ENAC Seminar Series by Dr E. Rouholahnejad Freund
Event details
| Date | 25.05.2021 |
| Hour | 10:30 › 11:15 |
| Speaker | Dr Elham Rouholahnejad Freund |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
10:30 – 11:15 – Dr E. Rouholahnejad Freund
Senior Scientist at ETHZ, Switzerland
Hydrological predictions in an era of change: chances and challenges
Water is in continuous cycle on planet Earth and sustains life. Climate change and population growth are great threats to this hydrological cycle. It is unclear how the dynamics of subsurface water storage and release, the seasonal origins and turnover time of water used by plants, and plant water uptake depths will be impacted when environmental conditions change (e.g. receding groundwater, more frequent droughts). Reliable predictions of these hydrological fluxes and their interactions and feedbacks to the atmosphere have important implications for predictions of future near-surface climate and vegetation resilience in a changing climate. Despite their critical importance, hydrological fluxes are often estimated with large uncertainties (e.g. evapotranspiration fluxes) owing to the complexity of the processes involved and the heterogeneity of land surface and subsurface. In this lecture, I will highlight the current gaps in land surface models, namely overlooking of land surface heterogeneity and groundwater dynamics, and will address potential ways to correct for them. Furthermore, I will discuss future directions towards reliable prediction of hydrological fluxes at the interface of ecosystem and atmosphere in a coupled soil-vegetation-atmosphere observation and modeling framework.
Short bio:
Elham Rouholahnejad Freund (1983) obtained her MSc in Civil Engineering in 2009 in Tehran, Iran. She received her PhD in Large Scale Hydrology from ETH Zürich in 2014. She was awarded several fellowships from Swiss National Science Foundation and European Union and spent the last 4 years at Universities of Ghent-Belgium, Freiburg-Germany, and UC Berkeley-USA. She is currently a senior scientist at ETH Zurich. The overarching theme of her research is to advance our understanding of water cycle dynamics and their complex interactions with vegetation and the atmosphere in a changing climate.
Senior Scientist at ETHZ, Switzerland
Hydrological predictions in an era of change: chances and challenges
Water is in continuous cycle on planet Earth and sustains life. Climate change and population growth are great threats to this hydrological cycle. It is unclear how the dynamics of subsurface water storage and release, the seasonal origins and turnover time of water used by plants, and plant water uptake depths will be impacted when environmental conditions change (e.g. receding groundwater, more frequent droughts). Reliable predictions of these hydrological fluxes and their interactions and feedbacks to the atmosphere have important implications for predictions of future near-surface climate and vegetation resilience in a changing climate. Despite their critical importance, hydrological fluxes are often estimated with large uncertainties (e.g. evapotranspiration fluxes) owing to the complexity of the processes involved and the heterogeneity of land surface and subsurface. In this lecture, I will highlight the current gaps in land surface models, namely overlooking of land surface heterogeneity and groundwater dynamics, and will address potential ways to correct for them. Furthermore, I will discuss future directions towards reliable prediction of hydrological fluxes at the interface of ecosystem and atmosphere in a coupled soil-vegetation-atmosphere observation and modeling framework.
Short bio:
Elham Rouholahnejad Freund (1983) obtained her MSc in Civil Engineering in 2009 in Tehran, Iran. She received her PhD in Large Scale Hydrology from ETH Zürich in 2014. She was awarded several fellowships from Swiss National Science Foundation and European Union and spent the last 4 years at Universities of Ghent-Belgium, Freiburg-Germany, and UC Berkeley-USA. She is currently a senior scientist at ETH Zurich. The overarching theme of her research is to advance our understanding of water cycle dynamics and their complex interactions with vegetation and the atmosphere in a changing climate.
Practical information
- General public
- Invitation required
- This event is internal
Organizer
- ENAC
Contact
- Cristina Perez