Talk at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, December 2016.
I had the pleasure of presenting in the 20 Years of Eddy Flux Research in AmeriFlux and EuroFlux: History, Highlights, and Future Directions session at AGU in San Francisco, CA. My research highlighted the role of surface roughness on surface climate due to land cover, and explored limitations of current eddy covariance measurements and modeling configurations. I also caught up with colleagues from the summer 2016 Flux Course in Boulder, CO, including Kim Novick, Dario Papale, and Dennis Baldocchi.
New paper on winter soil respiration published in Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences, December 2016
With colleagues from the University of New Hampshire, we recently had our paper on winter soil respiration accepted at JGR-Biogeosciences (doi: 10.1002/2016JG003450). This study investigated the roles of soil moisture, temperature, and snowpack conditions on soil production and efflux of CO2 from the soil to the snowpack and from the snowpack to the atmosphere. In the northeastern US, rapidly changing snowpack conditions lead to more variability in soil CO2 fluxes compared to regions with relatively stable snowpacks.
Snow sensors installed at Kingman Farm
We installed two new snow sensors over the past few days at Kingman Farm in New Hampshire. The first is a “snow depth sensor”, nothing more than a yardstick within view of our PhenoCam. The second is a much more sophisticated 2KR SnowScale that will measure snow water equivalent (SWE) at 30-minute intervals throughout the winter. The SnowScale is placed adjacent to our eddy covariance tower. With our high temporal resolution SWE measurements, we’re hoping to shed more light on the important role of snow cover on the surface energy budget in winter and during the melt season.
New Hampshire Teacher Workshop in Concord, NH. November, 30, 2016.
I recently joined the New Hampshire Education and Environment Team (NHEET) to provide professional development workshops to science teachers in New Hampshire. Our workshop theme was clouds and we didn’t let the nimbostratus rain on our parade (though it did rain while we were training folks on the weather station observations). Thank you, Jen Bourgeault, for introducing me to this amazing team of colleagues and an incredibly talented group of teachers.
New paper on “vernal windows” published in Global Change Biology, November 2016
Our new paper on vernal windows led by UNH colleague Alexandra Contosta was recently published in Global Change Biology (open access; doi: 10.1111/gcb.13517). Together with colleagues from UNH, Dartmouth, Keene State, Plymouth State, Saint Anselm, and White Mountains Community College, we combined observations from citizen scientists (including cocorahs-albedo), satellites, and a state-wide environmental sensor network to identify the lags and transitions during the vernal window – when winter ends and spring begins (aka: mud season). We found a lengthening of the vernal window occurs during warmer, less snowy winters, which could have important implications on biogeochemical cycling in future climate.
UNH Fall Environmental Sciences Seminar. UNH, Durham, NH. September 30, 2016
I returned to my alma mater as a Research Assistant Professor in September 2016. I kicked off my first semester as a faculty member with a UNH Fall Environmental Sciences seminar about research on surface roughness, albedo, and evapotranspiration. Thanks to Steve Frolking for inviting me to join the great line up of fall speakers!
Cornell Biogeochemistry, Environmental Science and Sustainability (BESS) Seminar
Sept 9, 2016
I had the pleasure of presenting my research on New England historical deforestation at the Cornell University BESS Seminar. I extend a special thanks to Charlotte Levy for inviting me to talk and loved learning more about her amazing research using drones to measure albedo in the Ithaca area. I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Christy Goodale about her expertise on historical deforestation in New Hampshire, and I can’t wait to receive a digital copy of the 1850 forest cover map she had hanging in her office. I also got to catch up with fellow Flux Course alum and newly minted Cornell postdoc, Susan Cheng, who will be working with CLM and nitrogen cycling. Always fun to see familiar faces!
Mount Washington Observatory Science in the Mountains Seminar
August 17, 2016
We had a great turnout at the Mount Washington Observatory Weather Discovery Center for the final lecture of the Science in the Mountains summer seminar series. I discussed the forest and climate history of New England with a very engaging audience. Thanks everyone for coming out!
Talk at the 21st Annual Community Earth System Model Workshop
June 22, 2016
I presented my ongoing research on the biophysical impacts of land cover in the Land Model Working Group session at the Annual CESM workshop in Breckenridge, Colorado (pdf). The work includes eastern US eddy covariance tower clusters in Durham, NC (Duke Forest) and in Durham, NH (UNH). The model validation portion of the research compares tower surface energy fluxes to fluxes modeled by the uncoupled Community Land Model (CLM) and the coupled Variable-Resolution CESM and was submitted to Journal of Hydrometeorology.
Virtual Guest Lecture at Dartmouth College
April 5, 2016
Many thanks to Bess Koffman for hosting me as a virtual guest lecturer in her Dartmouth Meteorology class. I enjoyed speaking with the students about my career path and research on land cover and climate.
The slides from my virtual presentation are below:
Or you may download a pdf of the slides:
Dr. Elizabeth Burakowski 