Academic Division 02

Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences

Understanding a dynamic planet—from its deep structure and atmosphere to climate, ecosystems, hazards, and the wider solar system.

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NOAA scientist Joao Garriques measures corals along a transect at Rose Atoll in 2023.

The division studies Earth as an interconnected system. Its work includes geology, geophysics, oceanography, atmospheric science, hydrology, climate science, geography, environmental observation, planetary science, and the responsible use of geospatial data.

This division studies Earth and neighbouring planetary systems as dynamic, interconnected environments. It links deep geological time with rapid atmospheric, ecological, and social change, combining observation of the solid Earth, oceans, freshwater, atmosphere, cryosphere, landscapes, and the wider solar system. Latin America offers exceptional scientific settings—from the Andes and Amazonia to major river basins, coastlines, deserts, glaciers, volcanoes, and observatories—yet research must avoid treating the region merely as a field site. The division therefore values equitable data partnerships, locally anchored expertise, long-term monitoring, open geospatial infrastructure, and communication that makes uncertainty and risk understandable without oversimplification.

Fields and scholarly sections

A broad disciplinary home with clear centres of expertise

Geology and geophysicsClimate and atmospheric scienceOceanography and hydrologyEnvironmental scienceGeography and geospatial analysisNatural hazardsPaleosciencePlanetary science

Scope and intellectual field

A disciplinary home broad enough for discovery and precise enough for judgment

Within Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences, fields such as Geology and geophysics, Climate and atmospheric science, Oceanography and hydrology, Environmental science are treated as connected areas of inquiry rather than isolated labels. The division gives specialists a recognizable home while making room for new combinations of theory, observation, experiment, computation, design, interpretation, and professional practice. Its role is not to prescribe one intellectual school, but to make standards of competence visible and to ensure that interdisciplinary work remains answerable to the disciplines on which it relies.

Research design and evidence

Questions determine methods and claims remain proportionate to evidence

A serious research programme begins by defining the object of inquiry, the relevant scale, the state of existing knowledge, and the form of evidence capable of changing a conclusion. Depending on the field, that may require experiments, longitudinal observation, archival interpretation, mathematical modelling, fieldwork, qualitative inquiry, engineering validation, comparative analysis, or a deliberate combination of approaches. The division expects methods to be described clearly enough for informed scrutiny and limitations to remain visible throughout interpretation and communication.

Research connected to Latin America should also explain place, history, institutions, language, ecology, and unequal access where these conditions shape the evidence. Regional relevance does not lower disciplinary standards; it often requires more exact contextual reasoning. Comparative or international work should identify what can legitimately be generalized, what remains specific, whose knowledge is represented, and how data, credit, responsibility, and long-term stewardship are distributed among collaborators.

Contribution across the Academy

Deep expertise becomes more useful when its boundaries and connections are understood

It brings long-term planetary perspective to climate resilience, biodiversity, water security, urban development, disaster risk, and public policy.

Across the Academy, the division can convene peer review, identify reliable expertise, formulate research questions, mentor emerging scholars, and test the disciplinary foundations of shared projects. It may contribute to evidence reviews, methods notes, comparative studies, scholarly dialogues, or carefully governed public explanations. Any output should name its authors and reviewers, state the route by which it was developed, distinguish consensus from disagreement, and avoid suggesting institutional authority beyond the mandate actually granted.

Questions shaping the scholarly agenda

The division advances through questions that connect discovery evidence and consequence

How do climate feedbacks, land use, oceans, and the cryosphere reshape regional futures?

How can hazards be understood before they become disasters, and how should risk be communicated?

What governs the quantity, quality, and movement of water across changing landscapes?

What can Earth history and comparative planetary science reveal about habitability and environmental limits?

Research practice and standards

Methods must be appropriate evidence must be inspectable and limits must remain visible

The division supports methodological pluralism within rigorous disciplinary standards. Choice of method should follow the research question; claims should remain proportionate to evidence; and collaboration should make responsibilities, data stewardship, authorship, uncertainty, and conflicts of interest explicit.

Methods and evidence

Field observation, sampling, and long-term environmental monitoring
Remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and sensor networks
Geochronology, laboratory analysis, and coupled system modelling
Scenario development, hazard assessment, and community-engaged risk research

Connections across the Academy

Biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, and conservation
Water, food, energy, and territorial planning
Infrastructure, cities, and disaster-risk reduction
Environmental economics, governance, law, and public communication

Contribution to the Academy

It brings long-term planetary perspective to climate resilience, biodiversity, water security, urban development, disaster risk, and public policy.

See the Academy’s shared research priorities

In depth

Reading change across landscapes and timescales

A river's changing colour, a displaced sediment layer, or a sequence of satellite images can suggest a process without fully explaining it. Earth science asks how such observations relate to transport, storage, transformation, and energy exchange. The same surface pattern may arise through different histories. Researchers therefore work backwards from present evidence while asking which additional measurement could distinguish competing explanations, and which traces may already have been erased by later events.

Time is part of the problem rather than merely the axis of a graph. A short monitoring record may capture a seasonal rhythm but miss a rare disturbance. A geological archive may span centuries while smoothing brief episodes. Comparing these records requires attention to their resolution, dating, and spatial support. The central intellectual task is to connect processes operating at different speeds without treating their observations as though they describe the same interval or volume.

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