Time: 15:30-16:30, 12th October 2017
Venue: #202, Building No.16
Speaker: Associate Prof. YAN Zhifeng, Institute of Surface-Earth System Science
Topic: Multiscale investigation on modeling biogeochemical reactions in the shallow subsurface
Abstract: Biogeochemical reactions often occur on the surfaces of minerals or in the pores between minerals. The reactions at microscale collectively present the observed phenomenon at large scale. Establishing the interconnections between the microscale mechanistical processes and the macroscale observations is critical to explain and predict the observed phenomenon at large scale. This study investigates these interconnections by using heterotrophic respiration of organic carbon in soils and denitrification in groundwater as examples. Microscale process-based models are first developed based on the underlying physicochemical and biological processes of the biogeochemical reactions. Macroscale models are then derived based on the established macroscale models using spatial upscaling approaches. The developed macroscale models account for the underlying mechanisms and major processes controlling the biogeochemical reactions, and thus can reduce the uncertainty of modeling prediction.
