Attachment C
NRC, 1998c. Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade -- Overview. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. pp. 69.
C1. “Finding 1.2a: Within Changes in the Biology and Biogeochemistry of Ecosystems, the following central scientific issues must be confronted:
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Understand the relationships between land-surface processes, including land-cover change, climate, and weather prediction...” (pg. 20)
C2. “Finding 1.2b: Within Changes in the Climate System on Seasonal to Interannual Timescales, the following central scientific issues must be confronted:
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Understand the roles of land-surface energy and water exchanges and their correct representation in models for seasonal to interannual prediction.
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Understand the seasonal to interannual factors that influence land-surface manifestations of the hydrological cycle such as floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events.” (pg. 20)
C3. “Finding 1.2f: Within Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, the following central scientific issues must be confronted:
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Determine the human consequences of global environmental change on key life-support systems, such as water, energy, natural ecosystems, and agriculture, and determine the impacts on economic and social systems.” (pg. 22)
C4. “Water is at the heart of climate change and the impacts of climate variability. Any assessment of climate change, its causes and impacts, must be based on significantly better observations of the water cycle. It is essential to establish rates of and possible changes in precipitation, evapotranspiration, and cloud water content (both liquid and ice). Additionally, better time series measurements are needed for water runoff, river flow, and most importantly, the quantities of water involved in various human uses. This crosscutting initiative can clearly build upon the progress made by the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) in the World Climate Research Program and the Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle (BAHC) project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program.” (pg. 24)
C5. “Innovation is essential for scientific progress in this global change research. Many needs illuminate the importance of innovation, foresight, and testability in this field:
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Establishing the distribution of water in the atmosphere and fluxes of water between the Earth's surface and the Earth's atmosphere” (pg. 29)