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1. Introduction Purpose of this Report This report describes a strategy to manage data and information to meet the needs of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). It responds to a request from the Interagency Working Group on Data Management for Global Change (IWG). Thus, an important part of the audience for this report consists of people in those federal agencies who will manage the USGCRP. This report is also addressed to global change research scientists. Their involvement and support in developing a data and information management system for global change research are critical. The report is organized into four main chapters. Chapter 2, Information for Global Change, begins with a set of priority requirements for a global change data and information management system and discusses some of the functions such a system should have. Chapter 3, The Present System, reviews the current status of data management. Chapter 4, A Data Management Strategy for Global Change, gives the committee's views on developing a system to meet the requirements. Chapter 5, A Vision of a National Information System for Global Change, presents one possible approach to creating a global change data and information management system. The report focuses on strategy, not on technical issues or implementation. It complements other documents that describe specific program and implementation plans for a data and information management system to support global change research. The strategy described here is to build a national global change data and information management system on existing components, strengthened and supplemented to create a system that works to meet the needs of global change research.
8 INTRODUCTION Global Change Research The United States initiated the USGCRP to elucidate the causes and effects of natural and human-induced global change. The fiscal year 1992 budget is estimated to be $1,185 million and further growth is foreseen (Committee on Earth Sciences, 1989b, 1990; Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences, 1991). This program will generate unprecedented amounts of environmental information. An important aspect of the program is the acquisition and analysis of large amounts of information. This information will allow researchers to address the four core questions of the program (NRC, Committee on Global Change, 1989): ⢠What forces initiate global change? ⢠How does the earth system respond to changes in forcing functions? ⢠How has the earth's environment changed in the past? ⢠How well can global change be predicted? It is beyond the scope of this report to list all the data types that will have to be managed in a national global change research program; there are thousands. However, the science priorities defined for the USGCRP give some idea of the wide range of data which must be managed: ⢠Climate and hydrologic systems ⢠Biogeochemical dynamics ⢠Ecological systems and dynamics ⢠Earth system history ⢠Human interactions ⢠Solid earth processes ⢠Solar influences
INTRODUCTION 9 Recently, the USGCRP adopted four high-priority Integrating Themes for Fiscal Year 1992 (Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences, 1991): ⢠Climate modelling and prediction To develop an improved predictive capability of the earth as a coupled system with enhanced regional resolution, with initial priority given to the climate system. ⢠Global water and energy cycles To improve our understanding of the water and energy cycles by focusing on the role of clouds, the role of the oceans, the role of terrestrial ecosystems, and changes in sea level. ⢠Global carbon cycle To improve our understanding of the carbon cycle by quantifying the natural and anthropogenic terrestrial and oceanic sources and sinks of key carbon compounds. ⢠Ecological systems and population dynamics To improve the capacity to assess the effects of global change at regional scales. Specifically, to improve understanding of the responses of intensively managed and natural oceanic and terrestrial ecosystems to global change. To meet these research needs of the USGCRP, data from land, ocean, and atmosphere will have to be managed. They may include biological, chemical, physical, geological, hydrological, sociological, economic, and demographic datasets. Proxy data, data from the fossil record, and extraterrestrial solar measurements will have to be managed. Heightened scientific attention to potential global warming- climate changeâfrom increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations and other greenhouse gases has focused public awareness on this and other global issues. Global research issues often have common and demanding properties:
10 INTRODUCTION ⢠They have larger spatial and longer temporal scales than usually addressed by traditional research. ⢠They are truly global in scale and scope (e.g., problems related to climate, atmospheric chemistry, and global carbon and nitrogen cycles). ⢠They can be local or regional issues with important feedbacks to global systems (e.g., deforestation). ⢠They require multidisciplinary approaches to analysis and understanding. ⢠They require national and international understanding and agreement before solutions can be realized. ⢠They are driven by technology and population. The Need for Data and Data Management The USGCRP will make unprecedented demands for the assembly and dissemination of large volumes of diverse and inter- disciplinary data and information. Measurements acquired on regional and world-wide scales must be merged with other, often dissimilar, data, to produce analyses and products. That process will identify global change, evaluate its impact on human activities, and set a course of action to mitigate harmful effects. Important subsets of these data must be evaluated for quality and documented, distributed, and archived. Contemporary and future researchers must be able to acquire and use these data in their analyses of global change phenomena. If the USGCRP is to be successful, a strong data management system must exist to support it . Existing U.S. environmental data management units have served their purposes reasonably well. However, many components necessary to meet the data and information challenges of global change, are inadequate or wholly lacking. They must be improved, restructured, or replaced. New components must be created, with some
INTRODUCTION 11 existing institutions serving as models. This report describes needs, points to components that work well or are inadequate, and proposes a strategy to build on success and to achieve an information system to support the USGCRP. The strategy in this document is based on an analysis of current activities and a forecast of future scientific needs. Successful data systems and centers combine data management with scientific use. Successful data centers not only work with scientists but have their active support. Users support the development of the data system and provide feedback. This leads to the conclusion that a successful system must involve the scientific user community at all stages of development and operation. Without that support and involvement, the data system is unlikely to meet the needs of the program. The efficient acquisition, quality assurance, documentation, distribution, and preservation of relevant datasets of all types are crucial to the success of the USGCRP. To meet this need, the existing system must evolve. There must be a new way of handling research data for global issues. The NRC Committee on Geophysical Data's report entitled Geophysical Data: Policy Issues (1988) dealt primarily with geophysical data, but its conclusion applies to all disciplines concerned with global change research: The quantity of geophysical data obtainedâhas increased dramatically in the past few decades. Collected often at enormous expense, these data represent a national resource that must be managed carefully to ensure that they are preserved and available when needed. However, because of a substantial increase in the amount and complexity of geophysical data being collected and in the demands for them, the management policies and procedures that have been developed are no longer adequate (emphasis added).
