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 EarthGlobal 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 Gwinneth Université de Montréal  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 - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


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
Anushiya J Center for Study of Science, Technology & Policy (CSTEP) India
Andrea  Alessandri National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (CNR-ISAC) Italy
Yeliz  Yilmaz University of Oslo Norway
Tanja  Sanders Thünen Institute of Forest Ecosystems Germany