COSMOS-UK: A New Field-scale Soil Moisture Measurement Network to Improve Weather and Flood Forecast
LOCATION
Physical Sciences Building
Penglais
Aberystwyth
Sir Ceredigion
SY23 3BZ
United Kingdom
SPEAKER: Dr Jonathan Evans (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology).
ABSTRACT |Soil moisture plays an important role in hydro-meteorology, flood and drought risk, water resource modelling, greenhouse gas emissions and eco-hydrology. The soil water content at different depths is usually determined as part of global land surface and climate models and the performance of this soil moisture component requires careful evaluation. However, there are few in situ data representative of a suitable scale comparable to model data i.e. large area measurements at the field scale or greater (which integrate across local spatial heterogeneity). Cosmic ray soil moisture sensors offer the major advantage of large-area averaged measurement footprints (of around 700 m diameter), and respond to near surface (0 to 30 cm) soil moisture content; these sensors are now being installed as part of the newly developing COSMOS-UK national soil moisture monitoring network.
BIOGRAPHY | Dr. Jonathan Evans currently holds the position of Group Leader Land Surface Flux Measurements, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, UK and is the Technical Director of COSMO‐UK. He is a micrometeorologist, specialising in the field measurement of the land surface energy balance (including evaporation) and the carbon cycle; and the development of these field instrumentation systems. He has extensive experience in the acquisition and analysis of water and carbon cycle data from temperate, tropical, and Arctic biomes across different land cover classes and
over complex topography. He developed the application of novel ground‐based remote sensing technology (scintillometry and cosmic ray soil moisture sensing) to determine evaporation and soil moisture over scales of 0.5 to 5 kilometres.
SPEAKER: Dr Jonathan Evans (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology).
ABSTRACT |Soil moisture plays an important role in hydro-meteorology, flood and drought risk, water resource modelling, greenhouse gas emissions and eco-hydrology. The soil water content at different depths is usually determined as part of global land surface and climate models and the performance of this soil moisture component requires careful evaluation. However, there are few in situ data representative of a suitable scale comparable to model data i.e. large area measurements at the field scale or greater (which integrate across local spatial heterogeneity). Cosmic ray soil moisture sensors offer the major advantage of large-area averaged measurement footprints (of around 700 m diameter), and respond to near surface (0 to 30 cm) soil moisture content; these sensors are now being installed as part of the newly developing COSMOS-UK national soil moisture monitoring network.
BIOGRAPHY | Dr. Jonathan Evans currently holds the position of Group Leader Land Surface Flux Measurements, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, UK and is the Technical Director of COSMO‐UK. He is a micrometeorologist, specialising in the field measurement of the land surface energy balance (including evaporation) and the carbon cycle; and the development of these field instrumentation systems. He has extensive experience in the acquisition and analysis of water and carbon cycle data from temperate, tropical, and Arctic biomes across different land cover classes and
over complex topography. He developed the application of novel ground‐based remote sensing technology (scintillometry and cosmic ray soil moisture sensing) to determine evaporation and soil moisture over scales of 0.5 to 5 kilometres.