these interactions in a predictive fashion is clear. To develop this capability, fundamental research is needed to understand the process-based linkages among life, climate, tectonics, human activity, and landscapes. Environmental restoration and design requires thoughtful consideration of Earth surface processes, landscape history, and the interactions between human activities and surface processes. This area is of great consequence for contributions from scientists in the integrative, emerging field of Earth surface processes that lies at the intersection of natural science disciplines in Earth, life, atmospheric, ocean, and social sciences. With the rise of new scientific questions relating various components of the Earth system, new opportunities and tools for research, rapid growth of human population, and unprecedented changes in biota, land cover, process rates, and global climate, an appraisal of the study of Earth surface processes is timely and crucial.