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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 1990

REPORTS...
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE

Item #d90jan50

The Role of Antarctica in Global Change: Scientific Priorities for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), 28 pp., April 1989 (released Dec. 1989). Prepared by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Steering Committee for IGBP. Limited copies available from Polar Res. Bd., Nat. Acad. Sci., 2101 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20418; also available at nominal charge from SCAR Distrib. Ctr., Blackhorse Rd., Letchworth, Hertfordshire SG6 1HN, Eng.

Presents a first attempt by the SCAR to formulate an Antarctic science component for the IGBP. Comments, amendments or additions are solicited from the scientific community, and will be considered as the plan is developed in more detail. The four major interdisciplinary research themes are detection of global change in Antarctica, study of critical processes linking Antarctica to the global system, extraction of paleoenvironmental information, and assessment of ecological effects of global change. Two of the specific tasks proposed are establishing a system to measure changes in snow accumulation and ice flow likely to affect ice mass balance and sea level, and monitoring the rate and extent of change in the Antarctic sea ice, atmosphere, ocean and biota.

Item #d90jan51

Bibliography of Tropical Rain Forests and the Global Carbon Cycle, Vol. 2, South Asia (CDIAC-24 V2), E.P. Flint, J.F. Richards (Duke Univ., Durham, N. Carolina), 343 pp., Feb. 1989. No charge while supplies last from Carbon Dioxide Info. Analysis Ctr. (CDIAC), POB 2008, Oak Ridge TN 37831 (615-574-0390); also for sale by NTIS.

Fourth in a series of evaluated, specialized and up-to-date bibliographies, this covers a range of ecological, botanical, forestry, agricultural, geological and geographical sources since 1889. A broad scope of land-use change (tropical forests, high altitude and desert) is included because forests are believed to have covered most of the area prior to extensive human impact. Among the topics emphasized are biomass and productivity of all natural and agricultural vegetation types, deforestation and environmental degradation, land-use statistics, and local and regional case studies of land use.

Item #d90jan52

Preliminary Development of a Seashore-Effects Analysis System (ORNL/CDIAC-23), D.B. Miller (Oak Ridge Nat. Lab.), R.M. Cushman, 132 pp., Feb. 1989. (See previous entry.)

Describes the preliminary SEAS data base, developed to assess effects of global sea level rise, incorporating eight existing data bases. All SEAS entries include latitude and longitude, permitting detailed (1-meter increment) analysis of effects when combined with suitable terrain elevation data of the U.S. Geological Survey using the Oak Ridge geographical information system.

Item #d90jan53

Ecoclimatic Regions of Canada: First Approximation (Ecol. Land Class. Ser. No. 23), Ecoregions Working Group, 118 pp. + map, 1989. Available (no charge) from Can. Comm. on Ecological Land Classification, Can. Wildl. Serv., Environ. Can., Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0H3, Can.

Describes the influence of climate in molding the patterns and inherent qualities of Canadian ecosystems, by defining the geographical extent and character of 10 ecoclimatic provinces. The material was produced over a period of several years by an interdisciplinary scientific group, and should serve as a basis for evaluating the implications of possible climatic change on ecological systems and related resource industries and social infrastructures.