Prof Heiko Balzter, Dr J Kaduk
Applications accepted all year round
Self-Funded PhD Students Only
About the Project
Following a prolonged time of very low rainfall in 2011 and 2012, DEFRA declared a drought for large parts of South-Eastern England in February 2012. Ground water levels and river flows were at critically low levels, and water supply shortages were anticipated. Such extreme weather events are likely to increase in frequency and severity under all scenarios of future climate change.
As a PhD student you will develop the paradigm of Spatial Ecohydrology with Professor Balzter and apply it to the recent drought. Satellite remote sensing data will be used to measure vegetation greenness (leaf area index) from 2002 to 2012. The data analysis will show the degree of anomalous vegetation growth during the drought conditions in comparison to the long-term (decadal) mean. Satellite-derived estimates of gross primary productivity will be used to assess the impacts of the drought on plant photosynthesis and the terrestrial carbon sink. The anticipated weakening of carbon uptake by the vegetation will also be simulated using a distributed very high resolution (1 km) model run with the Met Office land surface model JULES over England and Wales, in collaboration with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. The model allows an evaluation of the spatial scales of variability of the biosphere/atmosphere interactions to gain improved process understanding of the impacts of the drought.
Research questions are:
1. What is the magnitude of the weakening of the terrestrial carbon sink in England caused by the 2011-2012 drought?
2. At which spatial and temporal scales does the drought manifest itself, and how do these scales relate to relevant ecosystem processes?
3. What were the impacts of the drought on river catchments?
4. Do the satellite-derived estimates of photosynthesis match those observed by eddy covariance flux towers?
We are an equal opportunities employer and particularly welcome applications for Ph.D. places from women, minority ethnic and other under-represented groups.
Funding Notes
Postgraduate tuition fees will be charged according to the University of Leicester standard rates, which can be found at: http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/gradschool.
This studentship is open to students who are either self-funded or have a scholarship from another source.
References
The PhD student will be based in the new Centre for Landscape and Climate Research (http://www.le.ac.uk/clcr), established by Professor Balzter in January 2012. The centre provides excellent research training and networking opportunities as well as membership of a large international community of postdoctoral and postgraduate researchers.
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