DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY For more information about the Office of Science, go to Office of Science |
To DOE National Laboratories LAB 09-16
Climatic Change Research
SUMMARY: The Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby
announces its interest in receiving Field Work Proposals (FWPs) from DOE National
Laboratories for multiple topics in the design and demonstration of approaches to in situ
manipulation of temperature or carbon dioxide concentration within terrestrial
ecosystems. The FWPs will be peer reviewed before funding decisions are made.
Recent increases in global and regional temperature, and increases in the concentration of
atmospheric carbon dioxide, are well documented. Moreover, it is expected, based on a
broad range of sophisticated climate change models, that both warming and carbon
dioxide concentration increase will continue for many decades. A critical need is to
rapidly increase the scientific understanding of the potential effects of warming and
increasing carbon dioxide concentration on the structure and functioning of terrestrial
ecosystems. There are two interrelated aspects to this issue: (1) the potential effects of
climatic change on the provision of ecosystem goods and services to society and (2) the
potential for significant feedbacks from terrestrial ecosystems to climatic change, most
notably changes in fluxes of energy and greenhouse gases between the atmosphere and
terrestrial ecosystems.
In FY 2010 SC's Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) will address
outstanding needs for new and improved "engineering" approaches to the experimental
manipulation of temperature and carbon dioxide concentration in terrestrial ecosystems as
the basis for improved field experiments to better address the issues articulated above.
Projects of up to two years may be funded.
PREPROPOSALS: Potential applicants are REQUIRED to submit a brief preproposal,
referencing Program Announcement LAB 09-16. The intent of preproposals is to
minimize the time and effort of applicants in preparing and submitting formal project
proposals that may be inappropriate for this Announcement.
Preproposals will be reviewed by BER for conformance with the guidelines presented in
this Announcement and suitability in the technical areas specified in this Announcement.
Full proposals will be accepted ONLY from applicants who are notified by BER that
their preproposal was selected to be developed into a full proposal.
Preproposals should consist of up to two pages total, including: (1) narrative describing
the research objectives, (2) the technical approach(s) to be used, and (3) the proposed
team members and their expertise. Preproposals will be reviewed relative to the scope
and research needs as specified in this Announcement. At the top of the first page, the
preproposal must identify the (lead) DOE National Laboratory, title of the project, name
of the principal investigator (PI), the PI's telephone number and e-mail address, a list of
all collaborating investigators and institutions (if any), and an estimate of the total annual
costs of the project broken down by institution. The PI's email address will be used to
communicate decisions about preproposals, so that email account must be monitored by
the National Laboratory following preproposal submission.
DATES: Preproposals must be received by DOE before 4:30 PM, Eastern Daylight
Time, June 4, 2009. They must be emailed to the address given below. A written
response to the preproposals will be communicated, via email, to applicants within one
week of the submission deadline. Applicants who have not received a response regarding
the status of their preproposal by the time and date specified above are responsible for
contacting BER (see Contact information below) to confirm its status.
Full proposals must be received no later than 4:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, July 29,
2009, to be considered for award in Fiscal Year 2010. They must be emailed to the
address given below.
ADDRESSES and SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:
For preproposals submit a single PDF file as an email attachment. The size of the PDF
file must not exceed 1 MB. Larger files may not be accepted.
Send the preproposal (i.e., PDF file) as an email attachment to Karen Carlson-Brown at:
Karen.Carlson-Brown@science.doe.gov
The email subject line must be (without the quotation marks): "Program Announcement
LAB 09-16"
Preproposal responses will be returned to the PI's email address listed in the preproposal.
For Formal Proposals
If accepted for full proposal development, the PI should:
Have your lab administrator submit the entire lab proposal and FWP via Searchable FWP
(https://www.osti.gov/fwp). If you have questions about who your lab administrator is or
how to use Searchable FWP, please contact the Searchable FWP Support Center.
Also, submit a single PDF file of the entire LAB proposal and FWP, as an email
attachment. The size of the PDF file must not exceed 9 MB. Larger files may not be
accepted.
Send the proposal (i.e., PDF file) as an email attachment to Karen Carlson-Brown at:
Karen.Carlson-Brown@science.doe.gov
The email subject line must be (without the quotation marks): "Program Announcement
LAB 09-16"
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Soil Warming: New or improved approaches to warming soil, involving minimal
disturbance to the physical organization of the soil and the plant roots occupying the soil,
are desired. The warming should preserve the vertical soil temperature profile to a depth
of at least 3 meters. The focus of this one- to two-year effort should be on the application
of soil warming technologies to arctic tundra, including permafrost. Moreover,
investigators are encouraged (but not required) to consider how soil warming
technologies could eventually be applied to other high-impact ecosystems such as boreal
forest, tropical forest, temperate forest, and grassland. The method(s) studied should be
applicable to continuous, multi-year implementation and should be able to raise
temperature as much as 10 degrees Celsius in arctic tundra, in order to study the full
range of warming possible during the coming century (i.e., according to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I Fourth Assessment Report).
Air Warming: New or improved approaches to warming air (and therefore aboveground
biomass), involving minimal disturbance to plants and plant canopies, are desired. The
warming should be uniform throughout plant canopies. The focus of this one- to two-year
effort should be on the application of air warming technologies to arctic tundra.
Moreover, investigators are encouraged (but not required) to consider how air warming
technologies could eventually be applied to additional high-impact ecosystems such as
boreal forest, tropical forest, temperate forest, and grassland. The methods should be
applicable to continuous, multi-year implementation and should be able to raise
temperature as much as 10 degrees Celsius in arctic tundra, in order to study the full
range of warming possible during the coming century (i.e., according to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I Fourth Assessment Report).
Elevated Carbon Dioxide Concentration: New or improved approaches to increasing the
carbon dioxide concentration in the air enveloping terrestrial ecosystems, involving
minimal disturbance to plants and plant canopies, are desired. The increase in carbon
dioxide concentration should be uniform from the soil surface to the top of the tallest
plants, or preserve the vertical carbon dioxide concentration profile to the top of the
canopy. The focus of this one- to two-year effort should be on the application of carbon
dioxide enrichment technologies to arctic tundra. Moreover, investigators are encouraged
(but not required) to consider how carbon dioxide enrichment technologies could
eventually be applied to additional high-impact ecosystems such as boreal forest, tropical
forest, temperate forest, and grassland. The approaches should be able to increase carbon
dioxide concentration to at least 1000 ppm, in order to study the full range of carbon
dioxide increase possible during the coming century (i.e., according to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I Fourth Assessment
Report). Approaches that are more efficient in their use of carbon dioxide, relative to
existing free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) approaches, are desired.
Scope of Individual Proposals:
Single proposals must NOT include work on both warming and carbon dioxide
enrichment technologies. National Laboratories interested in pursuing research on both
(i) warming and (ii) carbon dioxide increase technologies should submit separate
proposals for each topic. Research on aboveground and belowground warming
technologies can be combined in a single proposal.
Program Funding:
It is anticipated that up to $3 million will be available for awards in Fiscal Year 2010,
contingent on the availability of appropriated funds. No individual proposal budget
should exceed $1.5 million per year. Collaborative projects including participation by
multiple DOE National Laboratories and/or non-National Laboratory researchers will be
considered, but a single DOE National Laboratory must take the lead on the project and
the preproposal requirements listed above will apply.
No more than $0.5 million per year will be allocated to new or improved approaches to
carbon dioxide enrichment technologies (total for all carbon dioxide enrichment projects
if multiple awards are made).
Eligibility: This is a DOE National Laboratory-Only Announcement. FFRDCs from
other agencies are not eligible to submit preproposals or proposals in response to this
Announcement. Partnerships between DOE National Laboratories and non-National
Laboratory researchers are encouraged, as appropriate. Proposals with all collaborating
parts (if any) should be submitted by the lead National Laboratory only.
Submission Information
The instructions and format described below must be followed. You must reference
"Program Announcement LAB 09-16" on all submissions and inquiries about this
Program Announcement.
Formal Proposals:
The research project description (i.e., PROJECT NARRATIVE) must be 15 pages or
less, exclusive of attachments and the required one-page abstract (see below). When
printed on 8.5 by 11 inch pages the margins must be at least one inch on all four
edges, and font size must be at least 11 point, except for text on figures and in tables, as
long as it is fully legible when printed. There must be no more than 6 lines of text per
vertical inch of text.
Attachments include (and are limited to) curriculum vitae, a listing of all current and
pending federal and Laboratory Directed Research and Development support, and letters
of intent when collaborations are part of the proposed research. Curriculum vitae must be
limited to two pages per individual.
The following is a list of essential items that a proposal must contain:
2. Proposal Cover Page
3. Table of Contents
4. Budget Page(s) (Form DOE F 4620.1) - Complete a separate Budget Page for the
entire multi-year period for each separate participating institution, if applicable.
http://www.science.doe.gov/grants/budgetform.pdf
5. Budget Description and Justification - Separately for each collaborating institution if applicable.
6. Other Project Information
b. Project Narrative (15 pages maximum): The project narrative must include a detailed
description of the proposed research project, which must include a list of project
milestones, a timeline of key activities, and clear statements of which project personnel
will be responsible for each key activity.
c. Bibliography: A complete bibliographic listing of all the published scientific and
engineering literature referred to in the project narrative.
d. Biographical Sketches: Relevant information about the background and experience of
the principal investigator and co-principal investigators or collaborators (if any).
Biographical sketches are limited to two pages per individual.
e. Facilities and Resources: Include information on the experience of the proposing
institution(s), their facilities, and the available resources that would be relevant to
successful completion of the project.
f. Statement of all current and pending support for the principal investigator and co-
principal investigators and collaborators (if any), including the time devoted (each year)
to each project by each named individual.
After an initial screening for eligibility and responsiveness to this Announcement,
proposals will be subjected to a scientific merit review (peer review). The proposals will
be evaluated against the following criteria, which are listed in descending order of
importance.
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