Category: News

In the future, astronauts on long missions in space will have to take care of their own farming. But will that even work? SEP group designed an unusual experiment to find some of the answers. Read more! Other press releases: 20Minuten University of Zurich NZZ Switzerland Innovation ST+S

Coupling between surface- and ground-carbon cycling delineated by millifluidics: Implications for soil respiration in a changing environment  The respiratory release of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the Earth’s soil into the atmosphere is a major, yet poorly understood, flux in the global carbon cycle. Understanding soil respiration sensitivity to elevated atmospheric CO2 (eCO2) and/or climatic warming remains one of the key sources of uncertainty in projecting terrestrial carbon balance and likely future shifts in the global climate. This study aims to deepen our mechanistic understanding of hidden mechanisms neither accounted for by large-scale Earth system models nor readily quantified by field experiments. We specifically explore the role of leaf-level response to eCO2 and/or temperature in regulating soil moisture (water saving effects) and the resulting impacts on CO2 release from soil due…

Lagoons are valuable natural habitats as well as being good for tourism. In the case of the “Mar Menor” in the Spanish province of Murcia, however, such large quantities of nutrients are entering the unique ecosystem via the groundwater that algal blooms are making swimming impossible. Working together with Eawag, Spanish researchers have been modelling the underground water flows in order to develop better cultivation and water management scenarios. Read more! Other press releases: La Opinion La Verdad

A new PhD position on mixing and reactions in multiphase systems is available in our group. Apply now!

A new postdoctoral position on irrigation water management is available. Apply now!

New paper on the interplay between structural and hydraulic heterogeneity in fracture networks and its impact on dispersion and mixing in collaboration with Jeffrey Hyman (Los Alamos National Laboratory) published in Water Resources Research.

A new PhD position on microbially induced precipitation in geo-material microfluidics is available in our group. Apply now!

SEP group gets an SNSF Grant to work on solute mixing and chemical reactions in unsaturated porous media. A doctoral position will be advertised soon.

SEP group performed experiments close to the speed of light(!) at the TOMCAT beamline (Swiss Light Source, PSI) -- a collaboration with TOMCAT and EMPA scientists.  

SEP group co-leads an international collaboration, funded by the World Food System Center, on the effects of irrigation modernization in water resources management. A post-doctoral position will be advertised soon.