Land-Atmosphere Interactions
The theme of land-atmosphere interactions (LAI) is aimed at understanding what drives the exchange of heat, water, and trace gases between land and atmosphere. Our research spans scales that start at the leaf level and end at the global scale. We are interested in understanding the physical processes that drive LAI, but also to apply this understanding to quantify the (potential) impacts of atmospheric and land use changes in a changing climate.
Specific topics include: evapotranspiration in semi-arid regions, the bi-directional interaction between the surface and clouds, tall canopy turbulence, links between radiation and photosynthesis, long-term energy, carbon and nitrogen exchange, canopy and boundary layer ozone, NOx and VOC chemistry, dynamics of wildfires, fog and dew formation and nighttime stable boundary layers.
The methods used to study these topics are through field observations (fixed sites at Loobos and Veenkampen, and national and international experimental campaigns), a suite of modelling tools (conceptual, turbulence resolving and meso-scale) and advanced analyses techniques such as moisture tracking to identify sources and sinks of moisture in the study region. An important part of the methodology infrastructure has been developed at MAQ. Examples are the CLASS model (conceptual), DALES and MicroHH models (turbulence resolving), scintillometers (flux measurement technique) and a low-cost spectroradiometer.
