Earth Sciences in the 21st Century - New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences - page 3

fundamental research in all of the core disciplines of the Earth sciences. While substantial
Earth science research is pursued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), the emphasis of those programs is largely strategically focused and mission
oriented. For example, the President's FY2011 budgets for Earth science activities in
these programs emphasize climate change and renewable energy resources research.
Funding for carbon capture and sequestration, climate change, and geothermal research
and development is slated to increase for DOE and the USGS. NASA is set to have
increased funding for Earth-observing satellites. NSF's GEO, which provides about 63
percent of all federal funding for the geosciences would receive a budget of about double
the EAR funding level at the time of the 2001 BROES report.
Figure 1.1 AGI summary of trends in federal research funding for geosciences.
SOURCE: AGI (2009).