Entropy has intrigued me for a long time – it usually comes up at the very end of asking “why” questions. It is such a fundamental concept in physics, but then – why does nobody talk about it in Earth system science? My review paper just published in Earth System Dynamics explains why entropy is so essential to understand the dynamics of the Earth system: because it limits how much work can be done, and work is at the very core of what we call dynamics.
Continue reading “New paper: Working at the limit – how entropy, work and limits shape Earth system functioning. Here is a simple, but long summary of the key points.”Tag: surface energy balance
Which factors make forests cooler: Evaporation or their high aerodynamic conductance? Our paper just published in HESS suggests that it is the latter.
Trees and plants moderate the Earth’s surface temperature. Generally, the cooling effect of vegetation is mainly attributed to the process of evapotranspiration. In our paper just published in HESS, we used observations to unravel the importance of evaporative cooling for short vegetation and forest in shaping diurnal variations in temperatures and found that, actually, it is not only evaporation that keeps the forests cool.
Continue reading “Which factors make forests cooler: Evaporation or their high aerodynamic conductance? Our paper just published in HESS suggests that it is the latter.”
Earthsystem.org 