Dirmeyer investigating new network of bedrock to boundary layer observational facilities

Paul Dirmeyer, Professor, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences (AOES), will be a principal contributor to the scoping of observational facilities to advance Earth system monitoring and modeling, with emphasis on land surface-atmosphere interactions and processes.  

"The project will propose a testbed network of observational sites to measure the terrestrial portion of the hydrologic cycle (combined land and atmosphere components) designed for long-term monitoring of an unprecedentedly wide range of co-located quantities. The ultimate goal is the establishment of a robust long-term operational network of many sites producing data that can be used for a variety of applications, including the improvement of our scientific understanding of hydrologic cycle variability, forecast model development, climate monitoring and educational uses," Dirmeyer said. 

Dirmeyer will attend meetings of the Scoping Team. 

He will also ensure proposed instrument packages are appropriate and adequate to inform coupled land surface and atmospheric numerical model development and constrain/calibrate those models. 

Further, he will advise and guide site choice, configuration, and design. 

 He will also provide substantial contribution as lead contributing author to the writing of the design, science and implementation plan, likely to see first form as a community white paper. 

Dirmeyer received $5,995 from NASA for this project. Funding began in May 2021 and will end in May 2023.