Dr. S.M. (Silvia) Alfieri

Dr. S.M. (Silvia) Alfieri

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Room: 23.HG 2.19

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Research scientist in geoscience and remote sensing analysis, particularly attracted by scientific analysis regarding environmental issues and climate change studies.
My focus during a 10 years career has been the observation and modelling crop response to climate forcing, with special attention to vegetation – atmosphere exchange of water and CO2 and emphasis on irrigated (agricultural) crops.
I tackled this challenge along three complementary lines of research:
1) Measuring and modelling H2O and CO2 exchanges using eddy – covariance systems, particularly an airborne system operated by a dedicated research aircraft. This was the subject of my PhD project, which included dealing with the complexity of estimating the large and very dynamic footprint of the airborne eddy-covariance measurements;
2) Estimating the probability of adaptation of agricultural crops to climate variability, by combining ensemble numerical experiments, using models of the soil – vegetation – atmosphere continuum, with field trials on crop response to water stress. These studies were a contribution to a national project on the adaptation of agriculture to climate change in Italy.
3) Monitoring crop water requirements and actual water use using a combination of quasi – near – real time multispectral satellite data, agrohydrological modelling and field surveys. This research ihas been initiated under a large H2020 project (MOSES), leading to the development of a platform providing information services in support of agricultural water management.
In the last months I'm combining most of these elements towards an assessment of the impacts of extreme climate events on rural landscape in several sites by using a broad spectrum of satellite data, i.e. from the visible to microwave range. This study is being carried out as part of a very large H2020 project dedicated to the evaluation of Nature Based Solution to mitigate the vulnerability to extreme climate events.

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Room: 23.HG 2.19