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National Science  Foundation
Principal Areas of Focus
NSF programs address global change issues through investments in challenging
ideas, creative people, and effective tools. In particular, NSF global change
research programs support research and related activities to advance the
fundamental understanding of physical, chemical, biological, and human systems
and the interactions among them. The programs encourage interdisciplinary activities
and focus particularly on Earth system processes and the consequences of
change. NSF programs facilitate data acquisition and information management
activities necessary for fundamental research on global change. The programs
promote the development of advanced analytic methods and the creation of digital
models designed to improve understanding of Earth system processes and interactions.
NSF also supports fundamental research on the general processes used by organizations
to identify and evaluate policies for mitigation, adaptation, and other responses
to the challenge of varying environmental conditions. Through its investment,
NSF will contribute to the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) by providing
a comprehensive scientific foundation for many of the synthesis and analysis
products identified in the Strategic
Plan.
Program Highlights for FY 2004 and FY 2005
During 2004 and 2005, NSF will support research and related activities
addressing all of the CCSP program elements and the interdisciplinary science
aspects that link them. NSF will also support several key Climate
Change Research Initiative (CCRI) topics. NSF will continue to invest in collaborative
international programs such as the World
Climate Research Programme, the
International
Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, the International
Human Dimensions Programme, and Diversitas.
Atmospheric Composition
A major focus on atmospheric composition and atmospheric chemistry will continue
through programs in tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry. Studies of atmospheric
transport of constituents and aerosols will continue to provide insights about
how they affect the radiative and cloud nucleating properties of the atmosphere
and ultimately the climate. Studies to reduce uncertainty in global distributions
of greenhouse gases should provide input for future scenarios of radiative
forcing. Climate Variability and Change
NSF will continue its emphasis on climate variability and change as a major
component of its investments. This element will support observational campaigns
and numerous analytical and modeling activities. A number of ocean and atmospheric
science projects will address topics identified in the CLIVAR implementation
plans. Ocean science efforts will focus on changes in ocean structure, circulation,
and interactions with the atmosphere to improve our current understanding of
the processes and models that address future changes, particularly those that
may happen abruptly. Major support will continue to permit the Community
Climate System Model to develop more comprehensive models through the incorporation
of improved parameterizations. Paleoclimate studies will continue to be supported
as a means to provide baseline data on natural climate variability from key
climatic regions (e.g., the high latitudes) to improve understanding of natural
variability. These data will be used to reconstruct and evaluate past environmental
change due to climate and as an input for model validations.
The Global Water Cycle
NSF supports a broad-based effort to understand all aspects of the global
water cycle. For FY 2004 and FY 2005, the program will continue to address
the wide range of hydrological data types -- continuous and discrete time and
space information from a variety of platforms -- which are major obstacles
facing water cycle researchers. Information from process studies will be used
to refine models through scaling and parameterizations of sub-grid processes.
For example, a high-resolution cloud model is run "inside" a lower-resolution
global model to create a "multi-scale modeling framework". Results
show major improvements in the simulation of weather, climate systems, and
hydrological variables. Land Use and Land Cover Change
Several NSF programs address key aspects of land use and land-cover change.
Support continues for studies in ecological rates of change and related species
diversity, Arctic systems, temporal variability, water and energy influences
on vegetative systems, and diverse human influences on land utilization. These
activities support numerous research needs in the Strategic Plan. Global Carbon Cycle
NSF will continue to support a wide variety of carbon cycle research activities.
For FY 2004 and FY 2005, one specific program, Integrated
Carbon Cycle Research, will
focus on the transport of materials from their origin in various river basins
to their deposition along ocean margins. The transport process, including
modification en route, and the ultimate fate of carbon species will be addressed
and used as key input for the NACP [North
American Carbon Program Plan].
Integration of observational data into models will continue to provide insights
for the global carbon cycle.
Ecosystems
Several NSF programs address terrestrial and marine ecosystems through observational
and laboratory studies. NSF will continue to support the collection of ecosystem
data through its Long-Term Ecological Research
programs. For FY 2004 and FY
2005, the Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics program will evaluate the impact
of global ocean changes on marine ecosystems.
Human Contributions and Responses
NSF will support basic research on the processes through which people (individually,
in groups, or through organizations) interact with natural environmental systems.
For FY 2004 and FY 2005, NSF programs will support a set of centers that focus
on decisionmaking under uncertainty associated with climate change. The work
of these centers will contribute to decisionmaking in the following years. Related Research.
NSF will continue to support “contributing” research
on broader topics that are closely related to global change and climate
change. These include, inter alia, studies of the atmosphere, ocean, land surface,
ecosystems, paleoclimatology, and human dimensions that add substantively to
the specific programs supporting CCSP objectives, and cyberinfrastructure which
will enable more effective utilization of the research information.
In addition, projects that integrate research with education on global and
climate change are supported to demonstrate that scientific visualization,
incorporated into inquiry-based learning, can enable students to develop an
understanding of complex global change phenomena. Students address these issues
by evaluating multimedia data at various spatial and temporal resolutions,
reviewing scientific evidence, and considering social concerns that contribute
to global and climate change debates.
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