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

该提案要求支持六名美国科学家前往即将于2014年5月21日至23日在中国北京举行的“国际关键区域科学前沿”研讨会。与会者将继续制定和实施一项国际项目计划，该计划最初是在2011年特拉华大学的一个研讨会上提出的，这是在确定国际研究议程和建立证据基础以支持向国家资助者提出联合资助建议方面迈出的重要一步。临界带是指从地下水底部延伸到植被冠层顶部的近地表环境。关键区域的科学研究是跨学科的，采用系统的方法来理解该区域内生物、化学和物理过程的耦合。关键带观测站全球网络的建立有潜力将变革性基础科学与全球人类适应关键带管理的创新结合起来，以适应持续快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.