Third Party Funded Projects
ASTER is a collaborative research project between the University of Innsbruck, the University of Trento, and the University of Bolzano. The objective is to evaluate the performance of turbulence and land-surface parameterizations in a numerical weather prediction model over complex Alpine terrain and to quantify the model's sensitivity to potential errors in these parameterizations.
Funding: EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino, Austrian Science Fund FWF - IPN 101-32.
UIBK PI: M. Lehner; People: G. Simonet, M. Rotach
Although the total global CH4 budget is relatively well understood, the contributions of individual sources to CH4 emissions are poorly constrained. Recent data for example suggest significantly higher emissions. In the project CH4IAO we study urban methane emissions based on direct eddy covariance measurements. Additionally, chemical tracers are measured allowing to obtain chemical fingerprints of urban CH4 sources. These measurements will provide a top down assessment of urban methane fluxes in the urban core of Innsbruck, and will help to improve our understanding of urban methane emissions.
PI: Thomas Karl
The objective of this project is a detailed process-based understanding of the uptake of carbonyl sulfide (COS) by a Scots Pine forest in order to narrow down the uncertainties that still surround the application of COS as a proxy for gross primary productivity. To this end we combine eddy covariance COS and CO2 flux measurements with chamber measurements on soils, branches, stems and needles and a process-based multi-layer canopy model. Field activities take place at the FAIR site.
PI: G. Wohlfahrt
The main goal of HighResMountains is to gain a deeper understanding of extreme events and their processes and changes with further warming of the atmosphere over the Alps. The specific focus will be on precipitation (rain and snow) and mountain wind systems (like foehn) which will be analyzed using different high-resolution datasets - more specifically CORDEX FPS Alps and ÖKS15.
PI: N. Ban; People: A. Medvedova, M. Rotach
INTERFACE is a collaborative project between the University of Innsbruck, University of Trento and EURAC with the objective to investigate the surface energy balance (non-)closure in highly complex terrain and the role of advection. The UIBK contribution focuses on i-Box sites and generalization for different site characteristics.
Funding: EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino, Austrian Science Fund FWF - IPN 187-N.
UIBK PI: M. Rotach; People: M. Destro, M. Lehner
ISM is an ESPRIT project. It addresses the lack of a comprehensive analytic framework for spatially-complex geospatial data using cutting-edge applied math to robustly identify distinct motions at overlapping scales. The new framework will be used to understand the interactions between turbulence, submeso structures, and complex terrain using Distributed Temperature Sensing.
Funding: Austrian Science Fund (FWF): ESP-214
PI: K. Lapo
The overarching goals of kmMountains are to (i) better understand mountain climate and extreme events associated with mountains, (ii) to improve our models for the simulation of climate (and weather) over complex orography, and (iii) to better understand how mountainous areas will be affected by further warming of the atmosphere. To do so, COSMO simulations will be performed with a horizontal grid spacing of 2.2 and 1.1 km over two mountainous regions for multi-decadal periods in the present and future climate. The main focus of our project is on two regions: the Himalayas and the adjacent Tibetan Plateau on the one hand and the European Alps, on the other hand, thus enabling us to transfer the knowledge from one region to another.
PI: N. Ban; People: E. Collier, A. Medvedova, M. Rotach
In this doc:funds project two PhD theses will investigate the forest -atmosphere exchange of biogenic volatile organic compounds and use a multiple constraints approach to gross primary productivity. Field activities take place at the FAIR site.
TEAMx-UIBK PIs: T. Karl, G. Wohlfahrt
The SCHiRM project aims to devise a modelling strategy that can represent the impact of the surrounding orography (e.g. the Inn Valley and tributary valleys) and the urban envrionment (e.g. building form and materials) on atmospheric conditions in the city of Innsbruck. Simulations at various scales (down to 1-m grid boxes) will be evaluated against a range of observations and provide new insights into near surface turbulence in this extremely complex setting.
PI: H. Ward
The objective of TExSMBL is to analyze the relative contributions of mountain-specific processes to turbulence production and damping in the stable boundary layer of the Inn Valley, analyzing i-Box data. Turbulent exchange is typically weak and intermittent under stable conditions, but wind shear associated with slope and valley winds can contribute to turbulence production even under otherwise undisturbed conditions.
Funding: Austrian Science Fund (FWF): V 791-N
PI: M. Lehner
Unicorn focuses on understanding turbulence characteristics over complex terrain and glaciated surfaces to develop a novel similarity scaling framework and parametrizations allowing correct representation of turbulence and surface-atmosphere exchange over realistic surfaces. The project uses experimental data, idealized ultra-high resolution modelling and machine learning to explore how different aspects of terrain complexity impact turbulence characteristics, especially turbulence anisotropy. The project funding covers the aircraft measurements during the summer TOC as well as the HEFEX II campaign.
PI: I. Stiperski