The Carbon Cycle Science Planning documents provide U.S. funding agencies with information on long-term community-based research priorities for carbon cycle science. The major documents that have provided input for carbon cycle science planning in the U.S. are listed below.

Carbon Cycle Science Program

Carbon Science Plans

Carbon Cycle Science Planning Working Group Documents

Carbon Cycle Science Working Group (2009-2011)

North American Carbon Program (NACP)
Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program (OCB)

Carbon Cycle Science Program

Carbon Science Plans

The Carbon Cycle Science Plans are non-federal reports developed and published by the community. So far, two decadal science plans have been published, as described below.

A U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan (2011): A Report of the Carbon Cycle Science Steering Group and Subcommittee, Anna Michalak, Rob Jackson, Gregg Marland, Chris Sabine, Co-Chairs.

In 2011, the carbon cycle science community in the United States finished its planning process for carbon cycle research for the upcoming decade. This reassessment of the U.S. carbon cycle science priorities was initiated by the U.S. Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group (CCIWG) and the Carbon Cycle Science Steering Group (CCSSG) in 2008. This planning process culminated in the publication of the new U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan. The new Plan is intended to provide guidance for U.S. research efforts on the global carbon cycle for the next decade. The Plan outlines priorities for research in carbon cycle science, including a substantial expansion in the scope of the field. In addition to reaffirming the need for basic research and for continuing the current areas of research in carbon cycle science, the Plan outlines specific recommendations for new priorities. This Plan outlines a strategy for refocusing U.S. carbon cycle research based on the current state of the science. The development of this Plan was led by a committee of 25 active members of the carbon cycle research community. Read the summary of recommendations and View the news release.

An earlier report, A U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan (1999) (Sarmiento and Wofsy, 1999), reflects the combined knowledge and insight of prominent carbon cyclescientists and well-informed science program managers in both academia and federal government. The vision is that an integrated interdisciplinary science, multi-agency partnership, new and advanced technology and advanced modeling approaches would yield better understanding of the carbon storage, sources and sinks in North America and adjacent ocean basins, and that the research would strengthen the scientific foundation for resource management and policy decisions in numerous areas of public in numerous areas of public interest.

The publication of A U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan (2011) (Michalak A., Jackson R., Marland G. and Sabine C., co-chairs) resulted from a new planning effort to update and revise the 1999 plan.

Other documents

• Japanese Translation of the Summary and Chapters 1-2 of A U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan (2011) in CGER Reports No.i112 (PDF, 10.5 MB). A Research Road Map toward Understanding Carbon Cycle Changes
  by Integrating Global Environment Observational Data and Models (only available in Japanese). 

• Climate Change Science Program. The First State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR): The North American carbon budget and implications for the global carbon cycle. A Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research [King, A.W., L. Dilling, G.P. Zimmerman, D.M. Fairman, R.A. Houghton, G. Marland, A.Z. Rose, and T.J. Wilbanks (eds.)]. Asheville, NC: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Climatic Data Center.  [document homepage]

• Hales, B. et al. [eds.]. 2008. North American Continental Margins: a synthesis and planning workshop. Report of the North American Continental Margins Working Group for the U.S. Carbon Cycle Scientific Group and Interagency Working Group. Washington, DC: U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program.

North American Carbon Program (NACP)

• Wofsy, S.C. and R.C. Hariss. 2002. The North American Carbon Program (NACP). Report of the NACP Committee of the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program. Washington, DC: U.S. Global Change Research Program.

• Denning, A.S. et al. 2005. Science implementation strategy for the North American Carbon Program. Report of the NACP Implementation Strategy Group of the U.S. Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group. Washington, DC: U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program.

Ocean Carbon and Climate Change (Now Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program, OCB)

• Doney, S.C. et al. 2004. Ocean Carbon and Climate Change: an implementation strategy for U.S. ocean carbon research. Report of the Carbon Cycle Science Ocean Interim Implementation Group for the U.S. Carbon Cycle Scientific Steering Group and Inter-Agency Working Group. Washington, DC: U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program.

Carbon Cycle Science Planning Working Group Documents

• Carbon Cycle Science Working Group. 2009. Recommendations summary.  White paper, November 6, 2009.

• Carbon Cycle Science Working Group. 2009. Scoping paper.  White paper, March 27, 2009.

• Michalak, A.M., R. Jackson, G. Marland, and C. Sabine. 2009. A U.S. carbon cycle science plan: First meeting of the Carbon Cycle Science Working Group; Washington, D.C., 17-18 November 2008. EOS, Trans. American Geophys. Union, 90(12), 102-103.

• Sarmiento, J. 2008. The 1999 US carbon cycle science plan: history and outcomes. Presentation given at the November 17-18 working group meeting.

View additional documents.

Carbon Cycle Science Working Group (2024- )

Working Group Members

Carbon Cycle Science Working Group (2009-2011)

Working Group Co-Chairs

Anna Michalak, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Robert Jackson, Duke University
Gregg Marland, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Christopher Sabine, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Working Group Members

Robert Anderson, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Deborah Bronk, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Kenneth Davis, Pennsylvania State University
Ruth DeFries, Columbia University
Lisa Dilling, University of Colorado
Andy Jacobson, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Matthew Kahn, University of California - Los Angeles
Steve Lohrenz, University of Southern Mississippi
Galen McKinley, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Chip Miller, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Berrien Moore, University of New Hampshire
Dennis Ojima, The Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment
James Randerson, University of California - Irvine
Steven Running, University of Montana
Brent Sohngen, Ohio State University
Pieter Tans, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Peter Thornton, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Steven Wofsy, Harvard University
Ning Zeng, University of Maryland

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