The Geo-Sciences Panel is a synonym for the Special Programme on Global
Transport Mechanisms in the Geo-Sciences. This Programme is one of the
special programs established by the NATO Science Committee to promote
the study of a specific topic using the usual NATO structures, namely,
Advanced Research Workshops, Advanced Study Institutes, Conferences,
Collaborative Research Grants, Research-Studies and Lecture Visits. The
aim of the Programme is to stimulate and facilitate international col-
laboration among scientists of the member countries in selected areas of
global transport mechanisms in the Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere,
lithosphere and asthenosphere, and the interactions between these global
transport processes. Created in 1982, the Geo-Sciences Panel followed
the Air Sea- Interactions Panel which was very successful in reviewing
mechanisms at the air-sea-ice interface. Initially the Geo-Sciences
Panel recognized the importance of magma chambers, ore deposits,
geochemical cycles, seismic activity and hydrological studies. However,
the Panel was rap- idly convinced that the climate system is one of the
most important sys- tems in which to promote research on global
transport mechanisms. Consequently, the Panel welcomed the organization
of a course on Physically Based Modelling and Simulation of Climate and
Climatic Change. This course was launched in Belgium in 1984 during both
the Liege colloquium on Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere tlodels and the
Louvain-Ia- Neuve General Assembly of the European Geophysical Society.
Rapidly scientists recognized that this course was timely and would be
well- received by the climate community, especially by junior
researchers in this multi- and inter-disciplinary field.
