Hydrology-Biosphere-Climate Interactions

Dr. René Orth

This group is funded by the German Research Foundation’s Emmy Noether program.

Mission

Why?

The understanding of the exchange of water, energy and carbon between the land surface and the atmosphere is the keystone to many of the fundamental challenges facing humanity.

How?

We strive to improve the physical understanding of the Hydrology-Biosphere-Climate system through land surface modelling in combination with the analysis of Earth observations at continental-to-global scale.

What?

The group’s research focuses on the interface of soil, vegetation, and atmosphere. The exchange and feedback processes acting there can affect weather and climate, food production, water availability, and hence economy and society.

In particular, our research is directed to contribute to
(1) better understanding of land-atmosphere coupling
Key examples: Denissen et al. 2020 & Li et al. 2021
(2) improved management of extreme events such as droughts and heat waves
Key examples: Orth and Destouni 2018 & Orth et al. 2022
(3) more accurate weather forecasts and climate projections
Key examples: Orth et al. 2016 & O et al. 2020

Key Publications

Current Research

Recently Accepted Publications

Bastos, A., R. Orth, M. Reichstein, P. Ciais, N. Viovy, S. Zaehle, P. Anthoni, A. Arneth, P. Gentine, E. Joetzjer, S. Lienert, T. Loughran, P.C. McGuire, S. O, J. Pongratz, and S. Sitch
Vulnerability of European ecosystems to two compound dry and hot summers in 2018 and 2019
Earth Syst. Dynam., 12, 1015-1035, doi: 10.5194/esd-12-1015-2021

Kroll, J.*, J.M.C. Denissen*, M. Migliavacca, W. Li, A. Hildebrandt, and R. Orth
Spatially varying relevance of hydrometeorological hazards for vegetation productivity extremes
Biogeosciences, doi: 10.5194/bg-2021-206

Orth, R., S. O, J. Zscheischler, M.D. Mahecha, and M. Reichstein
Contrasting biophysical and social impacts of hydro-meteorological extremes
Env. Res. Lett., doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac4139

Preprints

Paulus, S., T.S. El-Madany, R. Orth, A. Hildebrandt, T. Wutzler, A. Carrara, G. Moreno, O. Perez-Priego, O. Kolle, M. Reichstein, and M. Migliavacca
Lysimeter based evaporation and condensation dynamics in a Mediterranean ecosystem
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., doi: 10.5194/hess-2021-519

Ward, P.J., J. Daniell, M. Duncan, A. Dunne, C. Hananel, S. Hochrainer-Stigler, A. Tijssen, S. Torresan, R. Ciurean, J. Gill, J. Sillmann, A. Couasnon, E. Koks, N. Padrón-Fumero, S. Tatman, M. Tronstad Lund, A. Adesiyun, J. Aerts, A. Alabaster, B. Butler, C. Campillo Torres, A. Critto, R. Hernández Martin, M. Machado, J. Mysiak, R. Orth, I. Palomino, E.-C. Petrescu, M. Reichstein, T. Tiggeloven, A. van Loon, H. Vuong Pham, and M. de Ruiter
Invited perspectives: A research agenda towards Disaster Risk Management pathways in multi-risk assessment
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., doi: 10.5194/nhess-2021-326

BSc/MSc thesis and internship topics

• How is the water cycle, specifically the partitioning of precipitation into runoff and evapotranspiration, affected by climate change?
• What are the weather conditions associated with strong Google search interest in pollen and allergy?
• What is the role of soil moisture versus large-scale circulation in shaping our summer weather extremes?
• How important was the initial soil water content for recent floods in Germany and Europe?

If you are interested in a master thesis or an internship in our group, please just send an email with your CV to rene.orth@bgc-jena.mpg.de!