National Research Council seeks input on “Challenges and Opportunities in Earth Surface Processes”

Please note, the committee is accepting comments from ALL scientists, regardless of nationality.

From the National Research Council:

A National Research Council study committee on "Challenges and Opportunities in Earth Surface Processes" is seeking your input. The committee's report will have the greatest impact on future research if it has strong input from a broad spectrum of the interested community. For this reason, your input is very important.

The National Science Foundation has requested that the National Research
Council conduct a study which will assess (1) the state-of-the-art of the multi-disciplinary field of earth surface processes, (2) the challenges and opportunities for making advances in the field, and (3) the technical and intellectual needs to meet those challenges and opportunities.

The study committee is addressing the task by considering research on the dynamic biological, chemical, physical, and human processes, interactions, and feedback mechanisms that affect the shape of Earth's surface across a range of spatial and temporal scales. During its four or five scheduled study meetings, the committee cannot hear from all of the many interested individuals who have important input to this topic, so the committee seeks your help in the form of written contributions on the following set of questions:

    1.    What have been the four most significant conceptual and/or technological advances in earth surface processes in the last 15 years?

    2.    What are two emergent and fundamental questions that earth surface processes research can address?

    3.    What challenges (organizational, administrative, conceptual, philosophical, etc.) exist in conducting the research needed to answer the fundamental questions identified in Question 2?

The committee expects some variety in answers to these questions, and is
interested in learning about different viewpoints.  We wish to gauge the nature of the variety of views that might exist within the broad field of earth surface processes.

To submit responses to these questions, please go to:
http://dels.nas.edu/besr/ESP_questionnaire.cgi.

For more information about the study please go to:
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=48867

Comments received by June 15, 2008, will be considered at the committee's next meeting (June 24-26, 2008). However, the committee welcomes input until August 2008. The final report will be released in February 2009. Please note that any written comments submitted to the committee (whether by mail, e-mail, fax, or the project's comment form) will be included in the study's public access file.

We're distributing the questionnaire nationally and internationally.

We thank you for your participation in this process and encourage you to
forward this announcement to other colleagues.

Sincerely,

Dorothy Merritts, Committee Chair
Elizabeth Eide, National Research Council
Jared Eno, National Research Council

Source: ASLO Aquatic Science Policy Report: March and April 2008

American Society of Limnology and Oceanography - www.aslo.org