Quantifying changes in forest structure and their impact on microclimate across spatial and temporal scales by integrating ground- and satellite-based remote sensing

森林生态系统在全球碳循环和全球气候系统中发挥着至关重要的作用。尽管森林在我们的气候系统和社会中发挥着重要作用，但越来越多的证据表明，全球森林受到气候变化的压力越来越大。小气候调节是森林的一项重要功能，因为森林可以缓冲极端气候的影响。虽然极端气候与森林干扰增加之间的联系已得到充分研究，但对森林干扰对森林结构和随后的森林功能的影响了解较少。森林内的缓冲量（缓冲能力）与森林结构直接相关，因为森林结构决定了入射太阳辐射量、森林地面可用水量、蒸散率和冠层以下风速。在这个项目中，我们将使用小气候测量和遥感技术。这包括新颖的每日自动激光扫描、每年详细的地面激光扫描以及通过辐射转移建模和卫星数据进行的升级。该项目旨在量化和了解日益增加的森林干扰如何在空间和时间尺度上改变温带森林的缓冲能力，即从个人到景观，从几天到几年。

Forest ecosystems play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and the global climate system. Despite this important role forests play in our climate system and society, there is increasing evidence that forests globally are under increasing pressure from climate change. Microclimate regulation is a key forest function of high importance as forests can buffer the impacts from climate extremes. While the link between climate extremes and increased forest disturbances is well developed, the impacts of forest disturbances on forest structure and subsequent forest functions are less well understood. The amount of buffering within forests (buffering capacity) is directly linked to forest structure, because forest structure determines the amount of incoming solar radiation, the amount of water available at the forest floor, the rate of evapotranspiration, and the speed of below-canopy winds. Within this project we will use microclimate measurements and remote sensing techniques. This includes novel daily automated laser scanning, yearly detailed terrestrial laser scanning and upscaling through radiative transfer modelling and satellite data. This project aims to quantify and understand the impact of how increasing forest disturbances change the buffering capacity of temperate forests across spatial and temporal scales, that is from individuals to landscapes and from days to years.