Earth Sciences in the 21st Century - New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences - page 8

with the basic research agenda defined by the BROES study. Indeed, there are common
themes manifested in all of the findings and recommendations from this updated report;
technique development, observations on suitable spatial and temporal scales, and
integrative simulation efforts underlie all of the frontiers in basic Earth science research.
The Earth sciences in the 21st century have great potential but also great
challenges. The importance of the discipline is being propelled to high priority by the
pressures of population growth, a quest for sustainability of living standards, and
demonstration of the feedbacks on Earth's geosystems caused by human activities. EAR
is critical to the future of basic Earth science research, and can highlight the great success
of such projects as EarthScope, convey the fundamental contributions of EAR science to
resource, hazards, and environmental challenges facing the nation, and promote the
intellectual challenges presented by complex geosystems to be quantified by a new
generation of committed Earth science researchers.
This report is organized along the structure of EAR to facilitate action by EAR on
the diverse topical areas. Chapter 2 of this report describes the status and future prospects
of seven primary research areas and one cross-cutting methodological area and are
loosely organized by spatial and temporal scale (larger to smaller), beginning with topics
related to the EAR Deep Earth Processes section, followed by Surface Earth Processes
section topics. These descriptions and assessments are guided by input from across the
Earth science community and provide the basis for the committee's findings and eight
recommendations outlined in Chapter 3.