Our Changing Planet: The FY 1992 U.S. Global Change Research Program. A Report by the Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences. A Supplement to the U.S. President's Fiscal Year 1992 Budget

摘要

The USGCRP was developed in response to the evolving nature of Earth science research to a more multidisciplinary or Earth System Science approach. The foundation of Earth System Science is the belief that sound scientific information on global change must be derived from a comprehensive, integrated view of the interactions among key components of the Earth system, and the influence of human activities on them. Overall constraints on Federal funding have led the CEES to pursue a program more focused on the highest priority scientific and policy issues over the next few years. Even with this increased focus, the budget requests a 24.2 percent increase, a rate of growth far surpassing most other government programs. In particular, the highest priority scientific and policy-related issue for the USGCRP in FY 1992 is whether, and to what extent, human activities are changing or will change the global climate system. The four FY 1992 Integrating Themes are: Climate Modeling and Prediction; Global Water and Energy Cycles; Global Carbon Cycle; and Ecological Systems and Population Dynamics.