Ian is a junior attending Colorado College. His major is Environmental Science
with a minor in Spanish. Ian is interested in studying human-environment
relationships, spatial modeling and energy issues.
The response of terrestrial fluxes of energy, water, and carbon to drought is
evaluated. Major droughts should be clearly evident in reanalyzed precipitation
data, although this is not always the case. With reduced precipitation we can
expect suppression in Gross Primary Photosynthesis (GPP) if physiological stress
is sufficient, with attendant changes in energy partitioning due to stomatal
closure. There may also be a response in respiratory release of CO2 with
temperature increase.
This study aimed to investigate the behavior of the terrestrial biosphere using
the Simple Biosphere Model (SiB3) during and following times of drought and to
identify any model responses inconsistent with observational relationships. The
Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was evaluated from 1983 to 2006 in order
to evaluate historical drought maps, and to facilitate a subjective analysis of
modeled drought behavior. Standardized and raw anomaly maps were produced for
modeled physiological variables (GPP, transpiration, respiration, heat fluxes,
carbon flux, and stress factors) in order to determine general response patterns
for comparison with observational study data.
The SiB model was determined to be generally accurate in its representation of
significant drought, with regard to perturbations in Bowen ratio, GPP, and CO2
respiration. However, model response was heterogeneous, and did not always
respond in a manner consistent with published descriptions of drought.
Ian's summer research poster,
Evaluating the Response of the Terrestrial Biosphere to Significant Drought, may be found here (2MB).
Ian's hobbies include cross country, track and field, photography and poetry.
|
