We study land-atmosphere interaction by working closely with investigators at field sites to quantify mechanisms that control exchanges of energy, water, and CO2 between vegetated ecosystems and the atmosphere.

Numerical models of these exchanges are then extrapolated to regional scale using spatial data and remotely sensed imagery, and used to predict regional quantities at roughly the scale of a single climate model grid column.

We then work with regional-scale field campaigns to evaluate the performance of these regionally-scaled exchange processes before attempting to extend the models to global scales.

This approach has been applied successfully over four regions:

1. A mixed evergreen & deciduous forest and wetland in the Great Lakes Region of Northern Wisconsin, the WLEF-TV tower, and surrounding lowland area). Our work is in collaboration with the Chequamagon Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (ChEAS) organized by Prof. Ken Davis at Pennsylvania State University.

 

2. An intensively-managed mosaic of farmland in the US midwest (centered on Iowa). This is part of the MidContinent Intensive Experiment (MCI) of the North American Carbon Program (NACP). Our work is collaborative with Prof. Ken Davis at Pennsylvania State University and with Dr. Stephen Ogle at Colorado State University.

 

3. A heterogeneous landscape on the Southern Great Plains of Oklahoma that consists of wheat fields, pasture, and native grassland. This is an experimental site managed by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, and our work is in collaboration with the ARM-Carbon program organized by Dr. Margaret Torn at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

 

4. A major field experiment (LBA-Ecology) in the Brazilian Amazon Basin, which covers a suite of 12 eddy covariance sites in tropical forests, pastures, and savannas.