Organization:
Research Title: Water and Energy: Atmospheric, Vegetative and Earth Interactions (WEAVE)
Funding Level (millions of dollars):
| FY94 | 8.1 |
|---|---|
| FY95 | 8.9 |
| FY96 | 8.7 |
Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) Component:
(a) Subcommittee: Global Change Research Subcommittee (100%)
NSTC Committee on Fundamental Science
(b) Environmental Issue: Global Change (40%); Natural Variability (30%);
Climate
Change (20%); Large-scale Changes in Land Use (10%)
(c) Research Activity: Understanding (100%)
Organizational Component:
Directorates for Biological Sciences and Geoscience
Division of Environmental Biology
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson
Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
Point of Contact:
Scott Collins
Phone: 703-306-1479
E-Mail scollins@nsf.gov
Research Goals:
To improve sufficiently the understanding of the Earth's hydrologic and energy cycles
to
allow assessments of the potential impact of human activities on those cycles and
on the
climate system in general.
Research Description:
Regional and global climate, and flora and fauna are determined in large measure
by the
Earth's hydrological water and energy cycles. Water is one of the primary means of
energy
transfer on Earth, and the principal link among the biological, earth and atmospheric
components of the climate system. Key program objectives are to understand the complex
interactions and feedbacks among these components in the overall system and to
distinguish between effects of human activities and natural variability.
Each component of the hydrologic and related geochemical cycles affects, and is
affected
by, the others. Surface characteristics, including vegetation and lithosphere, determine
the
rate and nature of water and energy exchanges with the atmosphere. Radiative fluxes,
sensible and latent heat fluxes, and evapotranspiration are governed by the nature
and state
of the ecosystem and lithosphere including surface and subsurface water flow, soil
moisture, and types and states of vegetation. Precipitation and clouds can be strongly
influenced by surface properties and, at the same time, are intricately involved
in
biogeochemical cycles. In the longer term, the distribution of water vapor, clouds,
and
precipitation and related weather and climate, influence ecosystem dynamics and
the
evolution of land surface features. Distribution of vegetation, and vegetation dynamics
are
strongly governed by physical factors, such as soil moisture and climate dynamics,
and the
relative importance of these factors is a function of spatial scale. Vegetation also
may
impose strong feedbacks on hydrology and climate. One of the most challenging aspects
of
the program is to ascertain the range of spatial and temporal scales at which key
interactions
occur. The response and contribution of each "sphere" to the evolution of the others
must
be understood in order to adequately describe the global hydrologic cycle and ultimately
to
predict, or to assess the potential for, global change.
Program Interfaces:
WEAVE is linked to national (multi-agency) and international research programs directed
at
understanding global energy and water cycles. WEAVE is NSF's principal contribution
to
the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) under the WMO's World
Climate Research Program and a major component of IGBP's Biological Aspects of the
Hydrological Cycle (BAHC) and Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems (GCTE). In
addition, WEAVE also contributes to land and water management programs in the Corps
of
Engineers, DOI, FEMA, EPA, and related state agencies.
Program Milestones:
1995-1999. Develop methods to overcome the inherent temporal and spatial scale disparity
among the key processes within the atmospheric, hydrologic and biological systems
in
order to accurately characterize the regional and global energy and water cycles
and their
roles in climate processes.
Policy Payoffs: Water plays central roles in the evolution and health of the land and ecosystems and in climate processes. Water also will be the focus of national and international policy decisions in the near term and beyond. Understanding the physical and biological processes that govern the distribution of water will be essential as input for economic planning and decisions relating to agriculture and forestry, desertification, energy needs, and biodiversity as well as the basis for understanding and eventual modeling and predicting long-term climate and global change.