Earth Science Programs - Basic Research Opportunities in Earth Science - page 129

• Energy Resources Program supports assessments of the quantity, quality,
and geographic locations of natural gas, oil, and coal, and estimates of
energy resource availability and recoverability.
Relevant programs within the Biological Resources Division include the
National Biological Information Infrastructure as well as the following:
• Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends Program supports
research to identify and understand the effects of environmental
contaminants on biological resources.
• Land-Use History of North America Program supports research on past
and present changes in land cover and land use to better understand the
planet's surface environment.
Key programs in the Water Resources Division include the following:
• National Water-Quality Assessment describes the status and trends in the
quality of the nation's ground- and surface-water resources in order to
provide a sound understanding of the natural and human factors that
affect the quality of these resources.
• Toxic Substances Hydrology Program supports research on the
contamination of surface water, groundwater, soil, sediment, and the
atmosphere by toxic substances.
• National Research Program supports investigations on ground- and
surface-water chemistry, ground- and surface-water hydrology,
geomorphology, sediment transport, and ecology as they affect water
resources.
EAR collaborations with USGS tend to focus on Earth science research,
continental drilling, and arrays of geophysical instruments. Cooperation between
the two agencies has been increasing in recent years, and the USGS sees future
collaborative work on programs such as EarthScope and monitoring the physical
properties of the Earth, including seismic, Global Positioning System (GPS),
gravity, geomagnetic field networks, and observatories.
Department of Energy
The mission of DOE is to maintain the safety, security, and reliability of the
U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, without underground nuclear testing. DOE's FY
2000 budget is $17.8 billion, of which $165 million is devoted to basic Earth
science research in geochemistry, geophysics, climate and