New Earth Science Research Opportunities: Committee Seeks Input

Abstract

In 2001, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) published Basic Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences, which helped define the priorities for the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) over the past decade. Motivated by this report, EAR funded key components of the EarthScope initiative, established a network of Critical Zone Observatories, and expanded its postdoctoral fellowship programs.Ten years later, again at the behest of NSF, NAS has assembled the Committee on New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences at the National Science Foundation. The committee will, among other things, identify high‐ priority new and emerging research opportunities in the Earth sciences over the next decade, including surface and deep Earth processes and interdisciplinary research with fields such as ocean and atmospheric sciences, biology, engineering, computer science, and social and behavioral sciences. The committee also will identify key instrumentation and facilities needed to support these new and emerging research opportunities.