International Geosphere-Biosphere (Global Change) Committee

The Integrated Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Processes Study (iLEAPS) is organizing a Science Conference 24-28 August 2009 in Melbourne, Australia.

The iLEAPS Scientific Steering Committee is hereby inviting session topics and conveners for the iLEAPS conference. The sessions will be thematic and encompass several projects and initiatives all over the world. To fit the iLEAPS objective, the sessions will be addressing land-atmosphere interactions in an integrative manner.

iLEAPS is also organizing an Early Career Scientists' Conference/Workshop prior to the main conference. We welcome suggestions for topics and hosts, especially from Australia.

The deadline for the proposals for iLEAPS Science Conference sessions and Early Career Scientists' Conference/Workshop is Tuesday, 24 June 2008.

The iLEAPS Science Conference is organized parallel to GEWEX Scientific Conference. The two parallel conferences will have three joint sessions that cover broadly the following themes: 1) Land in the climate system; 2) Aerosol, cloud, precipitation, climate interactions; 3) Future generation of integrated observation and modeling systems.

Further information is available at http://www.ileaps.org/

Carbon Workshop: Global Cycle to Regional Budget

The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) is a research programme that studies the phenomenon of Global Change. The vision of IGBP is to provide scientific knowledge to improve the sustainability of the living Earth. IGBP studies the interactions between biological, chemical and physical processes and interactions with human systems and collaborates with other programmes to develop and impart the understanding necessary to respond to global change

New Zealand IGBP (Global Change) Committee
The New Zealand IGBP committee was established in 1989 to participate in the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme’s comprehensive international scientific programme to study human impacts on the earth’s natural, physical and biological environment.

IGBP is represented in New Zealand by a committee composed primarily of key scientists who participate in IGBP Core Projects, which are active in New Zealand. This provides a committee whose personal research and interests are aligned with IGBP allowing for encouragement of an increase in research related to Core Projects and an increase in communication within the international projects.

IGBP´s research goals are to:
• Analyze the interactive physical, chemical and biological processes that define Earth System dynamics
• The changes that are occurring in these dynamics
• The role of human activities on these changes

To meet the challenges of a more integrated Earth System science, IGBP has adopted a new structure of eight projects in. Six projects are centred on the three major Earth System compartments – ocean, land and atmosphere - and the interfaces between them. Two projects – PAGES and GAIM - focus on a whole system perspective, from the past into the future.
For more information on international programme see www.igbp.net

• Terms of reference
• Committee membership
• Approved work plans for the current year
• Latest annual report to Society Council
• Meeting Minutes
• Archive Documents

Specific projects of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) include:

Global Change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (START)

National Committee Contact:  Dr John Campbell, University of Waikato, Hamilton

START is sponsored by the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) comprising the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and the International Human Dimensions Programme on global environmental change (IHDP), and DIVERSITAS.

START fosters regional networks of collaborating scientists and institutions in developing countries to conduct research on regional aspects of environmental change, assess impacts and vulnerabilities to such changes, and provide information to policy-makers. START also provides a wide variety of training and career development opportunities for young scientists.

Global Land Project (GLP)

National Committee Contact:  Dr Paul Newton, AgResearch, Palmerston North

GLP is a proposed joint research project for land systems for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP). The Global Land Project Science Plan represents the research framework for the coming decade for land systems. This development of a research strategy is designed to better integrate the understanding of the coupled human-environment system. These integrated science perspectives reflect the recognition of the fundamental nature of how human activities on land are affecting feedbacks to the earth system and the response of the human-environment system to global change. The Global Land Project Science Plan has been defined by scientists sponsored by the IGBP and the IHDP.

Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC)

National Committee Contact:  Dr John Zeldis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch
 
GLOBEC was initiated by SCOR and the IOC of UNESCO in 1991, to understand how global change will affect the abundance, diversity and productivity of marine populations comprising a major component of oceanic ecosystems.

The aim of GLOBEC is to advance our understanding of the structure and functioning of the global ocean ecosystem, its major subsystems, and its response to physical forcing so that a capability can be developed to forecast the responses of the marine ecosystem to global change.

Integrated Land Ecosystem - Atmosphere Processes Study (iLEAPS)

National Committee Contact:  Dr Garth Harmsworth, Landcare Research, Palmerston North

iLEAPS is the 10 year land-atmosphere core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). The scientific goal of iLEAPS is to provide understanding how interacting physical, chemical and biological processes transport and transform energy and matter through the land-atmosphere interface. The project studies interactions and feedbacks from the cell level to global scale. Times scales range from diurnal to centennial, past to future. iLEAPS encourages international and crossdisciplinary collaboration, particularly involving scientists from the developing countries.

Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER)

National Committee Contact:  Dr Julie Hall, NIWA, Hamilton

Previously known as OCEANS, the IMBER project was initiated by the IGBP/SCOR Ocean Futures Planning Committee in 2001 to identify the most important science issues related to biological and chemical aspects of the ocean's role in global change and effects of global change on the ocean, with emphasis on important issues that are not major components of existing international projects. Information can be obtained from IGBP and SCOR.

To facilitate the development of the IMBER project the IGBP/SCOR Transition Team has developed a Science Plan and Implementation Strategy for the new project. The IMBER Science Plan and Implementation Strategy is largely based on input from the OCEANS Open Science Conference held in Paris in January 2003, which involved more than 370 participants from 36 countries, and the IGBP/SCOR Framework for Future Research on Biological and Chemical Aspects of Global Change in the Ocean. The Science Plan and Implementation Strategy identifies and outlines the key science themes and questions which form the scientific focus of the IMBER.

International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC)

National Committee Contact:  Dr David Lowe, NIWA, Wellington

The IGAC Project, under joint sponsorship of the Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (CACGP) of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) and the International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), was created in the late 1980s to address growing international concerns over rapid changes observed in Earth's atmosphere.

The past decade of international research has greatly increased our understanding of the chemical composition of the troposphere, the fluxes of chemical species into and out of the troposphere, and the processes controlling the transport and transformation of chemical species within the troposphere. The question is still frequently raised as to how much of the change is natural variability and how much is directly or indirectly caused by man. A variety of approaches are needed to quantify as accurately as possible the natural variability.

International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP)

National Committee Contact:  Dr Garth Harmsworth, Landcare Research, Palmerston North

IHDP is an international, interdisciplinary and non-governmental science organization, dedicated to promoting, catalyzing and coordinating research, capacity-building and networking on the human dimensions of global environmental change. It takes a social science perspective on global change and works at the interface between science and practice.
IHDP fosters high-quality research. The dynamics of land-use and land-cover change, interactions between institutions and global environment, human security, sustainable production and consumption systems as well as food and water issues, urbanization and the global carbon cycle are investigated in the context of global environmental change.

IHDP's programme is designed around its three main objectives of research, capacity building and networking. Increasingly these activities are carried out in collaboration with the international partner programmes on global environmental change: the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and the International Programme on Biodiversity (DIVERSITAS). IHDP is also a scientific sponsor of the Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START) and collaborates with intergovernmental bodies, such as the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI).

Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ)

National Committee Contact:  Dr John Zeldis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch

LOICZ is an IGBP core project established in 1992, whose aim is to develop a predictive understanding of the effects of changes in climate, land use and sea level on the global functioning and sustainability of coastal ecosystems. The coastal zone, where land, air and sea meet, is a region of high physical energy and biological diversity that is heavily exploited by humans. It is also a zone that is particularly vulnerable to global change. Emphasis will be placed on the interactions between changing conditions on land and sea, and on positive feedback effects of the physical environment. Research will also be focused on the economic and social impacts of global change on coastal systems.      

Past Global Changes (PAGES)

National Committee Contact:  Dr Paul Augustinus, University of Auckland, Auckland

PAGES supports research aimed at understanding the Earth's past environment in order to make predictions for the future. We encourage international and interdisciplinary collaborations and seek to involve scientists from developing countries in the worldwide paleo-community.

PAGES scope of interest includes the physical climate system, biogeochemical cycles, ecosystem processes, biodiversity, and human dimensions, on different time scales-Pleistocene, Holocene, last millennium and the recent past.

Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS)

National Committee Contact:  Dr Mike Harvey, NIWA, Wellington

SOLAS is a new international research initiative that has as its goal "To achieve quantitative understanding of the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and atmosphere, and of how this coupled system affects and is affected by climate and environmental change."
 
The scope of the study is described in detail in the Science Plan and Implementation Strategy (SP & IS). The SP & IS is largely based on the results of the International SOLAS Open Science Meeting held in Damp, near Kiel, Germany in February 2000 and involving more than 250 scientists from 22 different countries.