Hydrology and Fluid Dynamics

Environmental engineering Associate Professor Amilcare Porporato, a specialist in ecohydrology, wants to determine whether evapotranspiration has decreased and why. Using the Southeastern region of the U.S. as his test bed, Porporato is exploring the interplay of three major climate variables: a decrease in sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere called solar dimming that may reduce plant transpiration; increased carbon dioxide which makes photosynthesis more effective (and thus with lower water needs); and significant changes in land use (changes in the fraction of natural, agricultural, and urban areas).