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of contemporary society" led ICSU to commission a two-year study leading to the establishment of The International Geosphere-Biosphere Program:A Study in Global Change[[italicized]] in 1986. The objective of the program is:

To describe and understand the interactive physical, chemical, and biological processes that regulate the total Earth system, the unique environment it provides for life, the changes that are occurring in that system, and the manner by which these changes are influenced by human actions.

The ultimate intellectual scope IGBP links conditions in the interior of the Earth with those in the interior of the sun. The hallmark of IGBP is integration - breaking down the barriers that have traditionally compartmentalized the study of the atmosphere, oceans, the solid Earth, solar terrestrial interaction, fauna and flora, and humankind.

Both observational and analytical, the nature of the program will require observations of parameters not now being measured and will necessitate an innovative style of interdisciplinary analysis. The most challenging aspect of the proposal is the intent to illuminate the intimate linkage between the physical sciences and the life sciences. The viewpoint is holistic and global.

The rationale for IGBP is fourfold:

• Maturation in understanding the processes in the several domains of geophysics - atmosphere, oceans, lithosphere, solar-terrestrial physics - and in the study of ecological systems has brought us to the point at which it is possible to cast these processes in quantitative form -- mathematical models. An array of international programs over the past two decades have made it abundantly clear that interactions among the several domains are so important that issues in geophysics and ecology must be addressed in a uniform manner.

• It turns out that a vital part of the linkage is found in the biogeochemical cycling of both major and trace chemicals. These cycles have been elucidated during the last decade or so and are now the object of intensive study. New dimensions of global observations combining in situ and remote-sensing measurement are required.

• Major advances in sensor and detector technology have been made since TIROS was launched in April 1980. Active remote-sensing techniques are under development to add to the current passive remote-sensing capabilities. These techniques promise to provide three-dimensional measurements of the dynamic, thermodynamic, chemical, and biological processes in the Earth system. Explosive growth in the processing power of computers is making possible mathematical modeling that was only a dream a decade ago. Advances in telecommunications, data-archiving function into a sophisticated information system that is an integral part of research, permitting real-time interaction by individual researchers.

• A powerful motivating force is the realization that the agricultural and industry activity in our generation that transforms natural resources into the goods and services to meet the human needs of a growing world population is altering the environment of our small and tightly knit planet in unprecedented ways. These changes have consequences for future generations that we cannot as yet comprehend. The greenhouse gas issue, depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer, desertification, deforestation, and species extinction are issues that have rocketed in public consciousness. The unity of ecology and economics has now been generally accepted, following publication of the Brundtland Report. The concept of sustainable development (living off the yield of natural resources without depleting the resource capital itself) is looming ever larger in the thinking within developing countries, where population pressure will be greatest as we cross the threshold into the twenty-first century. Apprehension[[italicized]] over the traumatic consequences of anthropogenically induced global change combined with hope[[italicized]] that wise measures will make our global environment comfortably habitable for future generations provide powerful motivation for action. Rational action, however, must be based on precisely the kind of understanding that is the goal of IGBP.

The structure of the program is now being developed by the Special Committee of ICSU chaired by professor James McCarthy of Harvard University. It has a secretariat headed by Professor Thomas Roswall of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Close consultation is maintained with national IGBP committees and with the groups overseeing international programs such as the world climate research program and programs addressed to the study of the oceans, the solid Earth, and solar-terrestrial physics. The Special Committee will hold a major consultation conference in Stockholm in late October. That occasion will provide a superb opportunity to develop further the linkage between the space and the Earth sciences.

Intensive planning and program design will continue for the balance of this decade. The observational mode will commence in the 1990's, with full-scale operations probably coinciding with the planned initiation of the Earth Observing System in the mid-1990's. The timing of The International Space Year is thus both fortuitous and important.

Initial program activities will include:

• Process studies - The flux of energy, water, and chemicals at the ocean-atmosphere and the land-atmosphere interfaces - the response of the atmosphere to fluctuations in the several spectral domains of the solar radiance - the biological processes that influence biogenic missions from the vegetation and from the euphotic zone of the ocean.

• Observations - An internationally sponsored Earth observing system is required. It will include standardized and calibrated remote-sensed observations from geosta-

Transcription Notes:
Unsure of how to indicate italics