- Email: [email protected]
Grand challenges for environmental modeling: US NSF White Paper published
Ecological Modelling 221 (2010) 563
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Ecological Modelling journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolmodel
Letter to the Editor Grand challenges for environmental modeling: US NSF White Paper published Dear Brian, For the past few years the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has been supporting major initiatives in setting up what are referred to as Environmental Observatories (EOs), notably in the Ocean Sciences (ORION), Ecology (NEON), Hydrology and Environmental Engineering (WATERS Network). These Observatories promise to bring unprecedented streams of observations to bear on developments in Environmental Science in the decades to come. This impressive ambition, moreover, is to be realized through an equally unprecedented advance in our collective environmental cyber-infrastructure, including novel sensors and sensor technologies. As you well know, mathematical and computational models are intrinsically generic entities, cutting across specific, disciplinary boundaries, such as those of the EOs. Indeed, such is distinctively the raison d’être of this journal. What new opportunities for research might these EOs present for environmental modeling, then, especially where those opportunities benefit greatly from the cross-cutting, collaborative, integrative style of model building? The White Paper sets out thirteen Grand Challenges for environmental modeling in response to that question. They span the three domains of: Science, predominantly so, and especially in respect of bringing together thinking and research from across the above disciplines, and indeed from beyond them (reaching notably into the biomedical sciences);
0304-3800/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.10.034
Policy, given the vital role of computational models in decision support for environmental stewardship; and Society, in view of the great, contemporary debate over sustainable development of the biosphere. Preparation of the White Paper has been supported by the NSF (Award # 0630367; May 2006–May 2008). The Paper is published through the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2152, USA, as Beck, M B, Gupta, H, Rastetter, E, Shoemaker, C, Tarboton, D, Butler, R, Edelson, D, Graber, H, Gross, L, Harmon, T, McLaughlin, D, Paola, C, Peters, D, Scavia, D, Schnoor, J L, and Weber, L (2009), “Grand Challenges of the Future for Environmental Modeling”, White Paper, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia (ISBN: 978-1-61584-248-3). Requests for copies of the White Paper should be addressed to M B Beck, at [email protected]. Sincerely M Bruce Beck Athens, Georgia, USA, 19 October, 2009 M. Bruce Beck University of Georgia, Environmental Informatics and Control Program, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, Athens, GA 30602 2152, USA E-mail address: [email protected] 23 October 2009 Available online 26 November 2009
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Ecological Modelling journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolmodel
Letter to the Editor Grand challenges for environmental modeling: US NSF White Paper published Dear Brian, For the past few years the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has been supporting major initiatives in setting up what are referred to as Environmental Observatories (EOs), notably in the Ocean Sciences (ORION), Ecology (NEON), Hydrology and Environmental Engineering (WATERS Network). These Observatories promise to bring unprecedented streams of observations to bear on developments in Environmental Science in the decades to come. This impressive ambition, moreover, is to be realized through an equally unprecedented advance in our collective environmental cyber-infrastructure, including novel sensors and sensor technologies. As you well know, mathematical and computational models are intrinsically generic entities, cutting across specific, disciplinary boundaries, such as those of the EOs. Indeed, such is distinctively the raison d’être of this journal. What new opportunities for research might these EOs present for environmental modeling, then, especially where those opportunities benefit greatly from the cross-cutting, collaborative, integrative style of model building? The White Paper sets out thirteen Grand Challenges for environmental modeling in response to that question. They span the three domains of: Science, predominantly so, and especially in respect of bringing together thinking and research from across the above disciplines, and indeed from beyond them (reaching notably into the biomedical sciences);
0304-3800/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.10.034
Policy, given the vital role of computational models in decision support for environmental stewardship; and Society, in view of the great, contemporary debate over sustainable development of the biosphere. Preparation of the White Paper has been supported by the NSF (Award # 0630367; May 2006–May 2008). The Paper is published through the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2152, USA, as Beck, M B, Gupta, H, Rastetter, E, Shoemaker, C, Tarboton, D, Butler, R, Edelson, D, Graber, H, Gross, L, Harmon, T, McLaughlin, D, Paola, C, Peters, D, Scavia, D, Schnoor, J L, and Weber, L (2009), “Grand Challenges of the Future for Environmental Modeling”, White Paper, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia (ISBN: 978-1-61584-248-3). Requests for copies of the White Paper should be addressed to M B Beck, at [email protected]. Sincerely M Bruce Beck Athens, Georgia, USA, 19 October, 2009 M. Bruce Beck University of Georgia, Environmental Informatics and Control Program, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, Athens, GA 30602 2152, USA E-mail address: [email protected] 23 October 2009 Available online 26 November 2009