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open exchange among countries of data from national emission inventories and air quality monitoring networks.

Programs such as the World Meteorological Organization's Global Atmosphere Watch have made substantial efforts to establish data centers and quality control programs to enhance integration of air quality measurements from different national and regional networks, and to establish observational sites in undersampled, remote regions around the world. Similarly, the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry project (of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme) has strongly endorsed the need for international exchange of calibration standards and has helped coordinate multinational field campaigns to address a variety of important issues related to global air quality. Maintaining these worthwhile activities depends upon continued support from the United States and other countries. The committee urges the U.S. federal agencies (working, where appropriate, with interested and qualified parties in academia, the private sector, etc.) to play a leadership role in fostering these types of cooperative efforts and developing new research and observational activities that will enhance our understanding of global air quality change.