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GCRIO Program Overview

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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 9, SEPTEMBER 1990

REPORTS...
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE

Item #d90sep73

IGBP Report No. 12: The Initial Core Projects, 312 pp., June 1990. Available (no charge) from Intl. Geosphere-Biosphere Program Secretariat, Royal Swedish Acad. Sci., Box 50005, S-104 05, Stockholm, Sweden (tel: +46-8 15 04 30).

This report marks the end of a three-year planning phase for the IGBP, and the transition to implementing internationally coordinated research over the next two decades. The goal of IGBP is to describe and understand the interactive physical, chemical and biological processes that regulate the total Earth system, the changes occurring in this system, and how they are influenced by humans. The report discusses about ten planned core research projects; five of these have already been established and the detailed science plans described are ready for implementation. These five are the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project (IGAC), the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle (BAHC), Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE), and Past Global Changes (PAGES). Other topics covered are data and information systems, needs for remote sensing data, the IGBP Regional Research Centers, and implementation and funding strategies.

Item #d90sep74

The U.S. Global Change Research Program: An Assessment of FY 1991 Plans, U.S. National Res. Council, Aug. 1990. National Acad. Press, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20418 (800-624-6242 or 202-334-3313); $15.

At the request of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, two panels were established by the Council to review the overall program and the Earth Observing System (EOS), the space-based part of the program that will provide continuous, long-term observations. They concluded that the proposed program of observation, modeling and other research is an appropriate first step that requires initial heavy investment in EOS. In the long term, substantially greater funding will be needed for process studies and modeling. An overall strategy should be developed for integrating observations made from space with earth-based observations.

Item #d90sep75

Earth Observing System: 1990 Reference Handbook, 153 pp., June 1990. Available from EOS Proj. Mgr., Goddard Space Flight Ctr., Greenbelt MD 20771.

Outlines all aspects of the EOS program such as program goals and approaches, data system architecture and policy, mission requirements, international cooperation, and management. The bulk of the report contains descriptions and relevant personnel for instruments, instrument experiments and interdisciplinary investigations.

Item #d90sep76

Global Climate Trends and Greenhouse Gas Data: Federal Activities in Data Collection, Archiving, and Dissemination (DOE/PE-0094P), approx. 350 pp., June 1990. Limited quantities available from Off. Public Inquiries, Rm. 1E-206, Dept. Energy, Washington DC 20585 (202-586-5575); also Nat. Tech. Info. Svc., 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield VA 22161 (703-487-4650); $42.95 + $3 handling.

Requested by Congress and co-authored by individuals in federal agencies and universities, this report identifies what global-climate data sets the government has or is collecting, where they are located, how they are managed, what is still needed, and what arrangements are needed to manage and disseminate data to scientists, policymakers and the public. It describes 14 national data centers in a wide range of disciplines relating to the atmosphere, oceans and terrestrial systems, and human activities. Several methods for estimating greenhouse gas emissions and detecting climate trends are summarized, and recommendations are made concerning a data and information network to improve coordination among national and world data centers.