The Weathering System Science Consortium formed to promote investigations in Critical Zone Science that will foster collection of standardized data from a broad array of field sites, storage and dissemination of data using new informatic systems, and development of numerical and simulation models that couple the chemical, biological, geological, and physical processes involved in the Zone from the outer limits of vegetation to the lower limits of groundwater (the Critical Zone). We call the proposed network of Critical Zone observatories the Critical Zone Exploration network (CZEN).
Program Overview:
The Weathering System Science Consortium is a group of scientists from 50 universities worldwide who collaborate to promote investigations in Critical Zone Science that will foster collection of standardized data from a broad array of field sites, storage and dissemination of data using new informatic systems, and development of numerical and simulation models that couple the chemical, biological, geological, and physical processes involved in the weathering system.
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Goals:
The initiative is focused on answering basic questions concerning the Critical Zone worldwide by:
- promoting systems approaches to investigations in weathering,
- promoting interaction among different disciplines studying the Critical Zone,
- standardizing data and sample collection for studies of the Critical Zone,
- decoupling complex biophysicochemical systems with community models,
- providing databases or storage facilities for data and samples,
- training a new cohort of Critical Zone specialists, and
- integrating field-based, computational, and experimental approaches to answer questions investigating the Critical Zone.
History:
In late August 2003, a group of Scientists submitted a funding request to the National Science Foundation and following approval of this request, the first Weathering System Science Workshop convened in Baltimore, MD (October 2003). The organizing committee for this workshop included Susan Brantley, Oliver Chadwick, Louis Derry, Lee Kump and Art White - A list of workshop participants
Participants agreed to promote subsequent outreach activities to broaden the cross section of involved Earth scientists and crafted a set of questions that would drive further development of Weathering System Science. This field of science was considered to include all aspects of chemistry, biology, physics, and geology of the Critical Zone. Some of the specific actions resulting from the workshop are listed below.
- Placed an announcement in Eos for a coalition of scientists to promote a Weathering System Science Consortium, encouraging interested scientists to join our list serve and participate in the development of the initiative.
- Developed a website to inform the community about the weathering initiative (
http://www.wssc.psu.edu/*Content mirgrated to http://www.czen.org). - Organized an open meeting for weathering science professionals and students at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco (December 2003).
- Authored an abstract entitled “WSSC: An initiative to study Earth’s weathering engine” for the 2004 Goldschmidt conference (Brantley, et al. 2004).
- Published an Eos article highlighting the major findings of the October 2003 workshop (Anderson et al. 2004).
- Promoted the consortium at a special session at the 11th International Water Rock Interaction Symposium in Saratoga Springs, New York (June 2004). This session included a morning meeting open to an invited group of international researchers and an afternoon session open to all WRI attendees, including students.
- Fostered the development of a European initiative that works with US counterparts to promote and advance this consortium. A group of European weathering scientists met in England in October 2004 to write a position paper regarding a European weathering initiative.
- Fostered the development of an initiative among British scientists to work with US counterparts to promote and advance this consortium. A group of weathering scientists from the UK met in October 2004 to write a proposal (which was funded) to the UK National Environmental Research Council to fund weathering system science.
- Organized a session for the 2005 Goldschmidt conference titled “The Earth’s Weathering Engine; Coupling Chemical Weathering with Physical Erosion, Biology, Hydrology and Climate.”
- Positioned leadership, researchers and staff to develop the infrastructure for formally establishing a Weathering System Science Consortium.
- Obtained support from the National Science Foundation for: a meeting of WSSC scientists and organizers in January 2005 which culminated in a presentation to a variety of federal agencies at NSF headquarters (list of participants available in Table 6); and for a meeting entitled “Frontiers in Exploration of the Critical Zone”, October 24-26, 2005 at the University of Delaware.
- Drafted a request for proposals for CZEN components to be vetted at the Delaware meeting.
- Prepared two proposals to start the database initiative of WSSC/CZEN.
- Attended a meeting at NSF in March 2005 to discuss observatories and CUAHSI, and visited NSF to discuss strategies and various avenues of potential funding.
- Submitted a short description of WSSC/CZEN to the Geochemical Society newsletter.
- Presented a poster entitled “Collaborative research: A proposal to establish a Critical Zone Exploration Network – Relevance and challenges of Critical Zone science in the Earth sciences”, at the European Union of Geosciences meeting, April 25-30, 2005.
Report from the University of Delaware Workshop
A National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored workshop dealing with frontiers in critical zone research was held at the Univ of Delaware, Newark, October 24-26, 2005. “Frontiers in Exploration of the Critical Zone” is the final report.
Over 150 scientists from academia and government participated in the meeting, which featured oral presentations by invited speakers, breakout sessions, panel discussions and over 70 poster presentations. Among the highlights of the workshop were the 23 presentations for proposed field sites. Click here to view the Criteria for CZEN Site Components.
