Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity
We will address uncertainties in the long-term redistribution of water in land-based natural systems or reservoirs, their resilience and vulnerabilities, and impacts of changes to these systems. Key systems include glaciers (crucial for water supply in mountain regions) and tropical rainforests (which play an important role in the local water cycle and deliver other important ecosystem services). We consider impacts on these systems from climate change and also from direct human impacts (e.g., deforestation, agriculture, aerosol darkening of glaciers), seek to determine thresholds of tolerance beyond which substantial change or collapse occurs, and better characterize the possible consequences for society and ecosystems if this were to occur. We aim to integrate research across physical/climate and social sciences and local and indigenous knowledge to assess and communicate the value of these systems and assess the implications of different mitigation and adaptation scenarios including SRM/geoengineering. This will also be used to prioritize science needs, among which are water recycling and transport, atmospheric chemistry in the canopy area, and feedback mechanisms between these water systems and regional and global climate.
Outcomes:
- Address gaps in understanding and modeling of coupling between the land biosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere, including via chemical processes and aerosols
- Address gaps in knowledge of forest and glacier dynamics and resilience
- Connect physical sciences with human systems (e.g., water management, adaptation) in order to ensure water resource changes and responses are reflected in safe landing pathways.
This Theme will draw on and extend the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment (LBA-ECO), and work with Future Earth, Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) (including ANDEX), Past Global Change (PAGES), and the Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Core Project.
Working Group:
| Hyungjun | Kim (Lead) | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and University of Tokyo | Korea/Japan |
| Paulo | Nobre (Lead) | National Institute for Space Research (INPE) | Brazil |
| Ramia | Al Bakain | The University of Jordan, Department of Chemistry | Jordan |
| Cristiano | Chiessi | University of São Paulo | Brazil |
| Benjamin | Keenan | McGill University | Canada |
| Nathalie | Philippon | CNRS researcher at Institute of Geosciences and Environment, Grenoble | France |
| Kazuyoshi | Suzuki | Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) | Japan |
Contact: Narelle van der Wel -
Affiliate Members:
| Rajendran Shobha | Ajin | University of Florence, Italy / Resilience Development Initiative (RDI), Indonesia | Italy / Indonesia |
| Kevin | Bourne | IHS Markit | UK |
| J | Brema | Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences | India |
| Nazzareno | Diodato | Met European Research Observatory | Italy |
| Vishal | Dixit | Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) | India |
| Silvia | Frisia | Conjoint University of Newcastle | Australia |
| Gad | Levy | Pan-Ocean Remote Sensing Association/NorthWest Research Association | USA |
| Tara | Meyer | University of Montana | USA |
| Imee | Necesito | Inha University | South Korea |
| Pradeep | Nair | Central University of Himachal Pradesh | India |
| Abdalla | Osman Adam Abdalla | University of Bahri | Sudan |
| Santosh Subhash | Palmate | Texas A&M University | USA |
| Marianne | Pietschnig | University of Oslo | Norway |
| Naeem | Shahzad | National University of Sciences and Technology | Pakistan |
| Norbert François | Tchouaffe Tchiadje | University of Dschang | Cameroon |
| Mesfin Reta | Aredo | Arba Minch Water Technology Institute | Ethiopia |
| Pratik | Kad | NORCE Norwegian Research Centre / Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research | Norway |
