Experimental study of spatio-temporal structures in atmosphere-land surface energy, water and CO2 exchange

Research Area:
Meteorology, Remote Sensing, Plant Sciences, Photosynthesis

Comprehensive information on the atmospheric state is continuously gathered at the Jülich Observatory for Cloud Evolution (JOYCE, www.geomet.uni-koeln.de/joyce) by various instruments, e.g., cloud radar, microwave radiometer, infrared spectrometer, total sky imager, Doppler wind lidar, ceilometers, radiation sensors. Analysis focuses on atmospheric boundary layer characteristics and in collaboration with D6 on the evaluation of large eddy simulations. Additionally, two intensive measurement campaigns were carried out in 2012 and 2013 covering the measurement area of the TR-32. For the first time the high performance imaging spectrometer 'HyPlant' was used. The imaging sensor measures reflected and emitted radiation of a vegetation canopy with unprecedented high resolution in the red and infrared region. The signal is used to derive different vegetation parameters and also allows the quantification of sun-induced fluorescence. Sun-induced fluorescence is used to estimate the photosynthetic activity of vegetation and their reaction to drought and extreme temperatures and is currently assimilated in modelling approaches with the aim to improve the estimates of photosynthetic carbon uptake rates and GPP. Modelling approaches include the assimilation of the remote sensing data in CLM and also a functional representation of canopy energy fluxes and fluorescence via SCOPE.

Cooperation partner:

• FU Berlin (Germany)
• European Space Agency (ESA)
• University of Hohenheim (Germany)
• NASA
• University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy)
• University of Valencia (Spain)