Landscapes on the Edge New Horizons for Research on Earth's Surface (2010) / Chapter Skim
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Second, development of new analytical and computing tools has markedly increased our ability to examine Earth's surface at high spatial and temporal resolution and to develop models that can help to understand the speed and magnitude over which surface processes interact and affect changes. Recognizing the growing importance of understanding Earth's surface and the processes that shape it, the National Science Foundation (NSF)
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S.2 GRAND CHALLENGES IN EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES Each of the nine grand research challenges identified by the committee is presented in the form of a primary research question with associated opportunities for further investigation. The grand challenges are representative of exemplary, interdisciplinary research areas in Earth surface processes deemed by the committee as poised for significant advances.
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Earth surface processes create myriad spatial patterns at all scales -- from microscopic fabrics observed in soils, to the repeated patterns of sand dunes and barrier islands. An unmistakable human footprint also is evident on many landscapes.
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New opportunities to investigate these inter actions are found in the emerging fields of geobiology, ecohydrology, and ecogeo morphology. Coordinated efforts that explicitly address linkages among biota, Earth surface processes, and landforms are under way at field observatories.
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Earth-surface scientists can contribute to these efforts as restoration activities move toward quantitative models and predictions. This research will provide guidance for future decisions regarding both natural and managed landscapes and will be critical for enhancing the goods and services that Earth's surface provides for society.
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Because the initiatives emphasize the interacting physical, chemical, biological, and human processes on Earth's surface, they will require coordinated, sustained, interdisciplinary approaches to develop new intellectual collaborations among scientists, and to generate new scientific approaches, tools, and models. The emerging science of Earth surface processes remains challenged by intellectual and disciplinary barriers that have fragmented research in this area in the past and by the fact that the science often has relied on fairly simple, descriptive approaches.
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• Development of theories for subglacial hydrology, basal sliding of glaciers, sub glacial sediment deformation, and ocean-ice interactions at ice-sheet margins • Improvement of the coupling between surface processes and existing climate models, explicitly incorporating the effects, feedbacks, and conditions outlined above Quantitative Reconstruction of Landscape Dynamics Across Time Scales This major research initiative (Box S.3) is focused on developing quantitative, detailed reconstructions of Earth surface evolution from instants to eons based on information recorded in landscapes and the sedimentary record.
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Specific mechanisms to foster these collaborations include the following: • Development of natural deep-time laboratories to focus on reconstruction of Earth surface evolu tion from short-term to geologic time scales • Targeted projects with joint industry and academic participation, organization, and products to apply noncommercially sensitive portions of three-dimensional seismic surveys to key initiative objectives • Continued development of cosmogenic, optically stimulated luminescence, and isotopic and low-temperature thermochronological methods, and encouraging use of existing community laboratories and research that apply these tools to new minerals • Coordinated community development of fully coupled climate -- tectonic, geochemical, ecological -- surface process models that engages existing numerical modeling initiatives and organizes interdisciplinary workshops to include atmospheric, ecological, and paleontological disciplines • Development and support of shared, community experimental laboratory facilities for landscape research across time scales and testing of models in a controlled environment The primary science objectives for this initiative include the following: • Improving methods for quantitative reconstruction of past Earth surface states from the record of landforms, paleobotany, geochemistry, paleo-soils, and sedimentary deposits • Developing detailed paleoclimate, tectonic, and sedimentary records of abrupt changes in Earth surface processes and of landscape resilience over long time scales to understand the tolerable limits of stochastic variability within different geo morphic systems • Developing and testing quantitative predictive models for the Earth surface system across time scales with focus areas that include using realistic crust and mantle rheologies; coupling to mantle convection; modeling glacial erosion and transport; and coupling to biogeochemical cycles
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Specific mechanisms to develop these collaborations include the following: • Establishing working groups that organize regular meetings to focus on research at the interface of ecosystems and landscape processes and evolution and on opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching and formulating joint research plans -- special sessions on ecosystems and landscapes at national meetings of many organizations are a start • A community-level modeling program for ecologists and Earth scientists to collaborate on models for short-term forecasts and long time-scale predictions of the coevolution of ecosystems and landscapes • Joint field campaigns conducted by ecologists and Earth surface scientists, including climate sci entists, geomorphologists, and hydrologists, to help identify and quantify underlying mechanisms that link biota, ecosystems, and Earth surface processes • Employing the network of observatory sites to explore ecological and Earth surface processes • Co-development of instrumentation, geochemical, and geochronological tools that could facilitate significant advances
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. The primary science objectives for this initiative include the following: • Improved understanding of the long-term legacies of human impacts on landscapes and quantification of current rates of impacts, especially in environments that are sensitive to global climate change • Development of mechanistic models linking multiple and cumulative effects of human activity • Development of integrated models of the complex interactions within human dominated landscapes, incorporating decision making and human behavior • Greater understanding and predictive capacity for coupled human-landscape dynamics • Capacity building to anticipate and guide options for mitigating, reversing, and adapting to human-caused landscape change • Coordinated collection and database management of sociological and geographical information on land use for incorporation into quantitative models 0
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Increased collaboration among Earth surface scientists, ecolo gists, and climate scientists, among others, is also needed to investigate the interacting processes within human-dominated landscapes. These collaborations could be advanced through: • Workshops for Earth surface scientists and social scientists to build integrated community approaches, research questions, methodologies, scales of inquiry, and theories for human-landscape systems • Workshops for geospatial scientists and Earth surface scientists to examine the integration of geospatial technologies with experimental, modeling, and field approaches and to process and synthesize remote-sensing data • Development of community field and modeling centers to acquire the data necessary for new integrative and predictive models that involve multiple stressors within human-dominated land scapes, including social processes that influence those interactions • Focused field studies in sensitive environments vulnerable to anthropogenic and climate change, including coastal and urban areas, mountain and polar environments, and arid and semiarid areas -- existing environmental observatories could be employed • Collaborative research using engineered landscapes and restoration and redesign projects.
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Environmental restoration and design requires thoughtful consideration of Earth surface processes, landscape history, and the interactions between human activities and surface processes. This area is of great consequence for contributions from scientists in the integrative, emerging field of Earth surface processes that lies at the intersection of natural science disciplines in Earth, life, atmospheric, ocean, and social sciences.
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