Overview |
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Overview 2004 Draft CIDER proposal to NSF |
The concept of a Cooperative Institute for Deep Earth
Research (CIDER) is being put forward because of the
realization that significant progress in our
understanding of the fundamental global scale dynamic processes of the Earth's interior can only be achieved through an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach, combining knowledge and latest achievements in each of the relevant disciplines: geochemistry, geodynamics, geomagnetism, seismology and mineral physics.
Through major infrastructure efforts that are currently underway or in planning, a new generation of disciplinary tools will soon be available to the geoscience community that will provide unprecedented new observations on the earth's interior. For example, EARTHSCOPE, and more specifically the USArray program, will provide seismologists with a high resolution "window" into the deep mantle and core through the acquisition of dense broadband seismic waveform data over the north American continent. The COMPRES program will allow mineral physicists to perform the most advanced measurements on mineral properties in conditions relevant to the Earth's deep interior. Other initiatives aim to provide geodynamicists with a unified, state of the art framework for convection computations (CIG, seismologists with ocean-bottom stations in order to achieve truly global coverage of the earth, and researchers in geodesy and geomagnetism with satellite observations that will revolutionize these fields. Still, truly interdisciplinary work remains a formidable challenge in solid Earth geophysics. We propose to work towards the establishment of a long-range intellectual framework that will allow a more effective cross-fertilization of the different disciplines. A related goal is to try to attract more talented undergraduates to consider graduate studies in the geosciences. We believe that such a framework can best be achieved through the creation of a Cooperative Institute for Deep Earth Research (CIDER). In addition to a workshop in 2003, a 4 week long CIDER Summer Program was held at KITP, Santa Barbara, CA from July 11 to Aug 6, 2004, funded jointly by KITP and the NSF/CSEDI program and a second CIDER Summer Program was held at KITP at KITP from July 17th to August 5, 2006. We are currently planning future summer programs and CIDER activities. These upcoming programs will serve, in particular, to engage the earth science community in further developing the CIDER Institute concept, and work towards its establishment. Please send your comments and feedback to earth@seismo.berkeley.edu!new! - See the announcement of our 2008 Summer program
Last update: 22 September 2007. |