Andrew Oliphant
Andrew Oliphant
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Professor/Chair
College of Science and Engineering
Bio
Greetings! My teaching and research field within the School of the Environment is Climatology, the study of our climate system, in scales ranging from microclimates of ecosystems and cities to global climate change. My research focuses on interactions between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, particularly carbon and water cycling and surface microclimates. The methods for this study primarily involve field-based observations using micrometeorological instruments and has included a diverse range of field sites from the Antarctic Dry Valleys to a central Iranian desert, although has primarily focused on natural and managed ecosystems, including in urban environments. Current projects include mountain meadow carbon cycling in response to hydrologic restoration, monitoring GHG emissions from agricultural healthy soils practices, and ongoing projects on urban and microclimates of the San Francisco Bay Area and Black Rock City, NV.
Research in the Bioclimate Lab
Research investigations in the Bioclimate Lab center around interactions between ecosystems and the atmosphere, particularly carbon cycling and greenhouse gas exchanges, as well as water cycling, heat budget and microclimates. Most of the research questions are driven by environmental problems or concerns such as the role of vegetation in urban heat island mitigation, environmental and land management controls on ecosystem carbon sequestration, and the impact of healthy soils practices on GHG emissions. For the most part, our research involves field-based experiments or monitoring systems, such as eddy covariance and flux chamber systems. Current and recent projects are listed below, along with the folks involved and links to associated theses and publications.
Mountain meadows are important environmental systems that form in topographical depressions within watersheds, often containing shallow groundwater, finely textured and organically rich soils and abundant plants dominated by hydric to mesic herbaceous species. Healthy meadows have the capacity to sequester large amounts of atmopsheric carbon and store it in rich organic soils. Historic and current land use (e.g. grazing, logging and mining) in the Sierra Nevada have contributed to increased stream channel incision and lowering of water table in many of the 17,000 meadows. Meadow hydrological restoration efforts have increased recently to raise water tables in degraded meadows. In addition, climate change in the Sierra Nevada is likely to have a signififcant impact on meadow hydrology and water availability for plant productivity. Our goal is to understand the role of land-use practices and climate change on the meadow ecosystem functioning and carbon cycle.
| Shamim Mousavi | Thesis (2021): Assessing Meadow Carbon Cycling Using Digital Repeat Photography and Eddy Covariance Techniques |
| Darren Blackburn | Thesis (2017): Investigations of Carbon and Water Fluxes in a Sierra Nevada Meadow |
| Suzanne Maher | Thesis (2016): Bio-micrometeorology of a Sierra Nevada montane meadow |
Journal articles:
| Blackburn, D.A., Oliphant, A.J. & Davis, J.D. Carbon and Water Exchanges in a Mountain Meadow Ecosystem, Sierra Nevada, California. Wetlands 41, 39 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-021-01437-2 |
| Castelvi, F. and Oliphant, A. J. 2017: Daytime sensible and latent heat flux estimates in a mountain meadow using a method based on surface renewal which requires land surface temperature and measurements taken at low frequency as input. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 236, 135-144. |
Conference presentations:
| Mousavi, S.*, Oliphant A.J., Baguskas, S.A., Simonin, K.A. 2019. Observations of Ecosystem CO2 Exchanges in a Montane Meadow in Northern Sierra Nevada, California, Poster EP51E-2149, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. |
| Simonin K.A., Baguskas, S.A., Oliphant, A.J., Davis, J.D., Nanus, L., Blesius, L., Physioc, K.*, LeBeau, R.*, Mousavi, S*, Studwell, A., Clark, Q. 2019. Montane Meadow Restoration: Quantifying the Impact of Biogeomorphic Change on Ecosystem Function, Poster EP51E-2145, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA. |
Agricultural soils emit large amounts of greenhouse gasses (GHG) to the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2) in sub-saturated conditions and methane (CH4) in saturated or anoxic conditions. Agricultural soils tend to be significant sources of nitrous oxide (N2O), particularly when nitrogen amendments are used. Given the scale of global agriculture and its greenhouse fingerprint, the impact of different types of soil amendments and management practices on soil GHG emissions has received increasing attention.
The objective of this project is to examine the impact of soil amendment and management practice on GHG fluxes. In this project the main amendment is actively aerated dairy cow manure, referred as compost tea, which is applied to the orchard soil twice a year. GHG emissions are measured using a static-chamber approach. Emissions of GHG for soils with compost tea amendments and different row management practices are compared to control (no amendments) plots and unmanaged plots.
Here's a short video explaining the broader project
| Clarissa Maciel | Graduate student |
| Jose De Anda | Graduate student |
| Angelica Crecencia | Undergraduate student |
Conference presentations: |
Vegetation plays an important role in urban climate both locally, in providing a cooling offset for the urban heat island through evaporative cooling, and globally through modification of urban greenhouse gas emissions.
| Patrick Ehhalt | Graduate student investigating carbon cycling in urban gardens and their contribution to urban GHG emissions. |
| Jolene Bertetto | Graduate student, Thesis: Investigating the role of vegetation on midafternoon microclimates in a residential courtyard |
| Reese Hahn | Thesis (2020): Impact of the Built Environment on Microclimate in San Jose, California |
| Christa Meyer | Thesis (2017):Investigation of the carbon dioxide exchange over a living roof in San Francisco |
| Siobhan Lavender | Thesis (2015): Impacts of living roofs on urban climate in San Francisco |
| Ryan Thorp | Undergraduate thesis (2013): Observations of heat, water vapor and carbon dioxide exchanges over a living roof using eddy covariance |
| Stephanie May | Thesis (2014): Investigations of the Park Cool Island Effect of Golden Gate Park, San Francisco |
Coming soon... featuring Garrett Bradford, Malori Redman, Ryan Thorp
Teaching
Courses in Environmental Science & Geography
The following provides a brief description of the classes I teach.
This course examines the physical processes that shape our planet including: elements of weather and climate; landform creation and change; formation and distribution of soils and biological systems; and the hydrologic cycle. Emphasis is placed on the strong links between processes, patterns and phenomena of our Earth-atmosphere system. We explore these topics through lecture, reading, discussion, practical exercises and field work.
This course examines the physical characteristics, processes and controlling mechanisms of Earth’s climate system and the patterns of its change across both space and time. Fundamentals of Earth’s atmospheric composition, heat budget, motion and water will be covered with a focus on global climate change, regional climate variability and the climate of California. Students will develop and strengthen analytical skills through labs on computer based; processing and analysis of observational data; simple climate change modeling and graphic presentation of analysis to peers and through a culminating research project builds on these skills.
This course investigates interactions between climate and the biosphere, including both climatic controls on biological functioning and vice versa, especially modification and use of climate by plants and humans. We combine theoretical study with applications in agriculture and forestry, urban design and air pollution. Topics explored include ecosystem-atmosphere cycles of water, carbon and energy, human thermoregulation, urban climates and surface winds. Students participate actively in learning through weekend fieldwork, data interpretation, reading and classroom discussions.
This course guides students through an interdisciplinary investigation of climate change, including the causes, environmental and societal impacts as well as mitigation and adaptation strategies. The class bridges the traditional human and physical branches of Geography, which is necessary for understanding this complex environmental issue. Learning will take place through extensive readings, classroom lectures and discussion and student-driven research, an interdisciplinary study of all dimensions of climate change for a specific region. This topic is also used to explore the writing conventions of Geography and Environmental Science including scientific writing, social science writing styles and planning and policy reports.
This course investigates applications of field methods to Physical Geography and Environmental Science. Research methods and experimental design for field-based data collection include topics in geomorphic surveying, biometric sampling and atmospheric measurement and monitoring. Paired undergraduate (GEOG 602) and graduate (GEOG 702) course.
Various topics in bioclimatology are investigated in the literature and through data analysis. Topically, we focus on ecosystem-atmosphere interactions in both natural and urban ecosystems. Prerequisites: GEOG 801 and GEOG 314 (GEOG 313 ok) and classified status in Geography
Northern California Weather Resources
Links for weather forecasting and weather observation for the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California
Synoptic situation and forecast
Satellite image loops from GOES West
| Cloud Composite | Cloud Top Temperature (IR) | Water Vapor - mid troposphere | All GOES West image options for this region | |
| North Pacific | Cloud Composite | Cloud Top Temp. | Water Vapor | Other image options |
| Westcoast US | Cloud Composite | Cloud Top Temp. | Water Vapor | Other image options |
| California | Cloud Composite | Cloud Top Temp. | Water Vapor | Other image options |
| Full disc | Cloud Composite | Cloud Top Temp. | Water Vapor | Other image options |
WRF Regional Forecast maps for Western USA
University of Washington
Bay Area current meteorological observations
Recent meteorological observations from the western slope of Sierra Nevada