Supporting U.S. Scientist Involvement in an NSF China workshop: Frontiers in International Critical Zone Science

该提案请求六名美国科学家前往参加即将于2014年5月21日至23日在北京举行的“国际关键区域科学前沿”研讨会，中国。与会者将继续制定和实施一项国际计划，该计划于2011年在特拉华大学的一个研讨会上首次构思，朝着确定国际研究议程和建立证据基础迈出了重要的一步，以支持对国家基金的联合资助提案。关键区域是从地下水底部延伸到植被树冠顶部的近地表环境。临界区的科学研究是跨学科的，使用系统的方法来了解该区内生物、化学和物理过程的耦合。关键地带观测站全球网络的建立有可能将变革性的基础科学与全球人类适应关键地带管理的创新结合起来，以适应当前迅速和密集的环境和社会变化。

This proposal requests support for six US scientists to travel to the upcoming "Frontiers in International Critical Zone Science" workshop in Beijing, China, May 21-23, 2014. Participants will continue development and implementation of a plan for an international program first conceived in a workshop at the University of Delaware in 2011, taking a significant step towards defining the international research agenda and establishing the evidence base to support a joint funding proposal to national funders.The Critical Zone is the near-surface environment extending from the base of the groundwater to the top of the vegetative canopy. Scientific research of the critical zone is interdisciplinary using a system approach to understand the coupling of biological, chemical and physical processes in this zone. The establishment of a global networks of Critical Zone Observatories have the potential to integrate transformative basic science with innovation in the global human adaptation of Critical Zone management to ongoing rapid and intensive environmental and social change.