TY - JOUR
T1 - The Landscape Evolution Observatory
T2 - A large-scale controllable infrastructure to study coupled Earth-surface processes
AU - Pangle, Luke A.
AU - DeLong, Stephen B.
AU - Abramson, Nate
AU - Adams, John
AU - Barron-Gafford, Greg A.
AU - Breshears, David D.
AU - Brooks, Paul D.
AU - Chorover, Jon
AU - Dietrich, William E.
AU - Dontsova, Katerina
AU - Durcik, Matej
AU - Espeleta, Javier
AU - Ferre, T. P.A.
AU - Ferriere, Regis
AU - Henderson, Whitney
AU - Hunt, Edward A.
AU - Huxman, Travis E.
AU - Millar, David
AU - Murphy, Brendan
AU - Niu, Guo Yue
AU - Pavao-Zuckerman, Mitch
AU - Pelletier, Jon D.
AU - Rasmussen, Craig
AU - Ruiz, Joaquin
AU - Saleska, Scott
AU - Schaap, Marcel
AU - Sibayan, Michael
AU - Troch, Peter A.
AU - Tuller, Markus
AU - van Haren, Joost
AU - Zeng, Xubin
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2015/9/1
Y1 - 2015/9/1
N2 - Zero-order drainage basins, and their constituent hillslopes, are the fundamental geomorphic unit comprising much of Earth's uplands. The convergent topography of these landscapes generates spatially variable substrate and moisture content, facilitating biological diversity and influencing how the landscape filters precipitation and sequesters atmospheric carbon dioxide. In light of these significant ecosystem services, refining our understanding of how these functions are affected by landscape evolution, weather variability, and long-term climate change is imperative. In this paper we introduce the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO): a large-scale controllable infrastructure consisting of three replicated artificial landscapes (each 330m2 surface area) within the climate-controlled Biosphere 2 facility in Arizona, USA. At LEO, experimental manipulation of rainfall, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed are possible at unprecedented scale. The Landscape Evolution Observatory was designed as a community resource to advance understanding of how topography, physical and chemical properties of soil, and biological communities coevolve, and how this coevolution affects water, carbon, and energy cycles at multiple spatial scales. With well-defined boundary conditions and an extensive network of sensors and samplers, LEO enables an iterative scientific approach that includes numerical model development and virtual experimentation, physical experimentation, data analysis, and model refinement. We plan to engage the broader scientific community through public dissemination of data from LEO, collaborative experimental design, and community-based model development.
AB - Zero-order drainage basins, and their constituent hillslopes, are the fundamental geomorphic unit comprising much of Earth's uplands. The convergent topography of these landscapes generates spatially variable substrate and moisture content, facilitating biological diversity and influencing how the landscape filters precipitation and sequesters atmospheric carbon dioxide. In light of these significant ecosystem services, refining our understanding of how these functions are affected by landscape evolution, weather variability, and long-term climate change is imperative. In this paper we introduce the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO): a large-scale controllable infrastructure consisting of three replicated artificial landscapes (each 330m2 surface area) within the climate-controlled Biosphere 2 facility in Arizona, USA. At LEO, experimental manipulation of rainfall, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed are possible at unprecedented scale. The Landscape Evolution Observatory was designed as a community resource to advance understanding of how topography, physical and chemical properties of soil, and biological communities coevolve, and how this coevolution affects water, carbon, and energy cycles at multiple spatial scales. With well-defined boundary conditions and an extensive network of sensors and samplers, LEO enables an iterative scientific approach that includes numerical model development and virtual experimentation, physical experimentation, data analysis, and model refinement. We plan to engage the broader scientific community through public dissemination of data from LEO, collaborative experimental design, and community-based model development.
KW - Carbon cycle
KW - Coevolution
KW - Energy balance
KW - Soil weathering
KW - Water cycle
KW - Zero-order basin
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U2 - 10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.01.020
DO - 10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.01.020
M3 - Article
SN - 0169-555X
VL - 244
SP - 190
EP - 203
JO - Geomorphology
JF - Geomorphology
ER -