Marcela Doubkova

ABOUT ME

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PROJECTS

SOIL MOISTURE FOR HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL APPLICATION IN THE SADC REGION

S H A R E is one of the European Space Agency's DUE Tiger projects. SHARE aims at enabling an operational soil moisture monitoring service for the region of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). With this service SHARE will address one of today's most severe obstacles in water resource management which is the lack of availability of reliable soil moisture information on a dynamic basis at a frequency of a week and less.
The soil moisture information system is based on the newest radar satellite technology. The service will use data delivered by ENVISAT's ASAR sensor operated in global mode and the METOP scatterometer sensors. The synergistic use of both systems will allow frequent, high resolution monitoring of regional soil moisture dynamics.
The long-term vision of SHARE is to supply soil moisture information for the entire African continent, at a resolution of 1 km, posted on the web, freely accessible to all.

This interdisciplinary collaborative work combines retrospective change analysis of meteorological and remotely-sensed data with simulation modeling using a proven regional scale numerical weather preciction model (MM5)coupled to a lad surface model (NOAH). We will explore "alternative presents" by changing LSP while using forcings from NCAR Reanalyses and we will explore possible futures by using forcings from selecte GCMs. Analyses of the retrospective data and the proposed suites of simulations should be able to address which conditions lead to enhancement of vulnerability versus enhancement of resilience in this semi-arid region in which anthropogenic activities are limited by water availability and challenged by the high interannual variability of meteorological conditions. This research falls within the general purview of NASA's NEESPI program.

The Nebraska Sand Hills form the largest sand dune area in the Western Hemisphere (58,000 km2). Beneath the Sand Hills lies over 35% of the groundwater stored in the High Plains aquifer. Today, the Sand Hills are stable and covered by native grassland interspersed with wetlands and lakes. The starting point for the SandHills Biocomplexity Project was the recent observation by UNL geoscientists that many of these dunes were destabilized (lost their grass cover) and active as recently as 900 years ago. How do short- and long-term climate change interact with ecological, hydrological and bioatmospheric processes to destabilize this massive sand due system, or, on the other hand, restabilize large areas of moving sand? What role do the numerous interdunal wetlands and lakes of the region play in stabilizing this system? more at : Sandhills Biocomplexity

GRASSLAND ECOLOGICAL MONITORING SYSTEM (GEMS)
The Grasslands Ecological Monitoring System (GEMS) integrates climate, weather, and remote sensing data in archives and in current datastreams with simple models of plant growth to help producers improve forage management within the context of the high interannual variability of environmental conditions in the High Plains. Forecasts of forage production are based on current and recent weather, including the influence of atmospheric teleconnections, and compared with historical trajectories of weather and observed land surface conditions.
This project involves a collaboration of researchers from South Dakota State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State University, and Oklahoma State University. Funding for this project was provided by the USDA Risk Management Agency. More at GEMS