The Global Geosclences Program is designed to examine four components of the global system - 

 atmosphere, ocean, biosphere and solid earth - and includes seven programs of study: 



Global Tropospheric Chemistry, 



World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), 



Studies of Interannual Variability of the 



Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA), 

 Global Ocean Flux Studies (GOFS), 

 Global Ecosystem Dynamics, 

 Ocean Lithosphere Processes, and 

 Remote Sensing of the Solid Earth. 



The Global Geosclences Program was born of a gradual evolution of the sciences involved, 

 major advances in observing systems, and the advent of supercomputers. Since the early 

 1980's, attention has focused on studying the environment within a planetary context. 

 Large-scale complex feedback mechanisms operate among the fluid, living, and solid 

 components of the Earth system. They must be more completely understood in order to address 

 such fundamental issues as climatic change and predictability, changing carbon dioxide 

 concentrations, acid rain, and the exchange of heat and biological species within the 

 atmosphere, ocean, and biosphere. 



The NSF Global Geosclences Program is the keystone of a national effort to improve fundamental 

 understanding of global change which is being coordinated other Federal agencies. This effort, 

 referred to as a "Scientific Program of Research into Global Change", will benefit from a series 

 of other activities recently completed or now underway. For example, the Office of Science and 

 Technology Policy (OSTP) has completed for the President an review of the applicability of 

 space-based remote sensing to study of the earth system. The National Academy of Sciences is 

 establishing a new standing committee to address problems related to global change. 



Internationally, components of the NSF Global Geosclences Program are already contributing to 

 major global studies being sponsored by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) 

 in cooperation with intergovernmental organizations such as the World Meteorological 

 Organization (WMO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of Unesco. 

 The NSF TOGA program organized by ICSU and WMO as a part of the World Climate Research 

 Program (WCRP). Similarly, the NSF WOCE program is a driving force in the planning of the 

 WCRP's international WOCE program. 



The International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) being developed by ICSU is likely to 

 rely heavily on the efforts undenway under GOFS to provide a sound basis for its planning. The 

 International Lithosphere Program will clearly benefit from the results of the NSF program 

 for study of Ocean Lithosphere Processes. These international efforts, to which the NSF Global 

 Geosclences Program will be a major contributor, provide an opportunity for truly integrated 

 studies of the earth's environment necessary to establish the basis for effective management of 

 the world's resources and protection of the global environment. 



