ABBREVIATIONS

AATSR	Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer
ABRACOS	Climate Datasets from Seven Observation Sites in Brazil
ACCP	Accelerated Canopy Chemistry Program
AERONET	Aerosol Robotic NETwork database
AFC	Available Field Capacity
ARM	Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring
ARNEWS	Acid Rain National Early Warning System
ARS	Agricultural Research Service
ASCII	American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASSOD	Assessment of the Status of human-induced Soil Degradation in South and Southeast Asia
ATBD	Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document
ATSR	Along Track Scanning Radiometer
AVHRR	Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
BASIN	Biosphere Atmosphere Stable Isotope Network Database
BEPS	Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator
BLM	Bureau of Land Management
BNPP	Below-ground Net Primary Productivity
BOREAS	Boreal Ecosystem - Atmosphere Study
BRDF	Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function
BSRN	Baseline Surface Radiation Network
C	Carbon
CANIF	CArbon and NItrogen cycling in Fores ecosystems
CARBOEUROPE	A cluster of projects to understand and quantify the carbon balance of Europe
CAS	Chinese Academy of Sciences
CCSR	Centre for Climate System Research
CDIAC	Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
CEH	Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
CEOS	Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
CESBIO	Centre d'Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphere
CFS	Canadian Forest Service
CGCMI	Coupled General Circulation Model I
CGIAR	Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
CGPM	Conférence Générale of the Comité International des Poids et Mesures.
CH4	Methane
CIAT	International Center for Tropical Agriculture
CIFOR	Center for International Forestry Research
CIS	Commonwealth of Independent States
CNES	Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales
CO	Carbon monoxide
CO2	Carbon dioxide
COBRA	CO2 Budget and Rectification Airborne study
CONUS-SOIL	Multi-layer Soil Characteristics
COP	Conference of Parties
COST E2l	Contribution of forests and forestry to mitigate greenhouse effects
CSIR	Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
CSIRO	Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
CSIRO-MK2	CSIRO Atmospheric Research Mark 2 climate model
DAAC	Distributed Active Archive Centre
DANI	Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland
DARD	Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Northern Ireland)
DBH	Diameter at Breast Height
DDC	Data Distribution Centre
DEM	Digital Elevation Model
DETR	Department of Environment Transport and the Regions (United Kingdom)
DGVM	Dynamic Global Vegetation Model
DIC	Dissolved Inorganic Carbon
DISS	Data and Information Systems and Services
DMSP	Defence Meteorological Satellite Program
DOC	Dissolved Organic Carbon
DOE	Department of Energy
DTED	Digital Terrain Elevation Data
DUNNE	Global distribution of plant-extractable water capacity of soil
EC	European Community
ECMWF	European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasting
ECN	Environmental Change Network
EDGAR	Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research
EMDI	Ecosystem Model Data Intercomparison
ENSO	El Niño/Southern Oscillation
ENVISAT	Europe's Environment Satellite
EO	Earth Observation
EOS	Earth Observing System
EOSDIS	Earth Observing System Data and Information System
EPA	Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.A.)
EROS	Earth Resources Observation Systems
ERS	European Research Satellite
ESA	European Space Agency
ESB	European Soil Bureau
ESD	Environmental Sciences Division
ESIR	European Society for Isotope Research
ESRI	Environmental Systems Research Institute
ESSP	Earth System Science Pathfinder
EU	European Union
EU-MMC	EU-Monitoring Mechanism Committee
EUROSTAT	Statistical Office of the European Commission
FACE	Free Air Enrichment Experiment
FAO	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FAOSTAT	FAO statistical databases
FAPAR	Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation
FASIR	Fourier-Adjustment, Solar zenith angle corrected, Interpolated Reconstructed
FC	Forestry Commission
FIDS	Forest and Insect Disease Survey
FIFE	First ISLSCP Field Experiment
FIMCI	Forest Intensive Monitoring Coordinating Institute
FLUXNET	Flux Network
FRA	Forest Resources Assessment
GAIM	Global Analysis Integration and Modelling
GCIRC	Global Change International Research Center
GCM	General Circulation Model
GCOS	Global Climate Observing System
GCP	Global Carbon Project
GCTE	Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems
GEF	Global Environment Facility
GEWEX	Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment
GFDL	Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
GGHYDRO	Global Hydrographic Data
GHAAS	Global Hydrological Archive and Analysis System
GHCN	Global Historical Climatology Network
GHG	Greenhouse Gas
GHOST	Global Hierarchical Observing Strategy
GIS	Geographic Information System
GISS	Goddard Institute for Space Studies
GLASOD	GLobal Assessment of SOil Degradation
GLCCD	Global Land Cover Characteristics Database
GLCTS	Global Land Cover Test Sites
GLFC	Great Lakes Forestry Centre
GLOBALHUBS	Global Quality Control for Long-Lived Trace Gas Measurements
GLOBALVIEW	Cooperative Atmospheric Data IntegrationProject
GLOBE	Global Land One-Km Base Elevation
GOFC-GOLD	Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics
GOOS	Global Ocean Observing System
GPCC	Global Precipitation Climatology Centre
GPCP	Global Precipitation Climatology Project
GPPDI	Global Primary Production Data Initiative
GPS	Global Positioning System
GRID	Global Resource Inventory Database
Gsa	Greenhouse gas and Sulphate aerosol
GSFC	Goddard Space Flight Center
GT NET	Global Terrestrial Network
GTOPO 30	Global 30 Arc-Second Elevation data set
GTOS	Global Terrestrial Observing System
GTZ	German Technical Co-operation
H2	Hydrogen
HadCM2	The Hadley Centre's Second Generation Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere GCM
HAPEX-Sahel	Hydrology Atmosphere Pilot Experiment in the Sahel
HCDN	Hydro-Climatic Data Network
HiProGen	High Level Information Product Generation and Formatting of Specific Applications
HRPT	High Resolution Picture Transmission
HYDE	History Database of the Global Environment
HYDRA	HYDrologic Routing Algorithm
IAEA	International Atomic Energy Agency
IAV	InterAnnual Variation
ICP	International Co-operative Programme on assessment and monitoring of air pollution effects on forest
ICSU	International Council for Science
IFC	Intensive Field Campaign
IGAD	Intergovernmental Authority of Development
IGBP	International Geosphere - Biosphere Programme
IGBP-DIS	International Geosphere - Biosphere Programme Data and Information System
IGCO	Integrated Global Carbon Observations
IGFA	International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research
IGOS-P	Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership
IHDP	International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change
IIASA	International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
IITA	International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
ILTER	International Long Term Ecological Research
IOBFS	International Organization of Biological Field Studies
INRA	National Institute for Agronomic Research
IPCC	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IPCC-DDC	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Data Distribution Centre
ISIS	Integrated Surface Irradiance Study
ISLSCP	International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project
ISO	International Standards Organization
ISRIC	International Soil Reference and Information Centre
ISSS	International Society of Soil Science
ITASA	Information Technology Association of Southern Arizona
IUSS	International Union of Soil Science
JRC-EI	Joint Research Centre - Environment Institute
JRC-ESB	Joint Research Centre - European Soil Bureau
LAI	Leaf Area Index
LAINET	LAI Validation Sites
LASUR	LAnd SUrface Reflectances
LBA	Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment
LFDB	Large Fire DataBase
LIDET	Long-Term Decomposition Experiment Team
LOICZ	Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone
LPV	Land Products Validation
LSPIM	Land Surface Processes and Interactions Mission
LTER	Long Term Ecological Research
LUCF	Land Use Change and Forestry
LULUCF	Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry
MAB	Man And the Biosphere programme
MAFF	Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
MERIS	Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
MISR	Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer
MLURI	Macaulay Land Use Research Institute
MODIS	Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
MODLAND	MODIS Land Group (NASA EOS)
MOZIAC	Measurement of OZone on Airbus In-service AirCraft
N	Nitrogen
NADP/NTN	National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network
NASA	National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASDA	National Space Development Agency of Japan
NCAR	National Center for Atmospheric Research
NCEAS	National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
NDVI	Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
NEP	Net Ecosystem Productivity
NEWS	Network of Ecosystem Warming Studies
NOAA	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NPP	Net Primary Productivity
NRCS	National Resources Conservation Service
NSA	Northern Study Area (BOREAS)
NSD	National Soils Database (New Zealand)
NSDB	National Soil Data Base (Canada)
O2	Molecular Oxygen
OBFS	Organization of Biological Field Stations
OGCM	Oceanic General Circulation Model
ORNL	Oak Ridge National Laboratory
OTTER	Oregon Terrestrial Transect Ecosystem Research
OVNI	Optimised Vegetation Normalised Index
P	Phosphorus
PCM	Parallel Climate Model
PFC	Pacific Forestry Centre
PFT	Plant Functional Types
PIK	Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
QA/QC	Quality Assurance/Quality Control
RIVDIS	Global River Discharge
RIVM	Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu
RMSE	Root Mean Square Error
RUE	Radiation Use Efficiency
SAFARI	Southern African Regional Science Initiative
SAR	Synthetic Aperture Radar
SBSTA	Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice
SeaWiFS	Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view sensor
SI	Systeme International (International System of Units)
SIO	Scripps Institution of Oceanography
SLC	Soil Landscape of Canada
SNF	Superior National Forest
SOC	Soil Organic Carbon
SOILH2O	Global Soil Moisture Data Bank
SOM	Soil Organic Matter
SOTER	World Soil and Terrain Database
SOVEUR	Mapping of Soil and Terrain Vulnerability in Central and Eastern Europe
SPOT	Système Probatoire d'Observation Terrestre
SRTM	Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
SSA	Southern Study Area (BOREAS)
SSLRC	Soil Survey and Land Research Centre
STATSGO	State Soil Geographic Database
TBFRA	Temperate and Boreal Forest Resources Assessment
TCC	Terrestrial Carbon Cycle
TCO	Terrestrial Carbon Observation
TCOS Siberia	Terrestrial Carbon Observing System - Siberia
TEMS	Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring Sites
TOPC	Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate
TRAGNET	United States Trace Gas Network
UCAR	University Center for Atmospheric Research
UN	United Nations
UN-CCC	United Nations Convention on Climate Change
UN-CCD	United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
UN-CPB	United Nations Convention to promote and protect biodiversity
UNDP	United Nations Development Programme
UN-ECE	United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
UNEP	United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO	United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFCCC	United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
UNITUS	Universita dellá Tuscia - Viterbo
UNL	University of Nebraska Lincoln
USDA	United States Department of Agriculture
USFS	United States Forestry Service
USGS	United States Geological Survey
USSR	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
VCC	Vegetation Cover Conversion
VCF	Vegetation Continuous Fields
VCL	Vegetation Canopy Lidar
VEMAP	Vegetation/Ecosystem Mapping & Analysis Project
VOC	Volatile Organic Carbon
WCRP	World Climate Research Programme
WDCGG	World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases
WGCV	Working Group on Calibration and Validation
WISE	World Inventory of Soil Emissions
WMO	World Meteorological Organization
WOCAT	World Overview of Conservation Technologies
WRI	World Resources Institute