Calibrating an upscaled microscopic root water uptake model by inverse modeling

• Grant number: 22/03770-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: August 15, 2022
• End date: October 11, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Quirijn de Jong van Lier
• Grantee: Marina Luciana Abreu de Melo
• Supervisor: Jos C. van Dam
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/07294-3 - Limitations to evapotranspiration in water transfer through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum: revisiting the crop coefficient, BP.DR

Abstract

The assessment of limitations to water transfer through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum is required for better prediction of evapotranspiration fluxes. Microscopic models of root water uptake (RWU) allow simulating the involved processes with the required level of mechanism and detail. Among the methods to calibrate RWU models, the inverse modeling (IM) method is attractive due to its feasibility and robustness. This application for a grant abroad (BEPE-FAPESP) contains a proposal to conduct part of the ongoing PhD project under the supervision of an external advisor. The proposal is directly linked to the main PhD project, focusing on advances in parametrization and calibration by IM of a detailed RWU model recently implemented in the SWAP hydrological model and not yet available online. With this internship, it is expected that the applicant extends her analytical skills working under the supervision of a specialized external advisor and, simultaneously, improves the quality of the results of her PhD research, resulting in publications in peer-reviewed journals of high impact. (AU)