Northern Eurasia earth science partnership initiative ( NEESPI), science plan overview

Abstract

Northern Eurasia Earth System Partnership Initiative, NEESPI, was established to address the global change processes associated with and/or originated within Northern Eurasia as well as to study the major socially-important processes within the region. NEESPI began as a US–Russian initiative but has quickly broadened into a fully international program. Scientists from 11 countries participated in preparing the NEESPI Science Plan. Current version of the Science Plan was released for public review on the World Wide Web in summer 2004 and finalized in December 2004. This paper provides an Overview of the Plan and is based, mainly, on its Executive Summary. The Overview describes the Plan's science themes and key science questions, provides a justification of the urgency studying Northern Eurasia from the global change prospective, and outlines research strategy and tools to address NEESPI science questions, as well as projected deliverables of the Initiative.