SCOPE 13 - The Global Carbon Cycle

Editorial Note

Three National SCOPE Committees (Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden) undertook the responsibility of preparing a workshop on the global carbon cycle which was preceded by a literature survey that started in October 1976. Six scientists (Ulrich Hampicke and Stephan Kempe, Federal Republic of Germany; Gabor Ajtay and C. G. N. de Vooys, the Netherlands; Anders Björkström and Torleif Bramryd, Sweden) were engaged in preparing a four-volume document on the `biogeochemical cycle of carbon' which was distributed in advance to the participants of the workshop. This set of data served as a basis for informal discussions and preparations of group reports and recommendations for future research in the field of carbon. Bert Bolin, Egon T. Degens, Stephan Kempe, and Pieter Ketner were asked to serve as editors for SCOPE Report 13 and to select the writers for the different chapters of this report reflecting the results of the Ratzeburg Workshop. The outline of the chapters was decided in a series of editorial meetings at Hamburg, Stockholm and Texel.

The individual chapter were submitted for review to an international group of scientists headed by Thomas F. Malone (Holcomb Research Institute, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A.). The editors also took the liberty of asking colleagues of their choice for comments and advice. It is a pleasure to thank the following persons for their assistance: Willem van Dobben (Wageningen), Jan Duinker (Texel), Erik Eriksson (Uppsala), Frank Fenner (Canberra), Frédéric Fournier (Paris), Klaus Meyer-Abich (Essen), Arwed Meyl (Bonn), German Müller (Heidelberg), Henk Postma (Texel), Maurits La Rivière (Delft), Thomas Rosswall (Stockholm), Ralf Rotty (Oak Ridge, Tennessee), Lenard Sjöberg (Stockholm), Vassily Smirnyagin (Paris), Roland Wollast (Brussels), John Wood (Navarre, Minnesota), and George Woodwell (Woods Hole, Massachusetts).

The editors acknowledge in the person of Dr. Howard A. Jones the assistance rendered by John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, U.K., in the preparation of this book.