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Introduction to Critical Zone science and CZ Observatories (CZO)
Dr. Tim WhiteEarth and Environmental Systems Institute
The Pennsylvania State University
Critical Zone:
• Term published by the U.S. National Research Council in 2001 BROES report
= Thin veneer at Earth’s surface spanning from the top of vegetation canopy throughsoil to deep in the subsurface where fresh groundwater circulates.
= Critical Zone –v- critical zones?
Soil exists at the “heart” of the Critical Zone
Important for:- agriculture- water filtration- C sequestration- biodiversity
But degraded by humanity.
Societal relevance:
The zone within which most terrestrial life exists and depends on.
Ongoing climate and land use changes to the zone may stress terrestrial life including humanity – thus a better understanding of CZ processes and function may aid adaptation to change.
* Pollination * Fulfillment of cultural, spiritual/intellectual needs * Regulation of climate * Insect pest control * Maintenance and provision of genetic resources * Maintenance and regeneration of habitat * Provision of shade and shelter * Prevention of soil erosion * Maintenance of soil fertility * Maintenance of soil health * Maintenance of healthy waterways * Water filtration * Regulation of river flows and groundwater levels
*Waste absorption and breakdown
Critical Zone Services
If we allow natural assets to decline, so do the benefits. But if we care for and maintain natural assets, we will reap greater returns.
PopulationWorld GDP GDP perCapita
Hunger EnergyDemand
CO2 Emissions
FoodDemand
WaterDemand
199520252050
1995 =
1
0
0.5
1.5
1
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Source: National Academy Press, Our Common Journey (1999)
Global Trajectories of Human Forcing of the Environment1995-2050 (indexed to 1995)
A primary goal of the CZOs is to gather interdisciplinary scientific information from diverse landscapes that can be more broadly applied, or scaled up, to understand and manage the effects of ongoing land-use and climate change at regional, continental and global scales.
State of CZ Science: Ten CZOs represent an array of geologic, climatologic and ecologic settings in which a variety of Critical Zone processes can be studied from the vegetation canopy into bedrock.
ER RC
IML
CH- SC
The sites promote site-specific research and education activities and are beginning to create community among a diverse group of CZ scientists(CUAHSI, geomorphology, CZEN, geobiology….
ER RC
IML
CH- SC
To the CZ community, the sites represent the initial steps toward building a network that can attract a diverse group of Earth scientists to advance CZ science by answering questions like: How has the CZ changed and how will it change in the future?
ER RC
IML
CH- SC
Critical Zone science and Observatories (CZOs) evolved from the recognition that many similar scientific questions were being asked by diverse groups of Earth surface scientists who did not typically collaborate.
For example…..
Societal and Scientific Questions from the Water and Environmental Research Systems (WATERS) Network Science Plan:
(1)How are human pressures and climate trends changing thewater cycle?
(2) How will fresh water availability change and how can we better predict the change?
(3) How can we predict and better manage water availabilityand quality for future generations and ecosystems?
Geobiological hypotheses developed duringGeobiology of Weathering and Erosion meeting, 2009
(1)How does biology shape the topography of the CZ?
(2) How will increasing global temperatures change carbon losses and chemical weathering fluxes from the CZ?
(3) Will land use change impact CZ processes and exports compared to climate change?
Fundamental Geomorphologic considerations in CZ science
1) What controls the depth to bedrock? to regolith? the land surface itself?
2) How do biological agents affect the CZ?
3) How do the processes (and rates) of processes that govern landscape evolution change as climate changes?
Nutrients
Chemistryof Water
Atmosphere
Landform Evolution
What processes control fluxes of carbon, particulates, and reactive gases over different timescales?
How do biogeochemical processes govern long-term sustainability of water and soil resources?
How do processes that nourish ecosystems change over human and geologic time scales?
How do variations in and perturbation to chemical and physical weathering processes impact the Critical Zone?
Four Driving Questions of CZ Science
CZOs bring diverse interdisciplinary communities together to build cross-science alliances to answer these complex interdisciplinary questions.
But…… How?
CHALLENGES:
- Critical Zone is a complex system(s)
- CZ is global in extent, therefore requires international cooperation and funding.
- Deeply interdisciplinary, requires new cadre of scientists
Network Approach• To explore one environmental variable with
other variables constant
• To compare data measured in the same way at multiple sites
• To understand broad patterns of behavior
• To create community among scientists and generate interdisciplinary understanding
Soil formation, or pedogenesis, is controlled by five variables in nature, the so-called state factors:
1. parent material 2. climate 3. topography 4. biota 5. time 6. humans
Climate
Top
ogra
ph
y
Bio
logyTim
e
Lithology
Environmental gradients
Disturbance
CZO Network (2013): criticalzone.org
ER RC
IML
CH- SC
SS Southern Sierra CZO (California) BC Boulder Creek CZO (Colorado)SH Susquehanna-Shale Hills CZO (Pennsylvania) Christina River Basin CZO (Pennsylvania/Delaware)Jemez River Basin – Sta. Catalina CZO (New Mexico/Arizona) LM-Luquillo CZO (Puerto Rico)ER Eel River CZO (California) RC Reynolds Creek CZO (Idaho)IML Intensively Managed Landscapes CZO (Illinois/Iowa) CH Calhoun CZO (South Carolina)
CZO Timeline
NRC report, 2001
NFS funds 3 CZO’s, 2007 (SS,BC,SH)
Elements special section, 2007
VZJ special section, 2011
DHA funds 4 CZO’s, 2008 (TERENO network)
NFS funds 3 CZO’s, 2009 (J-C,CR, LQ)
EU funds 4 CZO’s, 2009 (CH,AU,GR,CZ)
NFS funds 4 CZO’s, 2014 (ER,RC,IML,CH)
All Hands Meeting, B2, 2012
All Hands Meeting, UCM, 2014
