Geosciences $691,070,000

The FY 2003 Budget Request for the Geosciences Activity is $691.07 million, an increase of $81.60 million, or 13.4 percent, above the FY 2002 Current Plan of $609.47 million.

(Millions of Dollars)

Totals may not add due to rounding.

The Geosciences Activity (GEO) supports research, infrastructure, and education in the atmospheric, earth, and ocean sciences. GEO is the principal source of federal funding for university-based basic research in the geosciences, providing over half of the total support in this area. GEO plays a critical role in addressing the nation's need to understand, predict and respond to environmental events and changes and to use Earth's resources wisely. Fundamental research in the geosciences advances scientific knowledge of Earth's environment, including resources such as water, energy, minerals, and biological diversity. GEO-supported activities also advance our ability to predict natural phenomena of economic and human significance, such as weather, climate change, earthquakes, fish-stock fluctuations, and disruptive events in the solar-terrestrial environment.

Three goals guide GEO's activities:

• Advancement of knowledge about the Earth system, including both maintaining adequate base support across all geoscience fields and identifying opportunities where more focused support can play a catalytic role in advancing scientific progress;

• Enhancement of the infrastructure for the conduct of geoscience research. GEO will identify and make investments in instrumentation and facilities, including ships, aircraft, computers, radars, seismographs, and data management systems needed to do world-class research; and

• Improvement of the quality of geoscience education and training and enhancing diversity in all the fields of geoscience. GEO will advance education and training for current geoscientists, increase the diversity of the geoscience community, facilitate education and training for future generations of geoscientists, and enhance the general public's knowledge about the integrated components of the Earth system.

A recent example of GEO grantee activity underscores the interconnectedness of these goals:

In the spring of 2001, GEO supported an interdisciplinary team of 34 scientists, technicians and engineers to explore a newly discovered hydrothermal vent field in the Indian Ocean. They collected biological samples, samples of vent and smoker fluid and plumes, rocks and sediment samples from the seafloor, and precisely mapped the area. Newly discovered animals living in the hydrothermal vent system as well as ancient bacteria found at the site may help scientists better explain how and whether the fauna living at hydrothermal vents in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are genetically related. The research expedition was fully integrated with an educational component entitled "Dive and Discover," co-funded with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Ohio's Center of Science and Industry. "Dive and Discover" involved live webcasts, interactions between students and scientists, and companion materials that assisted teachers in explaining the science and technology behind the expedition. The Indian Ocean expedition was one of a series of field expeditions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans from 1999-2001 in which more than 2 million people (including 10,000 students and teachers) from five countries and territories participated.

GEO actively participates in and contributes to five of the Foundation's priority areas: Biocomplexity in the Environment, Information Technology Research, Nanoscale Science and Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, and Learning for the 21^st Century Workforce.

Biocomplexity in the Environment (BE): In FY 2003, GEO will provide $22.22 million, a decrease of $780,000 from FY 2002, to support the NSF-wide BE competition and a set of coordinated activities in environmental science, engineering and education that advance scientific knowledge about the connection between the living and non-living Earth system. These funds will enable the continuation of four interdisciplinary activities:

• Planetary Ecology focuses on understanding the Earth's marine and terrestrial ecosystems and their evolution, and the interaction of the biosphere with earth system processes. GEO will support research focused on microbial habitats in the terrestrial and submarine deep subsurface to study processes including: biologically controlled mineralization, the production of gas hydrates, microbiological controls on seawater chemistry and productivity, and soil and rhizosphere processes. Included is $4.0 million to study the ecology of infectious diseases;
• Planetary Metabolism aims to understand the links and feedbacks among the Earth's physical, chemical, geological, and biological, as well as social, systems; how they have evolved; and how they affect the planet's biosphere and geosphere. Emphasis will be placed on understanding how carbon and water cycle through the planetary system in FY 2003;
• Planetary Energetics and Dynamics attempts to understand the links between physical and biochemical processes by focusing on energy exchange. This includes an effort to understand, mitigate and predict natural hazards - for example, hurricane genesis and storm tracking, earthquake nucleation, and energetic processes in the upper atmosphere; and
• Earth Observatories will make sustained time-series observations to understand the temporal evolution of environmental systems that are central to the study of biocomplexity in the environment.

Information Technology Research (ITR): In FY 2003, GEO will provide $13.21 million, an increase of $1.05 million over FY 2002, to support information-based activities that focus on:

• Development of comprehensive coupled models that include ensemble forecasting, nesting and/or data assimilation techniques to understand the complex interactions taking place in the Earth system;
• Development of tools for knowledge discovery, visualization and interpretation of large-scale heterogeneous data sets;
• Development of the infrastructure to find, access, retrieve, and integrate geospatial data from distributed, heterogeneous sources in a way that makes them useful for scientific research; and
• Extension of local networking and computing capabilities in support of large-scale modeling and database activities in the geosciences.

Nanoscale Science and Engineering: In FY 2003, GEO will support Nanoscale Science and Engineering at a level of $7.53 million, an increase of $730,000 over FY 2002, for activities that focus on:

• The development and application of chemical and biological sensor technology for making rapid, high-precision observations at submicroscopic spatial and volumetric scales;
• Support for crosscutting studies aimed at understanding the distributions and behavior of nanoscale structures throughout the earth, atmosphere, and oceans; and
• The development of heavily instrumented interdisciplinary Earth System Observatories that facilitate our understanding of nanoscale geoscience processes, including platforms to detect and characterize nanoscale particles and their interactions throughout the atmosphere and oceans.

Mathematical Sciences: In FY 2003, GEO will support multidisciplinary research involving the partnering of mathematicians and geoscientists at a level of $4.57 million. This activity builds on a preliminary partnership initiated in FY 2002 at a level of $2.0 million.

Learning for the 21^st Century Workforce: In FY 2003, GEO will support a range of programs that encourage innovative approaches to meeting the challenge of educating students for the 21^st century. A total of $4.23 million, an increase of $330,000 over FY 2002, will support the Interagency Education Research Initiative, the Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education program, and an effort to expand the Digital Library for Earth System Education.

TRANSFERS FROM OTHER AGENCIES

In FY 2003, GEO will manage three programs being transferred to the National Science Foundation from other agencies:

• Environmental Education, formerly at the Environmental Protection Agency;
• National Sea Grant program, formerly at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and
• Hydrology of Toxic Substances, formerly at the United States Geological Survey.

(Millions of Dollars)

NOTE: Differences between program estimates in the above table and the total program amounts proposed to be transferred are funds which will be used for Administration and Management of these programs.

In FY 2003, $9.0 million is being transferred from the Environmental Protection Agency to enhance the environmental education portfolio at NSF. These funds will be used to develop a comprehensive program that will support a broad suite of environmental education activities at the K-12 level, in informal education venues, and at the undergraduate level. The content of the program will be developed with input from and discussions with the community of participating scientists and educators.

In FY 2003, GEO will re-establish and operate the National Sea Grant program as a $57.0 million research and education program focused on development of marine resources. Originally developed at NSF in the 1960s, the National Sea Grant program will undertake scientific endeavors relating to the marine environment, including:

• Development, conservation, or economic utilization of the physical, chemical, geological and biological resources of the marine environment,
• Marine commerce and marine engineering, and
• Economic, legal, medical, human health or sociological problems arising out of the management, use, development, recovery and control of the natural resources of the marine environment.

GEO will also establish a new $10.0 million study-area within the Hydrologic Sciences program focused on the science of water quality at the interface of natural and human systems. Based on the USGS Toxics program, this new effort in water quality will be reoriented to focus on the fundamental processes affecting water quality and will have the following objectives:

• Characterization and quantification of the physical, chemical and biological processes and properties that affect water quality in the environment;
• Definition of the microbial and other biological processes that transform, degrade, or otherwise affect contaminant transport;
• Description of the influence of contaminants on ecosystems and human systems;
• Understanding the ultimate fate of contaminants in hydrologic systems and the potential long-term implications for human and environmental health; and
• Development of digital models to simulate and predict spatial and temporal transport and fate of contaminants in environmental systems.

Existing commitments to extramural researchers within the NOAA Sea Grant program, the USGS Toxics program, and the EPA Environmental Education program will be honored. NSF is working closely with all three agencies to ensure that these transfers take place in an orderly manner.

STRATEGIC GOALS

GEO's support for ongoing and new activities contributes to NSF efforts to achieve its strategic goals, as well as to the administration and management activities necessary to achieve those goals.

(Millions of Dollars)

Totals may not add due to rounding.
¹ Includes only costs charged to the Research and Related Activities Appropriation.

People

People are NSF's most important product. At NSF, placing research and learning hand in hand is our highest priority, and the people involved in our projects represent both the focus of our investments and the most important products of them. Across its programs, GEO provides support for over 10,000 people, including teachers, students, researchers, post-doctorates, and trainees. Support for programs specifically addressing NSF's Strategic Goal of "People - developing a diverse, internationally competitive and globally-engaged workforce of scientists, engineers and well-prepared citizens" totals $35.02 million in FY 2003, an increase of 59.9 percent over FY 2002.

(Millions of Dollars)

Totals may not add due to rounding.

FY 2003 highlights include:

• $9.0 million to establish an environmental education program that will complement and expand the education and diversity programs that presently exist in the Directorate. In collaboration with the Education and Human Resources activity, GEO will develop a comprehensive program that will fund a broad suite of environmental education activities in the K-12 environment, in informal education venues and at the undergraduate level;

• $1.50 million to maintain the network of coordinated centers to facilitate collaborations and communications between ocean science researchers and educators initiated in FY 2002. These Centers for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE) will foster the integration of ocean research into high quality educational materials, allow ocean researchers to gain a better understanding of educational organizations and pedagogy, provide educators with an enhanced capacity to understand and deliver high-quality educational programs in the ocean sciences, and provide material to the public that will promote a deeper understanding of the ocean and its influence on each person's quality of life and our national prosperity;

• $2.80 million to support the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program, which reflects an emphasis on multidisciplinary training in all areas of NSF-supported research;

• $2.81 million to support the Foundation-wide ADVANCE program to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers; and

• $4.0 million to support the Opportunities to Enhance Diversity in the Geosciences (OEDG) program, to increase the participation in geoscience education and research by students from groups historically underrepresented in the geosciences. A secondary goal of the program is to strengthen the understanding of the geosciences and their contribution to modern society by a broad and diverse segment of the population.

Examples of GEO efforts to integrate research and education throughout its activities include:

• The Space Science Institute has developed the Space Weather Center web site as part of the National Space Weather Program (NSWP). The web page can be viewed at http://www.spacescience.org/. It serves as a central outlet for public information on space weather by providing a collection of resources of interest to educators, the media, and the general public. The web site includes introductory information on space weather, an image archive of the best images from space weather research programs, brief reports written by space weather researchers, links to current solar and space weather data, and links to downloadable curricula related to space weather. A new capability installed in the past year allows visitors to the web site to take a virtual tour of any of several space weather museum exhibits the Space Science Institute has developed; and

• A universal model is being developed for Geoscience education in public parks near urban centers. This phase of the project will be to develop an educational videotape and a website. The model is being developed in the 75,000 acre Harriman-Bear Mountain-Sterling Forest State Park, 25 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Highlands. The park now receives 4.2 million visitors annually including a large proportion of groups who are traditionally underrepresented in the sciences. Outstanding roadside and trailside rock exposures illustrate fundamental principles of Geology, Mining, Environmental Science, and Civil Engineering. Through them, visitors will be provided with hands-on science education experience.

Ideas

Support for ideas, spanning the geosciences and encompassing a wide range of topics, totals $413.31 million in FY 2003, an increase of 19.1 percent over FY 2002. Projects in the Atmospheric Sciences Subactivity improve the understanding and prediction of climate, weather, space weather, and the global environmental system. Earth Sciences Subactivity research advances knowledge of the structure, composition, and history of the solid Earth and of the geological and hydrological processes that modify Earth. Projects in the Ocean Sciences Subactivity improve knowledge of the global climate system, coastal environments, the character of the ocean floor, processes that control the chemical composition and motion of ocean waters, and biological production.

GEO will also participate in the new Climate Change Research Initiative in FY 2003, principally in the area of carbon cycle research. As part of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's interagency Implementation Working Group on Carbon Cycle Science, NSF is coordinating with two other agencies in the following roles:

• With NASA, to incorporate aircraft fly-overs to measure black carbon in current field campaigns ($1.0 million);
• With NOAA, to develop sensors to measure carbon dioxide and methane accurately with minimally-trained personnel ($2.0 million); and
• With NOAA, to deliver improved understanding of the carbon cycle (particularly regional fluxes of carbon from one are to another) through diagnostic models, and improved understanding of the magnitude of the effect of black carbon on climate ($7.0 million).

GEO will emphasize research on the key physical, chemical and geologic cycles within the Earth system, the characteristics and dynamics of which are of paramount importance to science and society. These activities will be complementary to, and well coordinated with, the biologically oriented studies of Earth cycles that will be carried out within the context of the Foundation-wide Biocomplexity in the Environment priority area. Increased emphasis on fundamental research on the Earth's cycles is required to achieve the broader goal of obtaining an integrated understanding of the Earth system.

Planetary Metabolism ($100.0 million) - research aimed at understanding the links and feedbacks among the Earth's physical, chemical, geological, biological, and social systems, how they have evolved, and how they affect the biocomplexity of the planet. Primary challenges facing researchers in the study of planetary metabolism include:

• Determining how the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur are coupled;
• Quantifying what energy transformations control the biosphere and climate systems;
• Understanding how biological and social processes and the evolution of life regulate the Earth system and its climate states;
• Determining what the short-term and long-term history of planetary metabolic changes has been; and
• Developing sufficiently sophisticated models to explain historic and predict future changes in planetary metabolism.

Planetary Energetics and Dynamics ($150.0 million) - research that attempts to understand the links between physical and chemical processes by focusing on the exchange of energy within and among the components of the Sun-Earth system. This includes research to understand, mitigate, and predict natural hazards and studies of tectonic and mass-energy flux at the continent-ocean interface. This fundamental research provides the foundation for understanding natural hazards that have direct socio-economic impacts. Primary challenges for expanding knowledge of planetary energetics and dynamics include:

• Understanding the dynamic evolution of the deep Earth and the interactions between the planetary interior and exterior by using high-resolution seismic observations;
• Understanding the dynamics of climate and paleoclimate, combining knowledge of radiatively active atmospheric gases with an understanding of the climatic impact of ocean processes, the role of clouds and aerosols, and the importance of natural and human-influenced biogeochemical cycles;
• Understanding how hydrologic processes interact with weather and climate to alter landscapes and shape aquifers;
• Understanding and charting the flows of mass, energy and momentum from the Sun into the magnetosphere and upper atmosphere and determining and predicting the response of the near-Earth space environment as a system to such flows;
• Determining the energetic and dynamic consequences of the interplay among the various scales of motion in the Earth system, from turbulence through mesoscale systems to global circulation of, for example, air, water, magma, and trace constituents;
• Obtaining extensive observations of the composition, dynamics, and energetics at the interfaces of the various Earth systems; and
• Developing comprehensive models that can provide quantitative understanding and prediction of Earth system processes.

Planetary Structure ($100.0 million) - research on the spatial and temporal variations of the structure and composition of all Earth system components, from the inner core to the upper atmosphere, through improvements in observational, theoretical and modeling capability. Primary challenges to expanding knowledge of planetary structure include:

• Understanding the details of the complex interactions between atmospheric and ocean dynamics and thermodynamics over the full range of spatial and temporal scales;
• Determining the role of clouds, aerosols, and biogeochemical feedbacks in the radiative balance of the atmosphere and climate;
• Understanding and predicting the response of the near-Earth space environment to solar storms and geomagnetic disturbances;
• Understanding and quantifying the ocean's role in transporting, storing, and exchanging heat, freshwater, mass, and chemical constituents;
• Understanding the processes that control the state and variability of the coastal oceans;
• Determining the nature and variability of the global hydrological cycle; and
• Understanding the structural relationships between the mantle, the overlying crust and lithosphere, and the underlying core.

Planetary Ecology ($50.0 million) - studies to understand the Earth's marine and terrestrial ecosystems and their evolution, interactions of the biosphere with Earth system processes, and understanding the role of microorganisms in the Earth's crust. Primary challenges to expanding knowledge of planetary ecology include:

• Understanding how land surface biophysical processes interact with regional climate and modify patterns of climate and associated hydrologic variability;
• Incorporating the land surface state into predictions of weather, seasonal to interannual climate, and hydrologic processes;
• Analyzing how the large-scale atmosphere-ecosystem exchange of water and energy might change in a world with higher levels of carbon dioxide;
• Understanding how the role of marine ecosystems will change with future changes to ocean circulation, temperature, and nutrient/toxic inputs;
• Determining the interactions of changing land use, climate, nutrient and toxic inputs, and hydrology on ecosystems and their ability to support human activities and sustain biodiversity;
• Understanding what effect the functional diversity of species has on ecosystem function within biomes and at the global level; and
• Establishing whether potential changes to global biodiversity and climate could affect global net primary production, trace gas exchange, and other critical aspects of ecosystem function.

GEO-supported centers include Science and Technology Centers (STCs), the Consortium for Materials Properties Research in the Earth Sciences (COMPRES), the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), and Long Term Ecological Research sites (LTERs).

(Millions of Dollars)

Totals may not add due to rounding.

In FY 2003, GEO will continue to support the Science and Technology Center on the Sustainability of Semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHRA). The Center's scientific foci are: 1) spatial and temporal properties of hydrologic variables; 2) processes controlling water and chemical balances in catchments; 3) functioning of riparian systems; and 4) integrated modeling of catchment-scale processes. Promoting researcher-user partnerships across the breadth of water resources management through technology transfer will be an integral part of the day-to-day operation of the Center. Educational initiatives contribute to sustainability by bringing water resources issues to the forefront of K-16 science education and by promoting hydrologic literacy among the public. SAHRA is educating a new generation of water resources professionals in the interdisciplinary perspective and technological skills required for practicing sustainable water resources management.

The Southern California Earthquake Center (University of Southern California) has emerged as a focal point for earthquake research in southern California. It fosters cooperation among the major southern California universities, federal, state and local agencies, and private corporations. The Center is a regionally focused organization with the mission to gather new information about earthquakes in southern California, integrate knowledge into a comprehensive and predictable understanding of earthquake phenomena, and communicate this understanding to engineers, emergency managers, government officials, and the general public. SCEC does this through the application of research findings from the various disciplines in earthquake-related science, engineering and information technology. Extensive databases are being developed including seismicity, strong motion and geodetic data that are available to all users both within and outside the center through remote access such as the Internet.

The Center for Materials Properties Research in the Earth Sciences (COMPRES) has emerged as a focal point for mineral-physics research and education in the U. S. The scientists of COMPRES are developing an understanding of fundamental processes within the Earth and other planets by studying natural materials at the high pressure and temperature conditions that exist in the interior of the Earth. COMPRES fosters cooperation between major U.S. earth science research universities by providing access for earth scientists to high-pressure experimental x-ray facilities at several national physics laboratories including Brookhaven, Argonne, Oak Ridge and Lawrence-Berkeley. Data from these studies have applications in fields as broad-ranging as earthquake mechanisms, superconductivity, and super-hard synthetic materials such as diamonds.

Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites support projects requiring long periods of study; the sustained nature of studies allows scientifically sound evaluations of major environmental phenomena. The LTERs represent many disciplines that enhance our understanding of general ecological phenomena that occur over long temporal and broad spatial scales, provide information for the identification and solution of environmental problems, and enable interdisciplinary collaborative activities.

Tools

The GE O Activity supports user facilities necessary for the conduct of research in the geosciences. These include large national user facilities such as the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the U.S. academic fleet, and smaller facilities in atmospheric, earth, and ocean sciences.

(Millions of Dollars)

Totals may not add due to rounding.
¹Other GEO facilities include multi-user accelerator-based mass spectrometers, synchrotron beamlines, radar facilities to study weather and the upper atmosphere, and facilities to support the scientific use of the Global Positioning System.

NSF support provides for ongoing operations and maintenance, including upgrades to existing facilities as well as regularly scheduled repairs. FY 2003 plans include:

• $73.60 million, a decrease of $30.20 million or 3.9 percent, for the operation and maintenance of observational and computer facilities at NCAR. NCAR is a world-renowned center for atmospheric research that makes facilities available - including supercomputers, instrumented research aircraft and ground-based portable observing systems - to scientists at universities, NCAR, and elsewhere. In FY 2003 NCAR will focus on: research on Earth's natural cycles, including climate system modeling and the operation of the computation facilities for the Climate Simulation Laboratory; projects within the U.S. Weather Research Program (USWRP) and the National Space Weather Program (NSWP), which aim to achieve a better understanding and improved predictive capability of costly and disruptive storms on Earth and in space; and continued development of observational and computational capabilities;

• $30.0 million, a decrease of $1.0 million or 3.2 percent, to support infrastructure associated with the Ocean Drilling Program, including operation of the JOIDES Resolution. Studies to be undertaken in FY 2003 include continuing the development of sites for expansion of the global seismic network for deep earth structure studies, examining the hydrological cycle and associated geochemical cycling in continental margin sediments, initiating a dedicated effort in understanding diversity and ecology of the deep biosphere in marine sediments, and contributing to carbon cycle studies through examining the formation of gas hydrates off western North America;

• $62.0 million, an increase of $2.10 million or 3.5 percent, for the continued operation of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet. Approximately 325 projects with about 2,500 scientists and students will use the fleet's 28 ships. The projects range from individual investigator studies of coastal waters to integrated multi-investigator studies of global ocean processes. NSF-funded researchers are the primary users of the ships, accounting for about 75 percent of their total use. NSF ship operation funds support the costs associated with the use of the fleet by these researchers;

• $13.10 million, unchanged from FY 2002, to continue support for the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). IRIS facilities provide rapid analysis of earthquakes, aid in monitoring nuclear proliferation, and permit imaging of the internal physical structure of Earth; and

• $32.35 million, an increase of $500,00 or 0.2 percent, for Other Geosciences Facilities, which includes facilities to support the use of the Global Positioning System for scientific research, multi-user analytical facilities such as accelerator-based mass spectrometers, synchrotron beamlines, and operation, upgrade, development, and construction of radar facilities to study precipitation and upper atmospheric phenomena.

Funds are being spent for early planning, design and development of potential future facilities projects, listed below.

• Ocean Observatories Initiative: This project is currently envisioned as basic infrastructure acquisition and placement, enabling a new mode of access to the ocean to study the interconnected processes that actively shape the Earth and ultimately impact society. The construction phase of this project is currently estimated to cost approximately $132 million. This project has been approved by the NSB for consideration for funding in a future NSF budget request. To date, approximately $13.0 million has been provided for related projects and planning efforts, and an additional $750,000 is planned for FY 2003.

• Scientific Ocean Drilling: This project currently consists of a plan to lease and modify a non-riser drillship for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, the successor to the Ocean Drilling Program. This vessel would complement the heavy, riser equipped drillship under construction by Japan. The acquisition, conversion and outfitting phase of this project is currently estimated to cost approximately $96 million. This project has been approved by the NSB for consideration for funding in a future NSF budget request. To date, approximately $600,000 has been provided for this effort, and an additional $2.0 million is planned for FY 2003.

Although any facility project undertaken will be categorized as a Tool, early planning and development investments may fall within Ideas and will be funded within the Research and Related Activities Account. Whether a project ever becomes a candidate for the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction Account is determined by a systematic planning and review process to determine its scientific merit, feasibility, and readiness.

Administration and Management

Administration and Management provides for administrative activities necessary to enable NSF to achieve its strategic goals. Requested funding for FY 2003 is $8.0 million, an increase of $4.02 million over FY 2002. This includes the cost of Intergovernmental Personnel Act appointments and contractors performing administrative functions, as well as administration and management of transferred programs.

Number of People Involved in GEO Activities

GEO Funding Profile