Evaluation of alternative techniques for determination of water budjet components in water-limited, heterogeneous land-use systems

We intend to provide tools for obtaining critical hydiological information on water balance of heterogeneous vegetation in low rainfall regions of Europe. The project aims to (i) develop high-resolution geophysical and physiological (e.g. sap-flow) techniques for the study of water in soils, roots and trees; (ii) evaluate methods for studying evapotranspiration at a single tree scale and for scaling up to communities and catchments, including the use of satellite remote-sensing; (iii) use large-scale multi-user field experiments to compare the techniques (iv) develop models for integrating these results for hydrological purposes. The 1st phase involves laboratory and field characterisation of novel techniques as well as the theoretical and experimental development of hardware and software. The 2nd phase is the intercomparison of the various techniques, in case studies in Portugal and Italy (emphasis on the scaling up of tree-scale to plots and catchments). The final phase will be the development of integrative models providing, in a user-friendly manner, critical hydrological information for managers and policy-makers.

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It´s supported by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme and contributing to the implementation  of the Key Action "Sustainable Management and Quality of Water"http://www.cordis.lu/eesd/ka1/home.html within the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/home.html    http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/eesd.html 
Contract nº EVK1-CT-2000-00079 WATERUSE