SCALED ECO-HYDRAULICS
The working group
on scaled eco-hydraulics is building a
predictive framework for the
vertical
transport of water and carbon through the biosphere.
This group is integrating physical and biological
principles
from a hierarchy of scales into a continuous
computational system for exploring water
and carbon cycling from the
xylem scale to the regional scale. Their approach
accounts for the fundamental complexities
(between physics and
biology and between disparate scales) within
the ecosystem and lower atmosphere. The group's
research is focused
on the intersection between major national and
international science initiatives, targeted
to resolve the impact
of biosphere-atmosphere interactions (and feedbacks)
on the global carbon and water cycles. The
NSF, DOE, NASA,
and USDA are supporting broad efforts to build
predictive understanding in the individual
cycles of water and carbon.
By working on the intersection of these cycles,
the group is positioned to establish a leadership
role in taking
this topic from descriptive to the predictive.
An important product of this research is
the ability to estimate
present and future carbon uptake by terrestrial
ecosystems in the presence of dynamic water
availability.
The group's
expertise spans plant physiological ecology (Ram
Oren) through canopy scale transport (Gabriel
Katul) to atmospheric
boundary layer transport (John Albertson), with
a strong integrating role of mathematics
and physics (Andrea Bertozzi).
During the Fall 2002 term, the group is
offering a course to graduate and undergraduate
students
that
will explore the role of terrestrial ecosystems
in regulating atmospheric CO2 and water uptake.
For more information,
please click here.
