Lysimeters for Evapotranspiration and Environmental Measurements


Book Description

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Lysimetry, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, July 23-25, 1991. This collection contains 49 papers on lysimeters--instruments used extensively to provide baseline information for development, calibration, and validation of evapotranspiration methods. Topics include: the history and background of lysimetry; the design and operation of various types of electronic, mechanical, and hydraulic weighing lysimeters; drainage lysimeters; lysimeters for environmental studies; data acquisition systems; environmental requirements necessary for accurate measurement of evapotranspiration; and the development of evapotranspiration equations and cropping factors.




Laboratory and Field Testing of Unsaturated Soils


Book Description

This volume details recent global advances in laboratory and field testing of unsaturated soils. Coverage includes mechanical, hydraulic, and geo-environmental testing and applications of unsaturated soil monitoring to engineering behavior of geo-structures.




Agroclimatology


Book Description

Can we unlock resilience to climate stress by better understanding linkages between the environment and biological systems? Agroclimatology allows us to explore how different processes determine plant response to climate and how climate drives the distribution of crops and their productivity. Editors Jerry L. Hatfield, Mannava V.K. Sivakumar, and John H. Prueger have taken a comprehensive view of agroclimatology to assist and challenge researchers in this important area of study. Major themes include: principles of energy exchange and climatology, understanding climate change and agriculture, linkages of specific biological systems to climatology, the context of pests and diseases, methods of agroclimatology, and the application of agroclimatic principles to problem-solving in agriculture.




Encyclopedia of Agrophysics


Book Description

This Encyclopedia of Agrophysics will provide up-to-date information on the physical properties and processes affecting the quality of the environment and plant production. It will be a "first-up" volume which will nicely complement the recently published Encyclopedia of Soil Science, (November 2007) which was published in the same series. In a single authoritative volume a collection of about 250 informative articles and ca 400 glossary terms covering all aspects of agrophysics will be presented. The authors will be renowned specialists in various aspects in agrophysics from a wide variety of countries. Agrophysics is important both for research and practical use not only in agriculture, but also in areas like environmental science, land reclamation, food processing etc. Agrophysics is a relatively new interdisciplinary field closely related to Agrochemistry, Agrobiology, Agroclimatology and Agroecology. Nowadays it has been fully accepted as an agricultural and environmental discipline. As such this Encyclopedia volume will be an indispensable working tool for scientists and practitioners from different disciplines, like agriculture, soil science, geosciences, environmental science, geography, and engineering.







The Forest-Atmosphere Interaction


Book Description

The effects of meteorological phenomena upon forest produc tivity and forestry operations have been of concern for many years. With the evolution of system-level studies of forest eco system structure and function in the International Biological Program and elsewhere, more fundamental interactions between forest ecosystems and the atmosphere received scientific atten tion but the emphasis on meteorological and climatological effects on forest processes remained. More recently, as recogni tion has developed of potential and actual problems associated with the atmospheric transport, dispersion, and deposition of airborne pollutants, the effects of forest canopies upon boundary-layer meteorological phenomena has come under scientific scrutiny. Looking to the future, with rising atmospheric con centrations of C02 and increasing competition for the finite fresh-water resources of the earth, interest in the role of forests in global C02 and water balances can also be expected to intensify. Thus, the nature of forest canopy-atmosphere interac tions, that is to say, the meteorological phenomena occurring in and above forest canopies, are of importance to a wide variety of scientific and social-issues. Demands for forest meteorological information currently exceed levels of knowledge and given the economic constraints of science in general and environmental sciences in particular, chances for major improvements in scien tific support in the near future are slim. Unfortunately, studies of environmental phenomena in and above forests are costly and logistically difficult. Trees, the ecological dominants of forest ecosystems, are the largest of all terrestrial organisms.




Evaporation and Evapotranspiration


Book Description

The book is a thorough presentation of theoretical and applied aspects of the evaporation and evapotranspiration process supported by data from experimental studies. It is written in a way that the theoretical background of evaporation and evapotranspiration estimation is presented in a simplified manner, comprehensive to most technical readers. The book deals with details of meteorological parameters and monitoring sensors which are needed for estimating evaporation and evapotranspiration. Errors in meteorological parameter measurements are also presented. Estimation errors, strengths, weaknesses and applicability of a wide range of evaporation and evapotranspiration estimation methods are presented along with samples of application to a certain region. Application of newer simpler methods is presented. A new technology, remote sensing application to evaporation and evapotranspiration estimation, is presented. The latest interest in the subject, climate change and evapotranspiration is presented in the last chapter. This book will be beneficial to students, hydrologists, engineers, meteorologists, water managers and others.




Enzymology of Disturbed Soils


Book Description

The disturbance of soils, like other phenomena of environmental pollution, encountered in so many areas all over the world, has become a subject of extensive concern and has led to a vast amount of literature in the field of enzymology, too.The book is the first comprehensive and updated review of the enzymological literature on three great categories of disturbed soils, including their remediation. The volume consists of three sections: I. Enzymology of oil-contaminated soils; II. Enzymology of soils affected by industrial emissions; and III, enzymology of technogenic soils. Within each section the reviewed studies are grouped by country.The volume will be of great value to soil scientists, environmental scientists, conservationists, and many other scientists in these and related fields.







Springer Handbook of Atmospheric Measurements


Book Description

This practical handbook provides a clearly structured, concise and comprehensive account of the huge variety of atmospheric and related measurements relevant to meteorologists and for the purpose of weather forecasting and climate research, but also to the practitioner in the wider field of environmental physics and ecology. The Springer Handbook of Atmospheric Measurements is divided into six parts: The first part offers instructive descriptions of the basics of atmospheric measurements and the multitude of their influencing factors, fundamentals of quality control and standardization, as well as equations and tables of atmospheric, water, and soil quantities. The subsequent parts present classical in-situ measurements as well as remote sensing techniques from both ground-based as well as airborn or satellite-based methods. The next part focusses on complex measurements and methods that integrate different techniques to establish more holistic data. Brief discussions of measurements in soils and water, at plants, in urban and rural environments and for renewable energies demonstrate the potential of such applications. The final part provides an overview of atmospheric and ecological networks. Written by distinguished experts from academia and industry, each of the 64 chapters provides in-depth discussions of the available devices with their specifications, aspects of quality control, maintenance as well as their potential for the future. A large number of thoroughly compiled tables of physical quantities, sensors and system characteristics make this handbook a unique, universal and useful reference for the practitioner and absolutely essential for researchers, students, and technicians.