News 2024
JulyEducation-Outreach
Daphne and ddb hosted 6 STEM students from Antioch High to the Dutch Slough wetland site. These studentsare part of a program by BioTech Partners, who is working with local schools to give students experience in science and technology. This group has summer internships with Contra Costa Water District.
Several days later 3 students from this group came to campus to visit the biomet Lab. We showed them sensors, calibration instruments, remote sensing images and did demos on soil respiration and methane production of dry and wet soils. They learned about the connections of soils, microbes, plants, air, wind and sunlight. The set of skills needed to do this work and the fun and multifaceted aspects of discovery working in this space
Meetings
ddb and Koong Yi atteneded the Remote Sensing and Fluxes Upscaling for Real-world Impact hosted by Ameriflux at LBL. Koong was one of the organizers.
As directore of the CA CESU, ddb attended the national CESU meeting. Ben Becker, our local National Park Service partner, also attended.
Publications
Bai, Y., K. Mallick, T. Hu, S. Zhang, S. Yang, and A. Ahmadi (2024), Integrating machine learning with thermal-driven analytical energy balance model improved terrestrial evapotranspiration estimation through enhanced surface conductance, Remote Sensing of Environment, 311, 114308, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114308.
Mallick, K., Verfaillie, Joseph, Wang, Tianxin, Ortiz, Ariane Arias, Szutu, Daphne, Yi, Koong, Kang, Yanghui, Shortt, Robert, Hu, Tian, Sulis, Mauro, Szantoi, Zoltan, Boulet, Gilles, Fisher, Joshua B.,Baldocchi, Dennis (2024), Net fluxes of broadband shortwave and photosynthetically active radiation complement NDVI and near infrared reflectance of vegetation to explain gross photosynthesis variability across ecosystems and climate, Remote Sensing of Environment, 307, 114123, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114123.
Submissions
"Methane Fluxes in Tidal Marshes of the Contiguous United States by Arias Ortiz et al was accepted by Global Change Biology
When and where can coastal wetland restoration increase carbon sequestration as a natural climate solution? by Jones et al accepted by Cambridge Coastal Futures
"Water Availability as a Key Regulator of Thermal Optimality in Terrestrial Ecosystems: Evidence from Flux Measurements and Machine Learning" by Ahmadi, Arman; Mallick, Kaniska; Yi, Koong; Baldocchi, Dennis, has been successfully submitted for publication in Global Change Biology.
VisitorsJune
Happy to host Martin Beland for another 2 weeks. He is making tons of progress advancing CANVEG as an interfaced with canopy work here and implementation of multilayer concepts into the CLM land surface model at NCAR
We hosted Prof. Youngryel Ryu from Seoul National University for a day. Ryu is a former student and is in town to deliver a keynote lecture at the LBL Ameriflux Scaling workshop
Education-Outreach
Ddb was interviewed by ABC7 news on how-climate-is-impacting-californias-wildfire-season-solution
https://abc7news.com/post/how-climate-is-impacting-californias-wildfire-season-solution/14967186/
Meetings
DDB gave a presentation on Towards Quantifying the Effects of Climate Change and Sea Level Rise on Carbon Accretion of Tidal and Non-Tidal Wetlands Exposed to a Range of Salinity along the San Francisco Bay Estuary and Delta for the Delta Research Awards Seminar Series.
Thanks to the BiometLab team for the production of close to 100 site years of data for this presentation to Delta managers and stakesholders
The Youtube presentation will be posted on https://www.youtube.com/@DeltaCouncil
DDB participated on the Science Advisory Board of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Earth and Environment program
Meetings
Daphne, Robert, visitor Irene, and ddb attended the uc lab fees wetland project meeting at uc Santa Cruz. Saturday was a wonderful field trip to Ano Nuevo Natral reserve to see elephant seals,pelicans and talk science
Publications
Yi, K., K. A. Novick, Q. Zhang, L. Wang, T. Hwang, X. Yang, K. Mallick, M. Béland, G. B. Senay, and D. D. Baldocchi (2024), Responses of Marginal and Intrinsic Water-Use Efficiency to Changing Aridity Using FLUXNET Observations, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 129(6), e2023JG007875, doi:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007875.
Research
Our visitor, Irene Alorda Montiel, led a team (Armand, Daphne and Joe, to resample soil carbon profiles at Hill Slough, several years after restoration. It will be interesting to see the change over time with the influx of new sediments, organic matter etc
VisitorsMay
Irene Alorda Montiel from Ariane Arias Ortiz lab in Barcelona will be a summer visitor in the Biomet lab. She will help us improve our sampling of soil carbon at the tidal wetland sites. Welcome
https://mers.uab.cat/?member=irene-alorda-montiel
Meetings
DDB attended the UC ANR Academic Regional Meeting 3, in Stockton, May 31. Got to meet a number of CE specialists and county agents working on water, orchards, rice.
Robert Shortt and Kyle Delwiche attended the State of the Bay Estuary conference in Oakland. Robert presented a poster on Subsidence and Sea Level Rise: Impacts of Land Use on Levee Stability
Staff News
Tianxin Carlos Wang graduated with a PhD. Congratulations
VisitorsApril
Sebastian Wolf from ETH Zurich, a former postdoc, dropped by for lunch on his annual visit to service sites at Sagehen forest. Always great to see him
Education-Outreach
On April 23 we hosted 100 4th graders from Los Medanos Elementary school in Pittsburg to the Dutch Slough field site. We say a dead beaver, osprey, great blue heron etc. Thanks to Tyler Anthony from CARB, Molly Ferril and Kate Bandy from DWR, the bat expert from UC Davis. as well as Daphne, Kyle and Robert from the Biomet lab. It was lots of fun, great group of kids. It was a beautiful day, the students were engaged and curious.
We hosted our 3rd annual field trip to Dutch Slough with Knightsen and Old River Elementary schools. It was a cold and rainy day. We thank our partners for helping mentor the students. Dylan Chapple from the Delta Council, Molly Ferrill from DWR, Tyler Anthony from CARB, Robert Shortt and Daphne Szutu from the Biomet lab and a fish/wildlife expert from Davis..
Despite the rain and cold, the kids were very flexible and seemed to enjoy the experience, as well as attending parents
Meetings
BASC seminar Tianxin Carlos Wang/Baldocchi Group Don't be a drag, just be a queen: the reign of surface energy balance under advection at an irrigated alfalfa site
Publications
Mallick, K., Verfaillie, Joseph, Wang, Tianxin, Ortiz, Ariane Arias, Szutu, Daphne, Yi, Koong, Kang, Yanghui, Shortt, Robert, Hu, Tian, Sulis, Mauro, Szantoi, Zoltan, Boulet, Gilles, Fisher, Joshua B. Baldocchi, Dennis(2024). "Net fluxes of broadband shortwave and photosynthetically active radiation complement NDVI and near infrared reflectance of vegetation to explain gross photosynthesis variability across ecosystems and climate." Remote Sensing of Environment 307: 114123.
Staff News
Tianxin 'Carlos' Wang submitted his dissertation, Bending fluxes in an alfalfa field: a study of energy, water, and carbon dynamics' to campus today and is now Dr. Wang. Congratulations
Submissions
Water scarcity in semi-arid California compromises perennial alfalfa’s high yield and carbon sinking potentials. Journal of Hydrology, Tianxin Wang, Kanishka Mallick, Joe Verfaille, Daphne Szutu, Dennis Baldocchi.
When and where can coastal wetland restoration increase carbon sequestration as a natural climate solution? Authors (Order TBD): Scott F. Jones, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Dennis Baldocchi, Meagan Eagle, Daniel A. Friess, Catrina Gore, Greg Noe7, Stefanie Nolte, Patty Oikawa, Adina Paytan, Jacqueline L. Raw, Brian J. Roberts, Kerrylee Rogers, Charles Schutte, Camille Stagg, Karen M. Thorne, Eric Ward, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Erik S. Yando Coastal Futures
VisitorsMarch
Prof. Josep Penuelas from Barcelona returns to visit the Biometlab this week, continuing our multi-year series of visits.
Been informed we will have the pleasure of hosting Kuno Kasak as a Fulbright scholar, from Estonia, for a year starting this August. Fantastic timing.
Education-Outreach
Our work with Susanna Tringe was profiled on ABC Bay Area News 7 on a story Study Links Sea Level Rise to Methane Release
https://archive.org/details/KGO_20240302_010000_ABC7_News_500PM/start/960/end/1020
The Wetland team of Patty Oikawa, Robert Shortt, Adina Paytan, Barbara Haya, Chris Gough and Dennis Baldocchi met with a team from Google, including Randy Spock the Carbon Credits and Removals Lead at Google to discuss Coastal Wetland Restoration for Climate Mitigation
We met with the 5th grade science teachers from Knightsen Elementary to plan the upcoming field trip to Dutch Slough on April 4. This will be the third year of hosting this group.
We also had a planning meeting with teachers from Los Medanos Elementary in Pittsburg. they plan to bring about 100 students to the Dutch Slough site in late April
Publications
Novick, K. A., Keenan, TF, Anderegg, WRL, Normile, CP, Runkle, BRK, Oldfield, EE, Shrestha,G, Baldocchi, DD, Evans, ME, Randerson, JT, Sanderman, J. Torn, MS, Trugman, AT, Williams, CA (2024). "We need a solid scientific basis for nature-based climate solutions in the United States." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121(14): e2318505121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2318505121
Staff News
We have 2 undergraduates starting to work in the Biomet lab
Izzie Kaye Wamsteker is working with Daphne and is learning about the PepprMnt model for calculating methane fluxes in the wetland. During spring break Izzie joined us on a field trip to the delta
Gelary Cardenas will start working on measuring greenhouse gas fluxes with our chamber system as part of her Environmental Science Senior thesis.
Submissions
Mallick et al. RSE-D-23-01335R1
Title: Net Fluxes of Broadband Shortwave and Photosynthetically Active Radiation Complement NDVI and Near Infrared Reflectance of Vegetation to explain Gross Photosynthesis Variability Across Ecosystems and Climate.Remote Sensing of Environment. accepted
VisitorsFebruary
Ivan Janssens from Univ of Antwerp is on short term visit to Berkeley with Margaret Torn. We got together to discuss fluxes and flux networks. Ivan was on the early team of EuroFlux in the Ceulemans group and mentored my former postdoc Jorge Curiel Yuste.
we also hosted Ivan and his spouse Inge on a tour of our delta field sites. Nice to share ideas on wetlands
Brian Bailey of UC Davis gave a great seminar on his Helios model system that computes turbulence, radiative transfer and mass and energy exchange over 3D canopies. This lecture is the Future of Biometeorology
Education-Outreach
Joe has set up the Arable meteorological sensors at Bouldin corn for the public to provide weather data for duck hunters
https://biometlab.cnr.berkeley.edu/dailydata.php?screen=arable&sid=BC
We plan to install another Arable at Dutch Slough for educational purposes for students at Knightsen Elementary and for colleagues working at Dutch Slough from Davis, DWR, USGS, etc
ddb gave a public lecture on Fog Sunday Feb 25, 2 pm at the Tomales Historical Society
You thought you knew fog? There’s so much more to this phenomenon in nature, myth, and mystery. FOG. Clarifying the cloudy, fuzzy, misty, murky, soupy thing we live with
https://www.tomaleshistory.com/events/2024/2/25/fog-lecture-2024
Publications
Baldocchi, D., K. Novick, T. Keenan, and M. Torn (2024), AmeriFlux: Its Impact on our understanding of the ‘breathing of the biosphere’, after 25 years, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 348, 109929, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.109929.
Baldocchi, D. D., and A. Arias Ortiz (2024), Alternating Conditional Expectations: Introducing a Non-Parametric Statistical Method to Interpret Long-Term Greenhouse Gas Flux Measurements Over Semi-Arid and Wetland Ecosystems, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 129(3), e2023JG007818, doi:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007818.
Research
Troy Magney and his team from UC Davis installed the T SWIFT system to measure SIF at Tonzi Ranch. Great to get this new way of sensing the canopy. Plus Sophie Ruehr of the Keenan lab installed a thermal camera at the site.
We are also adding more point dendrometers from a sensor in Czech Republic
Submissions
The Ameriflux review was accepted by Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
The Alternating Conditional Expectations paper was accepted by Journal of Geophysical Research, Biogeosciences
VisitorsJanuary
Cove Sturtevant from NEON came to visit. Gave a lab seminar on the power of ANN to extract information on controls of fluxes and to extract response functions.
Cove is former postdoc and wrote much of our matlab processing code. great to see him again and learn.
Nico Bambach from UC Davis gave the biometlab seminar presentation. Nico is expert on evaporation measurements and modeling from almonds and showed us the many comparisons they are making and how almond evaporation is varying over the year. It uses up to 10 mm/d during the growing season.
Other
ddb was an external reviewer of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, a similar unit at our partner campus. Also met lots of people and students. Very interesting exercise to do. One learns more about the nuts and bolts of how a University Unit functions and a chance to think about where we in the environmental sciences should be going.
Publications
Hartman, W. H., C. P. B. d. Mesquita, S. M. Theroux, C. Morgan-Lang, D. D. Baldocchi, and S. G. Tringe Multiple microbial guilds mediate soil methane cycling along a wetland salinity gradient, mSystems, 0(0), e00936-00923, doi:10.1128/msystems.00936-23.
Volk, J. M., ...Tianxin Wang.. et al. (2024), Assessing the accuracy of OpenET satellite-based evapotranspiration data to support water resource and land management applications, Nature Water, doi:10.1038/s44221-023-00181-7.
Baldocchi, D., and K. Mallick (2024), Towards sharing water better with near real-time maps on evaporative water use by crops and natural vegetation, Nature Water, doi:10.1038/s44221-023-00183-5.
Visitors
Martin Beland has returned for an extended stay in the Biomet Lab. Welcome back Martin
Iryna Dronova gave a presentation on remote sensing of the delta and our field sites. Wonderful survey of products and trends in clusters at our sites. Lots of ideas for future collaboration among our groups
Einara Zahn, from Princeton, gave a Biomet lab seminar on flux partitioning, large eddy simulation and Monin Obukov Similarity theory. All state of art models and measurements. Check out her recent papers.
https://cee.princeton.edu/people/einara-zahn-0