Montzka, Carsten
[Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum of Juelich, Germany]
Cho, Mboh H.
[Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum of Juelich, Germany]
Jonard, François
[Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum of Juelich, Germany]
Bogena, Heye
[Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum of Juelich, Germany]
Vanderborght, Jan
[Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum of Juelich, Germany]
Vereecken, Harry
[Agrosphere, Forschungszentrum of Juelich, Germany]
The Rur observatory is part of the Terrestrial Environmental Observatories (TERENO) Initiative of the German Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft. The main goal of the infrastructure measure TERENO will be to create observation platforms on the basis of an interdisciplinary and long-term aimed research program for the investigation of consequences of Global Change for terrestrial ecosystems and the socioeconomic implications. Rur observatory is also part of the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS-D) initiative. The region encompasses the catchment basins of the Rur and Erft rivers, which are located in the Belgian-Dutch-German border region near the cities of Aachen and Cologne. The site can be separated into two main regions. The southern part covers the bedrock of the Eifel mountains, with a high longterm annual precipitation of 850–1300 mm. This region consists of Devonian and Carboniferous sedimentary rocks with low permeability and small groundwater storage volumes, causing water runoff primarily linked to the fissure system. The northern region is characterized by soils evolved from loess, which accumulated on Tertiary and Quaternary depositions of the Rivers Rhine and Meuse. It has a relatively low annual precipitation of 650–850 mm. In accordance with this hydrogeological and climatic division, the land use types are clearly distinguishable. Forest and grassland characterize the south, whereas in the north, fertile agricultural land predominates. The advantage of the REC test region is the already installed multiple sensor systems of the TERENO (Terrestrial Environmental Observatories) initiative, which can be used for SMAP Cal/Val. Despite of the cosmic ray probe network and the precipitation radar systems, in-situ data were made available from three highly instrumented test sites, namely Selhausen, Wüstebach, and Rollesbroich.


Bibliographic reference |
Montzka, Carsten ; Cho, Mboh H. ; Jonard, François ; Bogena, Heye ; Vanderborght, Jan ; et. al. SMAP validation activities in the TERENO Rur observatory, Germany.SMAP Cal/Val Workshop (Oxnard, California, USA, du 14/11/2012 au 16/11/2012). |
Permanent URL |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/173666 |