Water vapor from an atmospheric river that extends from Hawaii to the U.S. West Coast, known as the “Pineapple Express,” imaged by the GOES 11 satellite.
(Image credit – U.S. Naval Research Lab)
NSF Seeks ‘Systems Approach’ to Earth Science
AUG 28, 2020
With help from a new National Academies study, the National Science Foundation is seeking to formalize the use of a “systems approach” in its Earth science funding portfolio.
Science Policy Analyst
The National Academies kicked off a new study last week that will develop a vision for a “systems approach” that could revise how the National Science Foundation manages its Earth science portfolio.
The study committee is co-chaired by George Hornberger, director of Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Energy and the Environment, and Ruth DeFries, a professor of ecology and sustainable development at Columbia University, and will consider ways to integrate work across all major components of the Earth system, including the interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and human activities over different timescales. It will also identify research infrastructure, computational capabilities, and workforce development needed to support the vision.
At the kickoff meeting, the head of NSF’s Geosciences Directorate Bill Easterling noted the Academies has played a role over past decades in crystallizing the idea of Earth systems. He also said the study is part of NSF’s broader interest in promoting interdisciplinary work and suggested it could show how other NSF directorates might deepen their contributions to Earth systems research.
“One of the things that we need from the committee is a language when talking about Earth systems that enables us to build a tent that invites in areas in the life sciences, social sciences, cyber sciences, and engineering,” he said.
NSF looks to break down disciplinary stovepipes
As a recent example of why systems approaches are needed, Easterling highlighted how warming of the atmospheric river that transports moisture from Hawaii to the U.S. West Coast, known as the “Pineapple Express,” has led to reduced snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, diminishing water resource availability for agricultural and other uses. He said understanding that dynamic has required collaboration between atmospheric scientists, ocean scientists, and hydrologists.
“It’s a long chain of highly coupled pieces of the Earth system at play in just this one phenomenon. And it’s how to incorporate a research program around these kinds of highly linked, complex parts of the Earth system that is the challenge you’re going to help us meet,” he remarked. He also noted that NSF views advancing Earth system science as foundational to improving the predictability of weather and climate phenomena, which is currently a priority of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Easterling said another goal of the study is to help break down “stovepipes” between NSF directorates, remarking,
We still organize ourselves around the classical disciplines. And the communities that we serve demand a certain amount of reductionism that drives us toward … that stovepiping. But having said that, just in the time that I have been here at NSF, I have seen — I wouldn’t call it a sea change, but certainly a major change toward developing mechanisms that allow us to function as if we were much more interdisciplinary than we currently are.
He also noted NSF has made investments outside the Geosciences Directorate relevant to Earth systems science, such as the Biological Sciences Directorate-funded National Ecological Observatory Network, which he said provides data that can inform, for instance, carbon cycle studies and land surface models.
“We would really like to have guidance on how we at NSF can leverage our large and varied base of assets, both funding of projects and facilities, to make Earth systems science much easier to promote and much more robust as an area of science within the foundation. So how success in my view will be defined is the extent to which you can help us make that case,” he remarked.
Asked whether the study should consider the interagency nature of Earth systems research, Easterling indicated the committee will have to walk a fine line.
“I’m going to speak forcefully here and say that this is a study that is for NSF. But NSF does not operate in a vacuum in virtually any scientific area in the federal government. And so we don’t want to just create an insular NSF that is disconnected to our fellow agencies that share interest in Earth systems,” he said.
Committee members also probed NSF’s approach to funding the field, given the tension between agency’s mandate to advance fundamental research and the prevalence of practical applications in Earth systems research, which are supported by mission-driven agencies. DeFries, for instance, asked about the agency’s attitude toward funding “use-inspired” research, noting the Pineapple Express example would fit that category.
Easterling replied, “In describing convergent science, we often will bring into play the term ‘use-inspired research’ because oftentimes the driver of the research in question is of direct interest to how we manage society. ... But I also include in convergence research the attribute of it being able to accelerate advances in highly fundamental research areas without necessarily a tie to some direct human benefit.”
He later added, “We do not consciously avoid funding applied research. What we avoid funding, we hope, is research that fails to develop new knowledge, new understanding. So, I think in the case of Earth system science, we can make a case for there being examples across the spectrum from fundamental curiosity-driven science, all the way through to limited instances of applied science.”
Earth systems also a focus for new meteorological council
As NSF explores how to employ an Earth systems approach across its research portfolio, a new government-wide body is specifically focused on Earth systems as a key to bolstering U.S. competitiveness in weather forecasting.
The Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological Services (ICAMS), which met for the first time yesterday, was established last month to fulfill a provision in the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 . Co-chaired by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it is assuming responsibilities from the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology for harmonizing meteorological research and forecasting efforts across a broad array of federal agencies, including NSF.
ICAMS’ charter states that its creation enables pursuit of the “aspirational goal” of bringing the U.S. to a position of global leadership in meteorology “via an Earth system approach, providing societal benefits with information spanning local weather to global climate.” The Committee on Research and Innovation, one of the council’s four standing committees, is given responsibility for advancing the approach through activities such as defining research topics, conducting community engagement, coordinating among research organizations, and promoting technological innovation across sectors of the meteorological enterprise.
Among the council’s specific deliverables is to develop a “decadal strategic plan to advance meteorological services with involvement of the Earth system science, service, and stakeholder communities.”
