Patterns in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Systems: Monitoring, Modeling, and Data Assimilation

In this special issue, we present recent scientific work that analyzes the role of patterns in soil-vegetation-atmosphere (SVA) systems over a wide range of scales ranging from the pore scale up to mesoscale catchments. Specific attention is given to the development of novel data assimilation methods, noninvasive measurement techniques that allow mapping spatial patterns of state variables and fluxes, and two-way coupling of models in a scale-consistent way. Patterns in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Systems is also the research topic of a collaborative research center (TR32) between the universities of Aachen, Bonn, and Cologne and the Forschungszentrum Julich. In this center, which is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, on the basis of an international evaluation, scientists covering a broad range of earth science disciplines are working together. During June 11-12, 2010 the center organized its first international workshop in Aachen. The contributions presented in this special issue of Vadose Zone Journal include contributions from the collaborative research center and external contributions, both from Germany and worldwide.