Meeting Abstract
79.1 Wednesday, Jan. 6 A Proposal for a National Variable Atmosphere Laboratory (VAL) for Climate Change Research HARRISON, J.F.*; VANDENBROOKS, J.M.; Arizona State University, Tempe; Arizona State University, Tempe j.harrison@asu.edu
Many aspects of the Earth’s climate and atmosphere are changing rapidly today in response to industrialization. Over the planet’s history, these changes have been even more dramatic in magnitude (though not in rate). The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report suggests that the resilience of many of Earth’s ecosystems will be compromised by climate change in the coming century, leading to decreased cereal grain productivity, increased water stress in semi-arid regions dependent on snowmelt, and widespread human health effects including malnutrition and increased deaths from cardio-respiratory and insect-borne diseases. However, key uncertainties remain in understanding the effects of atmospheric and climatic change on ecosystems and health. Existing facilities for studying the effects of such environmental variation are limited in their ability to distinguish cause and effect due to lack of capacity for large-scale, replicated experimental manipulation of multiple variables. Results of two NSF-sponsored workshops have supported the construction of a national Variable Atmosphere Laboratory (VAL) composed of multiple miniworlds that: 1) allow regulation of multiple atmospheric gases and environmental conditions, 2) are sufficiently large to enable housing of small ecological communities, 3) accommodate animals, 4) allow measurement of net fluxes of key molecules between communities and the environment, and 4) are sufficiently replicated to allow rigorous statistical evaluation of hypotheses concerning the effects of climate change on biological and geological processes. VAL would provide a national interdisciplinary facility for generating critical information necessary for rational planning of a sustainable Earth. Supported by NSF IOS 0748882 and NSF IOS-0929344 to JFH.
