Loading Events

« All Events

  • This event has passed.

Fall 2013 GRASP Seminar: Ted Zobeck, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), “Wind Erosion and Dust Emissions Processes and Study Methods”

October 18, 2013 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Abstract: Introduction and Context Setting will be provided by Dr. Daniel Koditschek, University of Pennsylvania.Humanity’s growing need to instrument the desert represents a new
opportunity for robotics to impact society. Sand and dust storms have
emerged as a growing worldwide menace, impacting increasingly large
human populations on nearly every continent, damaging habitation,
disrupting transportation, threatening agriculture, human health and
life, as well as a permanently altered “desertified” environment. Soil
erodibility is a key determinant of spatio-temporal wind erosion
patterns, but few metrics – and still less empirical data – have been
developed to map out erodibility at the landscape scale over the
days-to-weeks timescales of chief relevance. Empirical studies at the ~
acre/day scales are presently underway in several geographical regions,
but there is growing evidence that far more data at still higher
spatiotemporal resolution will be required to adequately inform emerging
theoretical models. Continuing advances in satellite remote measurement
technology respond in some measure to these needs, but it is clear that
the heterogeneous theory (e.g. the dust chemistry and flux) associated
with desertification models is only poorly constrained by such coarse
grained measurements. An emerging new generation of field-portable
systems (e.g., miniaturized wind tunnels and in situ wind erosion
apparatus or portable spectroradiometers or laser particle counters) can
provide information at the requisite spatial and temporal scale.

Presenter

Dr. Ted M. Zobeck is
a Research Soil Scientist in the United States Department of Agriculture,
Agricultural Research Service, Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Research
Unit of the Cropping Systems Research Laboratory at Lubbock, TX. Dr. Zobeck has over 30 years experience in investigations on the on-site and off-site effects of wind erosion and its effect on airborne dust emissions and transport, soil
properties and productivity related to wind erosion, and the effects of cropping systems
on soil health and selected soil properties (such as
aggregation, compaction, water management, and carbon sequestration) needed to optimize
productivity and develop sustainable agricultural systems. Ted has served as
associate editor for three internationally respected journals associated with soil
management, including the Soil Science Society of America Journal and is
currently Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Elsevier journal Aeolian Research. He has authored or co-authored over 170 publications, including co-editing SSSA
Special Publication 60 titled Soil and Water
Conservation Advances in the United States
. Ted is a Past Chair of SSSA Div S-6, Soil
& Water Management and Conservation, a Fellow of SSSA, and currently the
President of the International Society for Aeolian Research.

Details

Date:
October 18, 2013
Time:
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Event Category: