ILEAPS

Integrated Land Ecosystem Atmosphere Processes Study




Type of Structure: program
Regional Scope: global
Parent Organisations: FutureEarth, IGBP
Child Organisations:
Duration : 2003 to present
Contact Address: no office contact defined


General information and objectives

iLEAPS is an international cross-disciplinary research program aimed at improved understanding of processes, linkages, and feedbacks in the land-atmosphere interface affecting the Earth System. The scientific goal of iLEAPS is to provide understanding how interacting physical, chemical and biological processes transport and transform energy and matter through the land-atmosphere interface. The program essentially integrates measurements and modeling at scales from molecular to global, from past through present to future. iLEAPS was established in 2004 as the land-atmosphere core project within the framework of the second phase of IGBP, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and transferred to FutureEarth starting 2015. iLEAPS works in very close collaboration with several international research programs and projects.  iLEAPS facilitates scientific collaboration as well as synthesis and distribution of results to scientific, politic and public audiences. iLEAPS encourages international and cross-disciplinary collaboration, particularly involving scientists from the developing countries.

  The goals of iLEAPS can be summarized by the following questions:
  • How do interacting physical, chemical, and biological processes transport and transform energy, momentum and materials through the land-atmosphere system?
  • What are the implications for the dynamics of the Earth System?
  • How did the terrestrial-ecosystem/atmosphere system function under pre-industrial conditions, and how are human activities influencing it?
  • To what extent does the vegetation determine its physical and chemical environment on various temporal and spatial scales?
The research planned for iLEAPS covers the basic processes that link surface-atmosphere exchange with vegetation/ecosystem processes on the one hand and with atmospheric dynamics, tropospheric chemistry and physical climate on the other.
To meet the objectives, iLEAPS will integrate the knowledge and expertise from several fields, such as biology, chemistry, physics, meteorology, hydrology and ecology. The implementation is carried out by joint research activities that combine a variety of experimental and observational approaches, analytical methods and modelling techniques.
about ILEAPS


Last update: 4/27/22
Source of data: ProClim- Research InfoSystem (1993-2024)

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