9711484 Foley The PI's will develop new methods and models to evaluate the potential for vegetation feedbacks on the climate system. In particular, they plan to couple IBIS, and integrated dynamical biosphere model, to the NCAR Climate system Model (CSM). Using the dynamically coupled CSM/IBIS climate-vegetation model, they will then explore vegetation feedback mechanisms and their potential role in future climate scenarios. The development and evaluation of these new coupled models will provide a more holistic frame work for preforming integrated analyses of global environmental change. Most importantly this work will help elucidate the potential role of vegetation feedbacks on the climate system, and the impact of transient climate change on the terrestrial biosphere. Attempts at an integrated assessment of global change must consider the possibility of substantial biospheric feedbacks on the climate system. This research is funded under the NSF methods and Models for Integrated Assessment initiatives.
