Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL)

We are excited to launch the LinkedIn page for the Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab at Ghent University! 🌍 💧 ❄ At H-CEL, we explore the intricate connections between hydrology, ecosystems, and climate to tackle pressing environmental challenges. By focusing on extreme hydro-climatic events like heatwaves and droughts, our research combines cutting-edge science and data analysis to develop innovative solutions that help communities adapt to a changing climate. Follow us for updates on our latest research, publications, job opportunities, and events!

Welcome Aboard, Fangzheng! 🚢 We're delighted to welcome Fangzheng Ruan (阮方正), a PhD student from the Hydrological Simulation and Prediction Lab at Tsinghua University (China), to our team for the next year. His research explores the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of evaporation and their influence on global water resources. During his stay at the Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL), he will focus on understanding the drivers of transpiration using explainable AI. From the Great Wall to our team, we’re happy to have him on board and look forward to a year of exciting collaboration! 🌍

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗠𝟰 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄! 🥳 We’re excited to share the preprint of our dataset: “GLEAM4: Global Land Evaporation Dataset at 0.1° Resolution from 1980 to Near Present”. https://lnkd.in/ewbAXfwv The 𝗚𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗠𝟰 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘁 has been available since 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 on www.gleam.eu, providing researchers and practitioners with global evaporation and soil moisture data for hydrology and climate studies. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗠𝟰? 📍 Higher spatial resolution: 0.1° 📅 Extended temporal coverage: 1980 to near present 💧 Key updates: • Hybrid learning of evaporative stress from eddy-covariance and sapflow (Koppa et al., 2022) • Improved representation of interception, including short vegetation (Zhong et al., 2022) • Potential evaporation modeled with Penman’s equation, including aerodynamic demand • Explicit accounting for plant access to groundwater (Hulsman et al., 2023) Kudos to all co-authors and developers! Diego Miralles Olivier Bonte Akash Koppa Oscar Manuel Baez-Villanueva Emma Tronquo Feng Zhong Hylke Beck Petra Hulsman Wouter Dorigo Niko Verhoest shekoofeh haghdoost #GLEAM4 #Hydrology #EvaporationModelling #ClimateScience

📢 Working on land atmosphere-interactions and their role in shaping climate extremes? 🌍 Consider submitting an abstract to our European Geosciences Union (EGU) 2025 session: Land-atmosphere interactions and climate extremes (CL4.4): https://lnkd.in/ec-yHCW4 🚄 Apply for travel support by submitting before 2 December 2024. 📅 Official abstract submission deadline is 15 January 2025, 13:00 CET Convened by Ryan Teuling, Wim Thiery , Diego Miralles and Sonia I. Seneviratne and myself!

Prof. Diego Miralles listed again among the 175 most Highly Cited Researchers in the world in the field of Earth sciences 🎉 https://lnkd.in/eEYBczsJ

Exciting news! Two professors from our faculty, Prof. Diego Miralles and Prof. Jana Asselman, have been #nominated for the prestigious Frontiers Planet Prize! 🏆 This #internationalaward celebrates groundbreaking #research that helps protect planetary boundaries and tackle global environmental challenges. The Belgian national candidate presentations will take place on Monday, November 25 at the Palace of the Academies, Brussels. 👉 Learn more about the prize and the event via https://lnkd.in/ez_QRRzK Ghent University

🎉 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏𝟓 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐒! 🎉 November 2, 2009 marked the launch of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite, as part of ESA’s Living Planet Programme. To celebrate this milestone, experts gathered in Catania, Sicily, for the SMOS Science Conference – a great moment to acknowledge progress, exchange ideas for the future, and take in the sights of the spectacular Mount Etna. 🌋 Representing H-CEL at the conference, Diego Miralles discussed the use of satellite data to understand soil moisture feedbacks during droughts and heatwaves, while Hans Lievens emphasized the value of SMOS observations for hydrological modeling. Here’s to many more years of impactful insights from SMOS! 🛰️

The Digital Twin Earth Hydrology Next project has started 😎 New exciting activities to develop the more accurate digital replica of the terrestrial water cycle...keep in touch! European Space Agency - ESA | EUMETSAT | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche | tuwien department of geodesy geoinformation | Mariette Vreugdenhil | Diego Miralles | CIMA Research Foundation | Simone Gabellani | Francesco Avanzi | Lorenzo Alfieri | Pere Quintana Seguí | Jacopo Dari | Deltares | Albrecht Weerts | MEEO S.r.l | Simone Mantovani | Luis Samaniego | e-GEOS | Starion | Stefano Luigi Gariano | Silvia Peruccacci | Massimo Melillo | Paolo Filippucci | Jaime Gaona | Hamidreza Mosaffa | Espen Volden | Simonetta Cheli

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻! 🛰️ A study led by jonas jans explores the 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗹-𝟭 𝗖-𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗔𝗥 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 in the Alps! ❄️🏔️ The findings show that cross-pol backscatter and backscatter ratio are driven by snow dynamics while co-pol backscatter reflects both snow and soil dynamics. Polarimetric observations also show strong potential for enhancing snow depth retrievals, marking a promising advancement for snow monitoring in mountainous regions. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/g93fEUGH Congratulations to all authors on this exciting contribution to remote sensing and snow research! 🙌 #Sentinel1 #SnowResearch #SAR #Alps #RemoteSensing

Today we celebrate Dr. Li Hao, our fourth (and final) PhD graduate of the month! 🎉 Over the past years at the Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL), his dedication and countless hours of hard work have brought him to this moment. His research focusses on understanding the climate’s impacts on yields in rainfed croplands, offering valuable insights through the tracking of atmospheric moisture and heat. His commitment has been evident every step of the way, and we couldn’t be prouder of this achievement. His presence was always appreciated, and it has been wonderful to see him grow throughout the years. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors and are excited to see what he accomplishes next. 🎓