Isotopes can be used as chemical tracers that allow insights into complex climate processes. They are excellent diagnostic tools in climate system models. A wide variety of isotope data is now available for this use. Presently, the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) does not include isotopes. The PIs will convene a two-phased workshop on isotopes for the early winter of 2004 in Boulder, Colorado. The first phase of the workshop will explore the most interesting and important state-of-the-art climate system science using isotopes. The second phase of the workshop would include a more limited number of participants who use the CCSM and focus on developing a plan for the implementation of isotopes within the CCSM.
Results will be disseminated via the web and the CCSM annual meeting in summer of 2004. The potential scientific benefits include improved understanding of complex processes in the atmospheric water cycle, paleoclimate, biogeochemistry and chemistry, on many timescales.
Broader Impacts: The workshop will result in products important for a widely used community climate model and improve the research and applications properties of the model.
