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by sthomas@gcrio.gcrio.org."

The U.S. Global Change Research Program encompasses several agencies, 
which are conducting research in the various areas pertaining to global 
environmental change.  Each agency provides a one page description of their
different ongoing projects.  Following is a brief description of each 
agency's target projects and areas of research.
  
Department of Agriculture:  
Ground-based research sponsored by the USDA focuses on understanding 
terrestrial systems and the effects of global change (including water 
balance, atmospheric deposition, vegetative quality, and UV-B radiation) 
on food and fiber production in agricultural, forest and range
ecosystems.  This includes research on: interactions between terrestrial 
ecosystems  and the atmosphere; the contributions of agricultural sources of 
methyl bromide to stratospheric ozone depletion and possible alternatives and 
substitutes for this fumigant; methane generation and nitrous oxide release;
soil properities, including moisture, erosion, organic matter, nutrient fluxes
and microbes; relationship of global change to forest and range fires, insects
and plant pathogens; agricultural management systems; and ground truthing of 
satellite measurements.

Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:  
NOAA maintains a balanced program of observations, analytical studies, climate
prediction and information management through ongoing efforts in: operational 
in situ and satellite observations with an emphasis on oceanic and atmospheric 
dynamics (including sea level), circulation and chemistry; the development of 
new measurement techniques; focused research on ocean-atmosphere interactions,
the global hydrologic cycle, the role of oceanic circulation and biogeochemical
dynamics in climate change, atmospheric trace gas/climate interactions, and 
the response of marine ecosystems and living resources to climate change and
related stresses; improvements in climate modeling, prediction and information
management capabilities; global change economics and human dimensions research;
and archival, management and dissemination of data and information useful for
global climate change research.

Department of Defense: 
The DOD provides unique capabilities and programs that concurrently satisfy 
Defense mission requirements and USGCRP goals, involving research in high 
latitude dynamics, regional resolving models, boundary layer dynamics and 
ocean ecological systems.

Department of Energy:  
DOE research addresses the impact of energy production and use on the global 
Earth system primarily through studies of climate response, and includes 
research in climate modeling, carbon sources and sinks, impacts on vegetation 
and ecosystems, critical data needs for global change research and for early 
detection  of climatic change, and funding for education and training for 
scientists and researchers in global change.

Department of Health and Human Services/National Institutes of Health:  
National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding supports research on health effects
of CFC replacement chemicals and ultraviolet radiation, including studies in
metabolism and toxicity of HCFCs and halogenated hydrocarbons; effects of UV
exposure on the pathogeesis of disease and on target organs, especially skin 
and eyes; repair of solar UV radiation-related DNA damage in human cells; and
effects of shorter wavelength UV radiation on photosensitivity in people who 
use many commonly prescribed drugs.

Department of the Interior:  
DOI programs include studies of past climates, from which understanding of 
current changes can be drawn; interaction and sensitivity of hydrologic 
and ecological systems with climate at local, land-scape and regional 
levels; arid, polar and coastal regions and systems; volcano-atmospheric 
interactions; methane hydrates; changing land surface characteristics; 
ocean heat fluxes; assessments of the impacts of global change and the 
social, environmental and economic consequences on human activities, 
water resources, coastal wetlands, biological species, ecological 
systems, and land management; carbon cycle variation; and archival and 
distribution of space- and land-based Earth science data.

Environmental Protection Agency:  
EPA research supports process-level understanding and modeling capabilities 
to more confidently predict global change impacts and feedback at the 
regional scale, and examines the relative risk of global change, especially 
in climate-sensitive regions (e.g., tundra and forests).  EPA sponsors 
research on evaluating the processes and quanitifying the relative 
contributions of anthropogenic and biological sources of trace
gases, quantifying and modeling the consequences of; climate change on 
ecosystems and their feedback to the atmosphere; and the interaction of trace
gases in the atmosphere.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration:  
NASA research efforts in global change involve space-based studies of 
the Earth as an integrated system, including research and satellite 
programs studying atmospheric ozone, ocean surface winds, tropical 
precipitation, and the Earth's upper atmosphere.  This space-based 
activity complements ongoing ground-based research programs in the
observation, understanding and modeling of radiation, climate dynamics and 
hydrology; ecosystem dynamics and biogeochemical cycles; atmospheric chemistry;
solid Earth science; and the processing, archival, retrieval, dissemination 
and use of global change data.

National Science Foundation:  
NSF global change research programs support research and related activities 
that advane fundamental understanding of dynamic physical, biological and 
socioeconomic systems and the interactions among those systems.  In 
addition to research on Earth system processes and the consequences of 
changes in those systems, NSF programs facilitate data-acquistion and 
data-management activities necessary for basic research on global change, 
the enhancement of modeling designed to improve representations of Earth 
system interactions, and the advancement of advanced analytic methods
that facilitate fundamental research.

Smithsonian Institution:  
Smithsonian research concentrates on long-term documentation of ecosystem 
response to environmental change.  Efforts involve enhancements to ongoing 
research in tropical forest ecosystem dynamics, characterization and 
quantification of biological diversity, terrestrial and marine ecosystem 
response to global climate, atmosphere-ecosystem exchange, past climate 
change and ecosystem response, the human dimensions of global change, 
and quanititative documentation of global volcanism and other natural 
components of global change.

Tennessee Valley Authority:  
TVA research and operations focus on the regional and local scale 
application programs and operations, and center on climatic and hydrologic 
systems, biogeochemical dynamics, climate change impacts assessment and 
greenhouse gas sources and sinks.

Keywords:  atmosphere, atmospheric, carbon, changes, climate, data, 
	development, dynamics, earth, ecological, ecosystems, effects, energy,
	enviromental, global change, human, information, international, land,
	long, modeling, models, name, national, ocean, policy, processes, 
	research, science, sea, studies, system, term, understanding, water
	")
