International Critical Zone Network-of-Networks



The Problem:

Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs) are instrumented field sites for monitoring hydrological fluxes, energy matter, and biogeochemical cycles - from bedrock to canopy, across terrestrial and aquatic interfaces, and across climatic and hydrobiogeochemical gradients. Networks of CZOs and their Watershed equivalents have been established in many countries, including in the US, France, Germany, and Canada. Critical zones and watersheds are “human habitats”, important for sustaining basic human needs such as water, food, and energy as well as crucial for the ecosystem services they provide. The future behavior of these systems is uncertain due to changing environmental conditions as well as rapidly growing population, urbanization, industrialization and irrigation for food production. A systematic approach is needed to explore how critical zone networks are tackling the challenge of understanding and predicting their systems, including associated questions, tools and approaches.

The Opportunity:

Existing infrastructure and developments across CZOs and watershed sites provide a springboard for new modes of collaboration

What We Will Do:

The purpose of this effort is to advance modes of collaboration across CZ networks, providing a foundation to do together what would be impossible to do alone. The goal of the enhanced collaboration is to advance our ability to adequately monitor and predict critical zone processes under changing environmental conditions, synthesize and encourage sharing of research findings, models, data and cyberinfrastructure tools, build a resource of lessons learned and best practices for new site development, establish norms for open science and data sharing, and facilitate interactions between modelers, data scientists, and data generators across these networks.