Near-surface groundwater in landscapes under change.
Water in the shallow subsurface controls life on earth. It provides drinking water and is the first control on vegetation growth. This water also transports on local-scales carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus; key building blocks of life. On longer timescales, it regulates soil formation, erosion and sedimentation, and accumulation and decay of organic matter. Water in the shallow subsurface thus is a crucial link in the adaptation of humans and landscapes to a changing climate. These adaptations ultimately feed back into the climate, intensifying or stabilising climate change. My group studies the role of near-surface groundwater in the feedbacks between climate and landscape. Our hydrological innovation is that we go beyond treating the subsurface as a constant medium that facilitates water storage and flow: we see the shallow subsurface as an evolving carrier of adapting landscapes.
My research at the VU focuses on landscapes in transition, and especially on the changes induced by near-surface groundwater presence and flows. My group currently studies greenhouse gas emissions, soil subsidence, and the evolution of peatlands in the Netherlands, Canada, Scandinavia and Ireland, urban deltas, nutrient flows, and permafrost thaw in the Arctic. Within all these topics the role of near-surface groundwater in landscape change is the central theme.
