CAREER: Advancing the science and education of land surface-atmosphere interactions: Interweaving multiscale experimental and modeling approaches for Land Surface Models

职业：推进陆面-大气相互作用的科学和教育：交织陆面模型的多尺度实验和建模方法以及经验学习陆面模型(LSM)的一个关键挑战是模拟地表和次表面的过程及其对大气的反馈。即使在相同的气候强迫条件下，LSM也预测不同的地表通量和土壤湿度条件。这是由于各个过程的表述、这些表述的参数、数值求解方法和空间异质性的表示方式不同所致。所有这些差异都导致了LSM预测误差和不确定性。增加对气候预测的信心需要重新审视对基本过程的理解，并利用这种理解来改进对陆地-大气反馈的表述。这项研究试图通过回答关于表层土壤中多相流体传输机制和土壤-大气界面上的质量/能量交换的问题来解决这一挑战。新的知识和建模方法将改善对全国供水和粮食安全以及环境问题的预测。与研究计划相关的是让少数民族中学生参与科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的教育框架。围绕水和气候的综合主题，调查员将帮助学生将他们在课堂上学到的STEM与他们自家后院的环境水资源问题联系起来，激励和准备学生继续大学学习，最终在STEM领域就业。综合活动将有助于建立一个有科学素养和见多识广的公民群体，同时还将回答关键的水和气候问题。该项目将极大地促进国家科学基金会在产生跨学科知识和教育中学生、青年科学家和工程师方面的目标。这项研究的总体目标是促进我们对大范围尺度上陆地-大气界面质量和能量交换的理解和建模，并最终改进用于全球气候预测的最小二乘模型。拟议的研究将系统地探索浅层次表层和大气，特别是非常接近土壤表面的层如何相互作用，为将被纳入LSM的质量和热通量过程相互作用提供新的见解。侧重于在多个尺度上理解过程的基础上进行尺度调整，将为促成土地管理系统的多个陆地-大气相互作用和地下过程提供丰富的过程参数。这一愿景包括在实验室进行独特的高度受控的机械研究，利用现有的实验室和现场数据，对临界质量和能量动态进行建模，并描述从实验室到推动气候系统反馈的重要相互作用的特征。项目成果将产生独特的、高保真的数据，这些数据将极大地帮助我们更好地理解和模拟不同尺度上的异质性影响的过程，以及开发在分水岭尺度上机械地表示拟议过程的方法。将使用一套气候中尺度和细尺度计算模式来指导观测和解释数据；过程研究将提供新的算法和过程参数，并评估模型的性能。结合实验数据的计算模型将使研究人员能够了解在不同尺度的不同大气强迫下的支配流动和输送机制。这项研究有望改善土壤-陆地-大气界面多尺度上的质量和能量交换过程的表示。

CAREER: Advancing the science and education of land surface-atmosphere interactions: Interweaving multiscale experimental and modeling approaches for Land Surface Models and experiential learning A critical challenge for Land Surface Models (LSMs) is to simulate processes at the surface and the subsurface and their feedbacks to the atmosphere. Even given the same climate forcings, LSMs predict different surface fluxes and soil moisture conditions. This is due to differences in the formulations of individual processes, parameterizations of those formulations, numerical solution methods and representation of spatial heterogeneity. All of these differences contribute to LSM prediction errors and uncertainty. Increasing confidence in climate predictions requires revisiting fundamental process understanding and using that understanding to improve representations of land-atmosphere feedbacks. This research seeks to address this challenge by answering questions on multiphase fluid transport mechanisms in surface soils and mass/energy exchange at the soil-atmosphere interface. New knowledge and modeling approaches will result in improved predictions for water supply and food security as well as environmental issues across the nation. Linked to the research plan is an educational framework for engaging minority middle school students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Focusing on the integrating theme of water and climate, the investigator will help students make the link between STEM they learn in the classroom and environmental water resource problems in their own backyards, motivating and preparing students to pursue college studies and ultimately careers in STEM fields. The integrated activities will help to build a scientifically literate and informed citizenry, while also answering critical water and climate questions. This project will contribute substantially to the goals of the NSF in the production of interdisciplinary knowledge and the education of middle-school students, young scientists and engineers. The overarching goal of this research is to advance our understanding and modeling of mass and energy exchange at the land-atmosphere interface over a wide range of scales, and ultimately improve LSMs that are utilized in global climate prediction. The proposed research will systematically explore how the shallow subsurface and the atmosphere, specifically the layer very close to the soil surface, interact, providing new insights into mass and thermal flux process interactions that will be integrated into LSMs. A focus on scaling based on process understanding at multiple scales will allow for process-rich parameterizations for multiple land-atmosphere interaction and subsurface processes that contribute to LSMs. This vision includes unique highly controlled mechanistic studies in the laboratory, leveraging of existing laboratory and field data, modeling of critical mass and energy dynamics, and the characterization of important interactions from the laboratory to the watershed scales that drive feedbacks to climate systems. Project results will yield unique, high-fidelity data that will greatly aid in improving our understanding and modeling of the processes affected by heterogeneity at various scales and the development of methods to mechanistically represent the proposed processes at the watershed scale. A suite of climate intermediate, and fine scale computational models will be used to guide observations and interpret data; process studies will provide new algorithms and process parameterizations and evaluate model performance. Computational models in conjunction with experimental data will enable the investigator to understand governing flow and transport mechanisms under different atmospheric forcing at different scales. This research is expected to improve the representation of mass and energy exchange processes across multiple scales at the soil-land-atmosphere interface.