Find related stories on NSF's Critical Zone Observatories at this link .
The thin veneer of Earth's surface that stretches from the top of the forest canopy to the base of bedrock is known as the "critical zone." It's where fresh water flows, rock turns to soil and life flourishes.
To provide a deeper understanding of the critical zone, the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports nine Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs) that stretch from coast to coast. NSF CZO scientists study how the critical zone responds to changes in climate and land use.
At the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting , held at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, from Dec. 11-15, 2017, dozens of CZO researchers will present new results on a range of topics, from the structure, function and evolution of Earth's "living skin" to the interactions between climate and rocks.
CZO scientists will discuss plants as plumbers and builders of the critical zone; the effects of Hurricane Maria on the Luquillo, Puerto Rico, critical zone; wildfire in the critical zone; rainfall-triggered landslide hazards; carbon dioxide in sagebrush steppe ecosystems; land-use legacies of old-field succession; snow-dominated headwater catchments; and myriad other subjects.
Researchers at NSF's CZOs are working to answer such questions as:
The NSF CZO program will host booth #2032 in the exhibit hall. On Thursday, Dec. 14, the program will host a town hall meeting, " Critical Zone Observatories: Platforms for Collaborative Science, " from 12:30-13:30 in the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 208-209.
Find a partial list of CZO science-related sessions, talks and posters by date/time below.
Monday, Dec. 11, 2017
U13B-37 : The influence of critical zone structure on runoff paths, seasonal water storage, and ecosystem composition
15:28 - 15:31 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 252-254
H14D-02 : Using a spatially-distributed hydrologic biogeochemistry model with nitrogen transport to study the spatial variation of carbon stocks and fluxes in a Critical Zone Observatory
16:15 - 16:30 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 283-285
H14D-03 : Ecohydrological consequences of vegetation interactions within the critical zone in the tropical Andes: multi-scale assessment of vegetation change consequences
16:30 - 16:45 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 283-285
H14D-08 : Where should the upper boundary of the earth's critical zone be?
17:45 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 283-285
Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017
EP21H-01 : Lithologic controls on critical zone processes in a variably metamorphosed shale-hosted watershed
08:00 - 08:15 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, room 352
B21D-1981 : Fostering collaboration across the U.S. Critical Zone Observatories Network
08:00 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H21A-1439 : Critical zone structure inferred from multiscale near surface geophysical and hydrological data across hillslopes at the Eel River CZO
08:00 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
B21J-02 : Differential chemical fractionation of dissolved organic matter during sorption by Fe mineral phases in a tropical soil from the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory
08:15 - 08:30 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 386-387
H22A-01 : Boron isotopes at the catchment scale, a new potential tool to infer critical zone processes. (Invited)
10:20 - 10:35 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 298-299
H22A-02 : Decoupling of stream and vegetation solutes during the late stages of weathering: insights from elemental and magnesium isotope trends at the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory, Puerto Rico
10:35 - 10:50 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 298-299
ED22A-02 : Climate change literacy across the Critical Zone Observatory Network
10:35 - 10:50 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, room 245
B23D-2097 : The potential for iron reduction in upland soils in Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
EP23C-1938 : Subsurface particle loss during shale weathering can alter soil and rock chemistry
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H23H : Plants as builders and plumbers of the critical zone I Posters
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
B23C-2076 : Coupled modeling of rhizosphere and reactive transport processes
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H23N-08 : Wildfire in the critical zone: pyro-geomorphic feedbacks in upland forests
15:21 - 15:38 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 283-285
ED24A-02 : Teaching climate science within the transdisciplinary framework of critical zone science
16:20 - 16:35 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, room 245
Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017
B31H-01 : Using the Critical Zone Observatory Network to put geology into environmental science
08:00 - 08:05 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 383-385
H31J-08 : An integrated geophysical and geochemical exploration of critical zone weathering on opposing montane hillslope
09:45 - 10:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 298-299
B33D-2108 : Portable gamma spectrometry: measuring soil erosion in-situ at four Critical Zone Observatories in P. R. China
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H33A-1645 : Quantifying seasonal dynamic water storage in a fractured bedrock vadose zone with borehole nuclear magnetic resonance
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H33D-1709 : Imaging preferential flow pathways of contaminants from passive acid mine drainage mitigation sites using electrical resistivity
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
B33G-03 : Deep soil carbon in the critical zone: amount and nature of carbon in weathered bedrock, and its implication for soil carbon inventory
14:10 - 14:25 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 386-387
Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017
B41E-2011 : Toward a standardized soil carbon database platform in the U.S. Critical Zone Observatory Network
08:00 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
B41F-2028 : Carbon dioxide effluxes and their environmental controls in sagebrush steppe ecosystems along an elevation gradient in the Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory
08:00 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H41C-1449 : Hydrologic functioning of the deep critical zone and contributions to streamflow in a high elevation catchment: testing of multiple conceptual models
08:00 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H41G : Modeling the critical zone: integrating processes and data across disciplines and scales III Posters
08:00 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H41I-1556 : Does variability in shallow hydraulic conductivity explain subsurface electrical resistivity anomalies in a Piedmont hillslope?
08:00 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H41J-1595 : Measurements of soil, surface water, and groundwater CO2 concentration variability in Earth's critical zone: low-cost, long-term, high-temporal resolution monitoring
08:00 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
PA42A : How does your geoscience research matter, and can you explain how it matters to the public?
10:20 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 255-257
H42F-04 : Recent developments and emergent challenges in ecohydrology: Focus on the belowground frontier
10:52 - 11:02 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 280-282
Town Hall: Critical Zone Observatories: platforms for collaborative science
12:30 - 13:30 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 208-209
H43O-01 : Hydrologic synthesis Across the Critical Zone Observatory Network: a step toward understanding the coevolution of critical zone function and structure
13:40 - 13:55 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, La Nouvelle C
H43S : Modeling the critical zone: Integrating processes and data across disciplines and scales I
13:40 - 15:40 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 298-299
B43E : Concentration-discharge relations in the critical zone I Posters
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H43J-1782 : Patterns in soil electrical resistivity across land uses in the Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory landscape
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H43P-06 : Critical zone co-dynamics: quantifying interactions between subsurface, land surface, and vegetation properties using UAV and geophysical approaches
14:55 - 15:10 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 283-285
H44G : Modeling the critical zone: integrating processes and data across disciplines and scales II
16:00 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 298-299
IN44A-07 : ODM2 admin pilot project- a data management application for observations of the Critical Zone
17:30 - 17:45 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 228-230
Friday, Dec. 15, 2017
H51K-1413 : Hydrological functioning of West African inland valleys explored with a critical zone model
08:00 - 12:20 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
EP52B-05 : A dynamic hydrology-critical zone framework for rainfall-triggered landslide hazard prediction
11:20 - 11:35 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 353-355
ED53I-0234: Using the NGSS to analyze the NGSS suggests teaching the critical zone to improve NGSS implementation
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
EP53D : Where things aren't: understanding the role of porosity in the critical zone posters
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H53G-1552 : Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of dissolved organic carbon in waters and soils in a snow-dominated headwater catchment: investigations at Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory, Owyhee County, Idaho
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H53G-1560 : Linking carbon and hydrologic fluxes in the critical zone: Observations from high-frequency monitoring of a weathered bedrock vadose zone
13:40 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Poster Hall D-F
H53L-03 : Hydrological connectivity in the karst critical zone: an integrated approach
14:10 - 14:25 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 288-290
B54A : Concentration-discharge Relations in the critical zone II
16:00 - 18:00 -- New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, rooms 356-357
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