Novel Monitoring Strategy Uncovers New Insights to Arctic Ecosystems

Earth & Environmental Sciences Area/Lawrence Berkeley Lab researchers make soil moisture measurements in Barrow, Alaska.

Earth & Environmental Sciences Area/Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s Baptiste Dafflon (right) and Craig Ulrich (left) make soil moisture measurements with a TDR and active layer depths with a tile probe. [Photo credit: Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA)/Berkeley Lab]

Scientists studying Arctic ecosystems have long relied on established—yet limited—methods to help them understand how elements within an ecosystem interact with each other.

Now, researchers at Berkeley Lab’s Environmental & Earth Sciences Area (EESA) have led the development of a new approach for monitoring terrestrial ecosystems, and have used the system to discover new insights about how processes in different compartments of an Arctic Tundra ecosystem interact over space and time.

The research team developed a new strategy for autonomous monitoring of soil properties (using geophysical imaging), as well as land surface and vegetation processes (using a range of sensors). The strategy, which was deployed above and below the ground in an Arctic ecosystem, enabled rapid sampling over time at high resolution. It was used in research being conducted in Alaska as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiment-Arctic project.

Baptiste Dafflon collects monitoring data of an Arctic ecosystem using a UAV.

UAV used by Baptiste Dafflon (at a different study site) to collect monitoring data of an Arctic ecosystem . (Photo credit: EESA/Berkeley Lab)

“We needed a better approach to sense and quantify interactions between the subsurface, land, and vegetation, particularly in complex ecosystems like the Arctic that are subject to extreme perturbations—which includes annual freeze-thaw cycles—over short timescales,” said Baptiste Dafflon, EESA research scientist and the first author on a paper (published earlier this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research) that reported the study results. “For the first time, this strategy enabled a virtual window for visualizing how different compartments of an ecosystem interact and respond to environmental changes.”

In particular, the researchers’ analysis revealed seasonal interactions between soil water content and vegetation growth, and a variable relationship with permafrost conditions. In addition, the research team showed that these results can be applied to larger regions that they surveyed using an unmanned aerial system (UAS) and geophysical techniques.

The top photo shows the area monitored using above- and below-ground imaging, while the bottom figure gives an aerial view of the monitoring line. (Credit: EESA/Berkeley Lab)

“The study also suggests that it should be possible to use soil measurements to infer plant responses, and to use airborne vegetation imagery to estimate soil properties—over large scales and in a way that’s not invasive,” said Susan Hubbard, Berkeley Lab’s Associate Lab Director for EESA and the senior author on the paper.

The new monitoring approach is expected to be useful for addressing a range of questions at different sites. As part of its Watershed Scientific Focus Area, EESA is deploying a similar system in Colorado to explore how mountainous watersheds respond to hydrological perturbations, such as droughts, floods, and early snowmelt.

“The rapid advance of drone-based imagery, coupled with autonomous geophysics, land-based imagery, and telemetry, offers a whole new way to interrogate terrestrial ecosystems,” Hubbard said. “I believe the approach documented in this paper will become a new standard in years to come.”

News & Events

Three EESA scientists receive DOE Early Career Research Awards

August 10, 2017

Three Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) scientists receive the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Early Career Research Award for 2017. Congratulations to Nick Bouskill, Charlie Koven, and Neslihan Tas Baas.

EESA Develops New Approach to Restock California’s Groundwater via Almond Orchards, Vineyards

August 3, 2017

Groundwater—the water stored underneath the Earth’s surface between the cracks and spaces in soil, sand, and bedrock—is essential for the California residents and farmers who rely on it for up to 46 percent of their annual water use. Yet during the 2012-2017 drought, the state’s surface water supply was not sufficient to meet demand, resulting in excess groundwater pumping that caused land subsidence of up to 13 inches in some parts of the San Joaquin Valley.

Now a team of scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area are working with farmers and partners like the Almond Board of California and UC Davis to test on-farm banking, a new approach that has the potential to manage groundwater more sustainably. It’s an improvement on the age-old method of groundwater recharge, the process of replenishing aquifers by infiltrating water from the surface into shallow aquifers.

“On-farm banking has the promise of making the most productive use of the greatest amount of land possible while increasing the reliability and resiliency of California’s groundwater supply,” says EESA scientist Peter Nico, a soil and environmental biogeochemist.

EESA Scientist Builds Cross-Border Collaborations for Geothermal Research

August 1, 2017

Thirty-five years ago, Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) scientist Patrick Dobson began his career as a graduate student by conducting field mapping, collecting fluid samples, and learning the ropes from local scientists at the Los Azufres geothermal field in Michoacán, Mexico. During his summer doing field work in Mexico, he met Berkeley Lab’s Marcelo Lippmann, who was attending a symposium on the Cerro Prieto geothermal field, the subject of a collaborative research project between the Lab (funded by the U.S. Department of Energy) and the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Mexico’s state-owned utility.

Now—after decades of leading geothermal exploration projects all over the world, including Indonesia, Central America, and South America— Dobson’s work has come full circle.

Earlier this year, he spent two weeks in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico as a Fulbright Specialist in geothermal research. Hosted by the Center for Scientific Investigation and Higher Education in Ensenada (CICESE), one of the main hubs for geothermal work in the country, Dobson met with Mexican researchers to share knowledge, identify areas of mutual interest, and explore potential areas of collaboration.

Berkeley Lab Scientists Brief California Science Advisory Panel for Food and Agriculture

July 28, 2017

As two-thirds of the fruits and nuts—and over a third of the vegetables—produced in the United States are grown in California, it’s crucial that the Golden State cultivate healthy soils that are resilient to stresses such as climate change, drought, and groundwater overuse. Now scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) and Biosciences Area are contributing to the effort by sharing their expertise with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA)’s Science Advisory Panel, a group comprised of farmers, agriculture professionals, and experts in areas such as water, conservation, and resource management. Last week, EESA scientist Peter Nico hosted the panel at the Lab to brief them on research related to developing healthy soils, sustainable groundwater management strategies, and climate-adaptive agriculture.