ABOUT US
We serve the international scientific community through research, infrastructure, data, and models.
CONTACT US
For further information or questions, contact:
Tim White (National Program Coordinator)
Fred Scatena (PI Committee Chair)
Or any of the CZO Principal Investigators.
Visit our People page for specific contact information.
BRIEF HISTORY
Early in 2007 the US National Science Foundation created the new Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) program and awarded funds to establish three initial observatories: Southern Sierra (California), Boulder Creek (Colorado) and Susquehanna Shale Hills (Pennsylvania). During 2009, an additional three CZOs were established: Jemez River Basin - Catalina Mountains (Arizona/New Mexico), Christina River Basin (Delaware/Pennsylvania) and Luquillo (Puerto Rico). Research and infrastructure at these six observatories is supported by the NSF Geoscience Directorate, Earth Science Division.
When all six observatories are totaled together there are currently about 215 people involved, of which approximately 70 are graduate students. The 215 person total includes PIs, collaborators and post docs; it does *not* include the numerous undergraduates who help during both the summer and the school year.
NEWS
CZO PI Meeting in Puerto Rico from May 29-June 1. Hosted by Luquillo CZO.
LiDAR data housed at OpenTopography. The NSF OpenTopography Facility will be hosting all lidar data products collected to support research at the six CZO sites. The first batch includes:
- Christina River Basin Critical Zone Observatory April 2010 LiDAR Survey
- Christina River Basin Critical Zone Observatory July 2010 LiDAR Survey
- Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory 2010, Colorado Snow-Off LiDAR Surveys
- (Pending) Boulder Creek Critical Zone Observatory 2010, Colorado Snow-On LiDAR Surveys
These datasets are the first batch of many forthcoming releases of NCALM and CZO lidar data via OpenTopography. See the latest releases by typing "Critical Zone" into the OpenTopography search box and choosing the "Data" radio button. See additional LiDAR updates from UC Merced
CUAHSI Fall 2011, Spring 2012 cyberseminars on CZOs. The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc (CUAHSI) has hosted an online seminar on each of the CZOs as well as additional seminars related to CZO research.
Cross CZO research proposal awarded to study sediment transport mechanisms. The call for cross-CZO / cross-disciplinary research proposals was successfully answered by Dr. Diana Karwan, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Christina River Basin CZO in Delaware. Her research will apply sediment-fingerprinting techniques developed at the Christina CZO to test hypotheses within the Susquehanna Shale Hills CZO.
A critical workshop: Landmark international workshop for critical zone scientists held at University of Delaware for a three-day workshop focused on planning future joint experiments, January 2012.
"Investigating the Earth's Critical Zone" (6 page PDF, Jan 2012 cover story in CSA News). CSA News is the official magazine for members of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.
"EAR to the Ground" NSF newsletter, April 2011.
"Future Directions for Critical Zone Observatory (CZO) Science" (PDF) Report prepared by the CZO community for NRC NROES committee, December 29, 2010.
For current news and information from the individual CZOs, please follow:
Boulder Creek | Christina River | Jemez River-Catalina Mtns | Luquillo | Southern Sierra | Shale Hills
EVENTS
CZO PI Meeting, May 29-June 1, 2011. Hosted by Luquillo CZO.
Conference Location: Hotel El Convento, 100 Cristo Street Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.
CZO All-Hands Meeting, May 8-12, 2011. Hosted by Jemez-Catalina CZO.
An "all hands meeting", including the annual program meeting of CZO principal investigators as well as scientists from throughout the Critical Zone community and related sciences, took place on May 9-11, 2011 at Biosphere 2 near Oracle, AZ.
OPPORTUNITIES
The CZOs are community resources for multidisciplinary research, and especially well-suited for interdisciplinary research on the coupled physical, biological and chemical processes in the Critical Zone. The CZO team strongly encourages additional investigators to take advantage of our infrastructure, data and collaborative opportunities.
View the CZO National Program brochure (PDF) (printed copies available by emailing Tim White)
LOGO BANNER
Download a national logo banner suitable for posters and other print media (vector-based file):
Logo Banner (.eps format) | Logo Banner (.svg format)
