International Workshop: Critical Zone Observatories for Sustainable Soil Development and Beyond

地球的临界区（CZ）指的是从地下水底部到植被顶部的地球薄层，人类完全依赖于它来维持生命。这一层为维持我们的经济提供了至关重要的生态系统服务。随着未来人口的增长和环境的变化，必须了解人类活动和气候变化对CZ地球化学过程和速率的影响。为了满足这一紧迫的全球需求，在过去五年中，主要在美国和欧洲建立了一个称为临界区观测站（CZO）的全球观测站网络。这些观测站将提供前所未有的科学观测强度和规模，跨学科科学家聚集在一起测试假设，确定生态系统过程并测量其速率，开发数学模型，并利用多种传感器和采样方法。到目前为止，在25个国家建立了60个观测站，来自不同学科的科学家正在积极参与制定一项协调一致的国际研究工作，将CZO和临界区研究与全球可持续发展议程明确联系起来。该提案要求支持在中国举办一次关于CZ工艺的国际研讨会，以促进中美科学家之间的合作。为此，会议还将在中国科学家中推广CZO概念，让中国资助机构参与支持CZ研究。第二个目标是培养CZ科学领域的年轻科学家和学生。第三个目标是在中国确定可能的CZO地点，以便他们能够加入国际网络。主要研究者（PI）将与中国同行密切合作，安排后勤工作。在为期2-3天的全体会议和小组讨论之后，与会者将参观中国江西省的一个红壤实地考察点。PI和中国合作者将采用各种方法来长期维持国际活动。该研讨会将解决全球重大的研究问题，并将大大推进我们对大气圈，生物圈，水圈和岩石圈之间复杂相互作用的理解。这些主题是地质学家，微生物学家，地球化学家，水文学家，土木和环境工程师，以及具有广泛的理论和实践意义的公众感兴趣的。该研讨会最有可能促进美国，欧洲和中国科学家之间的综合多学科研究。研讨会报告将放在研讨会网站上。该网站还将包含重要信息，如教师和学生交流机会，任何新的计划公告，工作机会，联合提案机会，会议公告等。

Earth's Critical Zone (CZ) refers to the thin layer of earth from the bottom of the ground water to the top of the vegetation upon which humanity is so utterly dependent for life support. This layer provides vital ecosystem services to sustain our economy. With projected human population growth and associated environmental change in the future, it is imperative to understand the impacts of anthropogenic activities and climate change on CZ biogeochemical processes and rates. In response to this pressing global need, a global network of observatories, called Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs), have been established over the course of the past five years primarily in the United States and Europe. These observatories are to provide an unprecedented intensity and scale of scientific observations, where interdisciplinary scientists come together to test hypotheses, identify ecosystem processes and measure their rates, develop mathematical models, and make use of multiple sensors and sampling methods. By now, 60 observatories are established in 25 countries and scientists from diverse disciplines are now actively engaged in developing a concerted international research effort that explicitly links CZOs and Critical Zone research to the global sustainability agenda. This proposal requests support to hold an international workshop on CZ processes in China to promote collaboration between Chinese and US scientists. For this, the meeting will also promote the CZO concept among Chinese scientists, involving Chinese funding agencies in supporting the CZ research. The second objective is to train young scientists and students in the CZ science. The third objective is to identify possible CZO sites in China so that they can join the international network. The principal investigator (PI) will work closely with the Chinese counterparts to arrange logistics. Following 2-3 day plenary sessions and small group discussions, the participants will visit a red soil field site in Jiangxi Province, China. The PI and Chinese collaborators will implement various methods to sustain the international activities for the long term. The workshop will address globally significant research questions and will greatly advance our understanding of the complex interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. These topics are of interest to geologists, microbiologists, geochemists, hydrologists, civil and environmental engineers, and the general public with broad theoretical and practical implications. The workshop is most likely to stimulate integrated multidisciplinary research among the US, the European, and Chinese scientists. The workshop report will be placed on the workshop website. The site will also contain important information such as faculty and student exchange opportunities, any new program announcements, job opportunities, joint proposal opportunities, meeting announcements, etc.