• EAR should establish postdoctoral and sabbatical-leave training programs
to facilitate development of the cross-disciplinary expertise needed to
exploit research opportunities in geobiology, climate science, and other
interdisciplinary fields.
• EAR should take advantage of the broad appeal of field work, its modest
cost, and its ability to capture the enthusiasm and research effort across a
wide range of institutions by providing sufficient funding for graduate and
undergraduate field work.
PARTNERSHIPS IN EARTH SCIENCE
Agency partnerships led by EAR will be essential for attaining many of the
research objectives identified in this report. Well managed partnerships can foster
broadly based research communities, leverage limited resources, and promote
fruitful synergies. Cooperation with mission-oriented agencies can also be an
effective mechanism for transferring NSF-sponsored basic research into practical
applications. Geobiology, integrative studies of the Critical Zone, and
paleoclimatology are obvious areas in which collaborations should be developed
among a number of NSF divisions (e.g., the Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences
Divisions, the Biological Sciences Directorate) and mission-oriented agencies
(e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Energy, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S.
Department of Agriculture). The EarthScope project should also benefit from
interagency cooperation on several levels: with the Ocean Sciences Division in
gathering offshore data and linking to the Continental Margins Research
program; with the Division of Civil and Mechanical Systems on earthquake
research relevant to the Natural Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program and the
Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation; with the U.S. Geological
Survey in deploying the Advanced National Seismic System; and with NASA in
developing a satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar system for
observing active deformation. An effective initiative in planetary science will
require careful coordination with NSF’s Astronomical Science Division as well
as with NASA. Improved core support for the study of Earth and planetary
materials could be the basis for strengthening EAR’s participation in the National
Nanotechnology Initiative, and an EAR program on microorganisms in the
environment should provide an appropriate Earth science focus for the NSF’s
cross-cutting program on Biocomplexity in the Environment. An ESNL program
could solicit the cosponsorship of natural laboratories by other agencies,
including state and local government agencies.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
9
About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the
original work has been recomposed from XML files created
from the original paper book, not from the original
typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths,
word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific
formatting, however, cannot be retained,
and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted.
Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative
version for attribution.
to facilitate development of the cross-disciplinary expertise needed to
exploit research opportunities in geobiology, climate science, and other
interdisciplinary fields.
• EAR should take advantage of the broad appeal of field work, its modest
cost, and its ability to capture the enthusiasm and research effort across a
wide range of institutions by providing sufficient funding for graduate and
undergraduate field work.
PARTNERSHIPS IN EARTH SCIENCE
Agency partnerships led by EAR will be essential for attaining many of the
research objectives identified in this report. Well managed partnerships can foster
broadly based research communities, leverage limited resources, and promote
fruitful synergies. Cooperation with mission-oriented agencies can also be an
effective mechanism for transferring NSF-sponsored basic research into practical
applications. Geobiology, integrative studies of the Critical Zone, and
paleoclimatology are obvious areas in which collaborations should be developed
among a number of NSF divisions (e.g., the Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences
Divisions, the Biological Sciences Directorate) and mission-oriented agencies
(e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Energy, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S.
Department of Agriculture). The EarthScope project should also benefit from
interagency cooperation on several levels: with the Ocean Sciences Division in
gathering offshore data and linking to the Continental Margins Research
program; with the Division of Civil and Mechanical Systems on earthquake
research relevant to the Natural Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program and the
Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation; with the U.S. Geological
Survey in deploying the Advanced National Seismic System; and with NASA in
developing a satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar system for
observing active deformation. An effective initiative in planetary science will
require careful coordination with NSF’s Astronomical Science Division as well
as with NASA. Improved core support for the study of Earth and planetary
materials could be the basis for strengthening EAR’s participation in the National
Nanotechnology Initiative, and an EAR program on microorganisms in the
environment should provide an appropriate Earth science focus for the NSF’s
cross-cutting program on Biocomplexity in the Environment. An ESNL program
could solicit the cosponsorship of natural laboratories by other agencies,
including state and local government agencies.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
9
About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the
original work has been recomposed from XML files created
from the original paper book, not from the original
typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths,
word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific
formatting, however, cannot be retained,
and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted.
Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative
version for attribution.