A global change research program of the U.S. Geological Survey was initiated in fiscal year 1991 to strengthen terrestrial and hydrologic process research. Entitled "Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets" (WEBB), the program emphasizes long-term field investigations of interactions and cycles of water, energy, gases, nutrients, and vegetation. The purpose of WEBB is twofold: to improve understanding of processes controlling terrestrial water, energy, and biogeochemical fluxes, their interactions, and their relations to climatic variables; and to improve the capability to predict continental water, energy, and biogeochemical budgets over a range of spatial and temporal scales.

The WEBB study sites are selected on the basis of geographical and environmental diversity. Priority is given to sites where data collection and/or WEBB-related process investigations are already underway, such as the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites, sponsored and funded by the National Science Foundation. Other similar research programs include the U.S. Forest Service Experimental Forests, and the International Biosphere Reserves designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A major emphasis of WEBB investigations is the development and maintenance of strong collaborative research relationships with scientists involved in these and other related programs.

Other WEBB sites

WEBB Program main page

Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico

Panola Mountain, Georgia

Sleepers River, Vermont