From page 43... ...
The federal laboratories are encouraged to strengthen their interdisciplinary and interagency programs in global change research, and to increase their interactions with university researchers and students to enhance effective use of these extensive national resources for research on global environmental change. It is clear that the breadth and scope of the IGBP necessarily involve the efforts on many federal agencies with diverse missions, capabilities, and constituencies.
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From page 44... ...
International Institute for Environment and Development and World Resources Institute, 1987. World Resources 1987, An Assessment of the Resource Base that Supports the Global Economy.
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