Challenges and Opportunities in Earth Surface Processes

这是一项为期18个月的研究（另加3个月的出版和传播），由国家研究理事会对地球表面过程的挑战和机遇进行研究。 资金将用于支持国家研究理事会（NRC）任命的委员会处理任务说明的会议和差旅费，用于支持该项目的NRC工作人员费用，以及报告编写和印刷。 地球表面是一个动态界面，物理、化学、生物和人类过程在地球系统中引起强迫并受其影响。 这种影响反馈循环发生在广泛的时间和空间尺度上。它将地球表面与一系列科学和社会问题联系在一起，在此背景下，委员会将（1）评估地球表面过程学科领域的最新发展水平和该领域的基础研究问题;（2）确定该领域取得重大进展的限速挑战或机遇;以及（3）确定必要的智力合作和高度优先的需求，以应对这些挑战。 简而言之，拟议的活动将是一个试金石，并呼吁采取行动，以促进对地球表面过程的了解。 更广泛的影响地球表面是一系列科学和社会问题的主要因素。 对这些过程的更好理解将提高我们的预测和解释能力，一方面解决社会问题，另一方面为进一步的基础研究开辟新的途径。 这项研究将提供一个机会，强调人类和生物对地球表面过程的影响的重要性，并提出一个全面的研究议程，需要在未来十年或更长时间内最大限度地提高这一领域的工作效率。 该报告将广泛分发给一系列目标受众，其中包括相关的技术界（例如，在研究会议和研讨会上）以及感兴趣的非技术人员（例如，国会议员）。

This is a study for an 18-month (plus 3 additional months for publication and dissemination) study by the National Research Council on Challenges and Opportunities in Earth Surface Processes. Funding will be used to support meeting and travel costs for the committee appointed by the National Research Council (NRC) to address the statement of task, for NRC staff costs to support this project, and for report preparation and printing. Earth's surface is a dynamic interface where physical, chemical, biological, and human processes cause and are affected by forcings in the Earth System. This impact-feedback loop occurs over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. It binds the Earth's surface to a host of scientific and societal issues, and within this context, the committee will (1) assess the state-of-the-art of the disciplinary field of Earth surface processes and the fundamental research questions in the field; (2) identify rate-limiting challenges or opportunities for making significant advances in the field; and (3) identify the necessary intellectual collaborations and high-priority needs to meet these challenges. Simply put, the proposed activity will be a touchstone and call to action to advance understanding of Earth surface processes. Broader Impact Earth's surface plays host to processes that factor into a wide array of scientific and societal issues. Improved understanding of these processes will advance our predictive and interpretive capabilities to address societal issues on the one hand, and open up new avenues for further basic research on the other. The study will present an opportunity to emphasize the importance of human and biotic influences on Earth surface processes and present a holistic view of the research agenda needed to maximize the efficacy of work in this field over the next decade or more. The report will be widely disseminated to a range of target audiences that includes the relevant technical communities (e.g., at research conferences and workshops) as well as interested non-technical people (e.g., congressional staff).