Continuing progress in Earth science will depend heavily on improvement to
the computational infrastructure, including the development of community
models that can function as virtual laboratories for the study of complex
geosystems. EAR should be particularly aggressive in fostering substantive
partnerships between Earth and computer scientists through the multiagency
initiative on Information Technology for the Twenty-First Century and other
programs.
REQUIRED RESOURCES
The committee’s recommendations, taken together, lay out a basis for the
manner in which the EAR Division can respond to major Earth science
challenges and opportunities in the next decade. The committee estimates that the
new funding needed to implement these recommendations would increase the
EAR budget by about two-thirds. This increase would help to offset the recent
decline in federal support of basic Earth science and would substantially
strengthen the national effort in this important area of fundamental research.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
10
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