July 3, 2001

NASA SELECTS PROPOSALS TO STUDY EARTH?S ENVIRONMENT

What element do some researchers jokingly call the "triple whammy" or the "complete trifecta"? It's carbon -- not only the very basis of life, but also the principal source of fossil fuel energy supporting the economy and a key factor in controlling global climate.

NASA will learn much more about the global carbon cycle through 80 research grants valued at approximately $50 million over the next three years that will look at everything from forest health in the U.S. to the role oceans play as the planet's "air filters."

Carbon-containing molecules are a key factor in global warming -- carbon dioxide and methane are the two most important "greenhouse gases" that can affect temperatures around the world. Combustion of fossil fuels, use of land for agriculture or industry, and human interaction with the environment all play a part in how Earth's climate "behaves." Through these awards, researchers will take advantage of the unique vantage point of space and space-age technology to look at the planet and how the global climate works.

"These proposals represent the leading edge of research on the carbon cycle and how it affects our climate. The Administration is committed to providing sound science to government and industry leaders upon which decisions about human stewardship of the Earth can be made," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate Administrator for Earth Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

"We know that about half of the carbon dioxide released by humans is absorbed by Earth's oceans and lands. These investigations will help scientists and policy-makers better understand if this will be true in the decades to come," Asrar said.

"A solid understanding of how carbon cycles act among land, atmosphere and oceans will provide a vital key to reliable projections of carbon levels of the future, and hence a better understanding of what role humans are playing in Earth's climate system. Combined with advances in computational-modeling capabilities, and in teaming with other government agencies and international partners, NASA will advance short-term and seasonal weather forecasting capabilities and create an accurate projection of longer-term climate change around the globe. This research also will benefit our short-term weather and seasonal-prediction capabilities," Asrar said.

The grants will go to researchers at universities, government laboratories and other organizations and will investigate virtually all aspects of the carbon cycle. Scientists will use everything from advanced computers, satellites and lasers to aircraft and other conventional tools to carry out these studies. Applications scientists will extend the benefits of this research to a variety of end users. NASA received 288 proposals in response to the research announcement made in 2000.

A complete listing of the research projects and their principal investigators can be found on the Internet at: http://research.hq.nasa.gov/

More information on NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long-term research effort dedicated to understanding how human-induced and natural change affects the global environment, can be found at: http://earth.nasa.gov/

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Contacts:
David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington, DC
202/358-1730

This text derived from ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-129.txt

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