Project 15
Feedbacks between vegetation and climate
About the project:
The project addresses the question of how changes in land cover and use, especially deforestation by means of fire, change the vegetation cover and atmospheric composition. To investigate and better understand these feedbacks between vegetation and the atmosphere we need to quantify the potential for an “Amazon tipping point”.
Goals:
- Improve the representation and feedbacks of vegetation in regional climate models (e.g. transpiration, albedo, CO2) and vice versa
- Investigate effects of deforestation and fire on climate at a high spatial resolution
- Evaluate scenarios for the tipping point analysis using network analysis
Members:
- Dr. Anja Rammig
Researcher in the group “Ecosystem stability and dynamics” at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) - Delphine Zemp
PhD student in Geography (starting 1st of July 2012). Currently I finish a M.Sc. in Geographic Information Sciences at the French National College of Agricultural Science and Engineering in Toulouse
Associated Members:
- Prof. Dr. Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarbe
Professor at the Institut of Geography at Humboldt-University Berlin and Head of the research domain “Climate impacts and vulnerability” at PIK - Dr. Kirsten Thonicke
Head of the group “Ecosystem stability and dynamics” at PIK - Dr. Gilvan Sampaio
Researcher at INPE and the Brazilian Earth System Science Center in the field of Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions