1. Critical Zone Observatories quantifying the chain of impact between geosphere and biosphere Steve Banwart, U. Sheffield, UK SoilTrEC: Soil Transformations in European Catchments FP7 Large Integrating Project

2. Summary of the Talk Overview of Critical Zone Science
The soils research exemplar: SoilTrEC project
International developments in Critical Zone science

3. Earth’s Critical Zone

4. Critical Zone Observatory Program
“Real progress will required problem focused, multidisciplinary field work in natural observatories where detailed, long-term observations can be made using a variety of disciplinary tools.” (US National Academy of Science Report, BROES, 2001)
The approach to observation is motivated by:
hypothesis testing,
process understanding across temporal and spatial scales
mathematical model development,
Utilising multiple sensor and sampling methods,
Often high-density instrument arrays,
Time series/real time measurements of coupled process dynamics,
Combining large data sets with numerical simulation
The critical zone is the new-surface environment that extends from the top of the vegetation canopy to the saturated groundwater zone, and includes rivers, lakes and shallow seas, and extends through the pedosphere, the unsaturated vadoze zone, and the diffuse boundary at the base of the groundwater zone.

5. Coupled Process Dynamics Across Spatial and Temporal Scales
Basin
Watershed
Soil profile
Grain
Molecular

6. CZOs are magnets for multidisciplinary research
Soil Science
Physical Geography
Hydrology
Molecular Ecology
Microbiology
Geochemistry
Engineering
Computer Science
Economics
Management Science
Sociological Sciences
… and many others

7. The Perfect Storm
In March 2010, the UK Chief Scientist stated that humanity faced a perfect storm of converging challenges within the next 40 years.
Increase in population to over 9.3 billion by 2050.
Doubling in demand for food
Doubling in demand for fuel
More than 50% increase in demand for clean water
… all while mitigating and adapting to the impacts of global climate change.
During recent weeks several of these projections have been updated.
Human population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050
Greenhouse gas levels for N2O and CH4 have just exceeded previous records
CO2 levels are increasing faster at the moment than in previous years
Agricultural yields are projected to decrease overall due to insufficient water
The Storm is growing in intensity
Critical Zone Observatories are international focal points for basic science, testbeds for interdisciplinary solutions, and incubators for commercial innovation.
Research challenges:
Hindcasting to understand change
Forecasting to find solutions
International integration to match the urgency

8. The Chain of Impact

9. Earth’s Critical Zone: the architecture Treetop to Bedrock
Soil Ecosystem Services - the heart of Earth’s Critical Zone
Food and fibre production
Filtering water
Transforming nutrients
Carbon storage
Biological habitat
Gene pool
EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, EC (2006) outlines policy to address threats to soil services.

10. Critical Zone Services The Chain of Impact
GHGs and Climate Regulation
Food and fibre production
Carbon Storage
Nutrient Transformation
Biological Habitat
Gene Pool
Filtering Water
Parent Material – forming soil
Baseflow to rivers
Storing and transmitting heat
Repository for hazardous wastes
Physical scaffold for landscapes
Attenuating contaminants
Storing and transmitting water

11. Critical Zone Observatories
Banwart et al. (2011). Vadose Zone Journal, CZO special issue, 10, 974–987 .

12. Damma Glacier CZO Switzerland
PI: S.M Bernasconi, ETH and
the BigLink Project Team

13. Fuchsenbigl CZO, Austria PIs: Winfried Blum, Georg Lair, BOKU

14. Lysina CZO, Czech Republic
Even-Aged Norway Spruce
Plantation at Lysina
PIs: Martin Novak, Pavel Kram
Czech Geological Survey

15. Koiliaris CZO, Crete PI: Nik Nikolaidis, TUC

16. Earth’s Critical Zone: the services
Mass and energy flows deliver goods and services:
filtration of water
new soil
food, fuel, fibre
transformation of nutrients and pollutants
thermal energy
carbon storage
waste isolation
scaffold for landscapes

17. Modelling Structure in SoilTrEC
Data collection and analysis of CZO soils
Small Plot Experiments
Laboratory experiments
Biodiversity,
Food web dynamics, Life cycle analysis
Modelling
Plant, Weathering,
Aggregate formation (PROSUM, CAST, ForSAFE)
Watershed Hydrology and transport (SWAT-ICZ)
Hydrology,
Nutrient dynamics,
Reactive transport
(HYDRUS, CAST)
Upscaling with GIS (GEOSTATISTICS)
Evaluation of soil ecosystem services, life cycle and
monitory value
Spatial Scale
1D-Integrated Critical Zone (ICZ) Model

18. Nikolaidis N. and Bidoglio G
Nikolaidis N. and Bidoglio G., Sustainable Agriculture Reviews, in press.

19. Carbon Amendments – Soil Fertility and Structure
Slide courtesy of Nikolaos Nikolaidis, Technical U. Crete

20. Simulation of 2 year of Compost Addition
1D-ICZ Model – C/N/P and Soil Structure Module
Simulation of 2 year of Compost Addition
Carbon sequestration Water Stable Aggregates – soil fertility
Porosity & Bulk Density
– soil structure
Slide courtesy of Nikolaos Nikolaidis, Technical U. Crete

21. 1D-ICZ Model – Plant Module Results
Biomass
Production
Slide courtesy of Nikolaos Nikolaidis, Technical U. Crete

22. Soil Function Status of Koiliaris CZO
Water Filtration and Transformation
Carbon Sequestration

23. Soil Function Status of Koiliaris CZO
Biomass Production
Biodiversity

24. Soil Threats – Erosion at Koiliaris CZO
SWAT Model Simulations

25. Soil Sustainability – by design
Design of land use through computational simulation
Model of soil processes embedded within Critical Zone process model
Parameterisation via web-accessible GIS
Scenario analysis for mitigation of/adaptation to environmental change
Valuation of full range of critical zone services

26. Nature, 474, , 9 June, 2011
Nature

27. International CZO Networks
c$100M in new funding committed for CZO research worldwide since 2008
NSF CZO programme
EC SoilTrEC project
French Network of River Basins
German AquaDiva Project
German Helmholtz Centres TERENO network of CZOs
2014 workshop in Perth, Australia on CZOs for the Southern Hemisphere
Interest from China in a programme of Critical Zone research
International Steering Committee
Steve Banwart, Jerome Gaillardet, Marty Goldhaber, Sue Trumbore, Don Sparks
Project and network collaboration on:
Shared sites and data
Numerical simulation approaches
PhD and post-doc training

28. Site Network on Environmental Gradients

29. CZOs to Focus International Science
H1: CZ ecosystem services will be particularly vulnerable to extreme events; droughts, heat waves and floods.
Real-time monitoring of critical zone processes with forecasting simulations within heavily instrumented CZOs
H2: Climate and land use gradient experiments today can shed light on ecosystem services response to future environmental and social change.
Study CZ ecosystem services on
a climate gradient from equatorial Africa to Artic Europe and along
a land use gradient within climate zones.

30. Global Experimental Design
CZO Networks along gradients of climate
Map from World Climate.

31. Global Experimental Design
CZO Networks along gradients of land use
Map from: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands

32. International CZO Research Agenda
Available as download from

33. NGL - Food for Thought AquaDiva CZ biosphere project
Linking above- and below- ground biodiversity
Prof Kirsten Kuesel, University of Jena
“Drill the Ridge” deep CZ exploration
October 2013 workshop in Denver, USA
Define the lower boundary of CZ
Rock mass interaction with water circulation
Linking technology development to basic science
Prof. Cliff Reibe, U. Wyoming
NGL pioneered this science 20 years ago
NGL globally leading science strengths in deep CZ exploration
NGL technology leaders in deep CZ exploration

34. END