Citizen science (the involvement of the public in scientific processes) is gaining momentum across multiple disciplines, increasing multi-scale data production on biodiversity, earthquakes, weather, climate, health issues and food production, amongst others, that is extending the frontiers of knowledge. Successful participatory science enterprises and citizen observatories can potentially be scaled-up in order to contribute to larger policy strategies and actions (e.g. the European Earth Observation monitoring systems), for example to be integrated in GEOSS and Copernicus. Making credible contributions to science can empower citizens to actively participate as citizen stewards in decision making, helping to bridge scientific disciplines and promote vibrant, liveable and sustainable environments for inhabitants across rural and urban localities.
Often, citizen science is seen in the context of Open Science, which is a broad movement embracing Open Data, Open Technology, Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Source, Open Methodology, and Open Peer Review to transparently publish and share scientific research - thus leveraging Citizen Science and Reproducible Research. Both open science and citizen science pose great challenges for researchers to facilitate effective participatory science. To support the goals of the various Open Science initiatives, this session looks at what is possible and what is applied in geosciences. The session will showcase how various stakeholders can benefit from co-developed participatory research using citizen science and open science, acknowledging the drawbacks and highlighting the opportunities available, particularly through applications within mapping, technology, policy, economy, practice and society at large. Learning from bottom-up initiatives, other disciplines, and understanding what to adopt and what to change can help synergize scientific disciplines and empower participants in their own undertakings and new initiatives.

We want to ask and find answers to the following questions:
Which approaches can be used in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences?
What are the biggest challenges in bridging between scientific disciplines and how to overcome them?
What kind of participatory citizen scientist involvement and open science strategies exist?
How to ensure transparency in project results and analyses?
What kind of critical perspectives on the limitations, challenges, and ethical considerations exist?

Soil erosion has been traditionally divided into surface (sheet, rill, and gully erosion) and subsurface erosion (soil piping). Rills and gullies concentrate overland flow, whereas soil pipes concentrate subsurface flow, leading to a significantly increased flow erosivity. These forms of concentrated flow erosion, both above and below ground, represent an important sediment source within watersheds and produce sizeable economic losses (e.g. reduced crop yields, reservoir sedimentation, mass failures including landslides and embankment failures). These processes occur in almost all climatic zones, soil types, and land use conditions suggesting a great variability of controlling factors. Moreover, soil pipes, rills and gullies are effective links for transferring water, sediment and pollutants. Despite their relevance, the physical mechanisms that constitute concentrated flow erosion remain poorly understood.
This session aims to address this research gap and will focus on recent studies aiming to better understand the process of rill, piping and gully erosion, with the ultimate aim of developing predictive tools and effective management strategies. As such we welcome contributions on: monitoring and measurement techniques; the factors and processes controlling rill, piping and gully erosion; modelling approaches; prevention, restoration and control measuress; and the role of soil pipes, rills and gullies in hydrological and sediment connectivity.

In many parts of the world, agriculture is threatened by climate change and land degradation in the form of soil erosion. Soil erosion involves the loss of fertile topsoil and reduction of soil productivity, as well as increased mobilization of sediment and delivery to rivers. Sedimentation of water bodies is especially problematic in arid regions where water scarcity is frequent. Furthermore, the dynamics of soil erosion and deposition processes substantially affects the redistribution of soil carbon in the landscapes. Despite being a significant risk to soil and water resources, soil erosion is an overlooked threat, especially in terms of climate change due to increased soil carbon emissions. Considerable discussion still exists about whether erosion results in enhanced emissions of carbon to the atmosphere (C source) or enhanced sequestration of carbon in the soil (C sink). More scientific information is essential to assess the role and impact of soil erosion on the terrestrial carbon budget, highlighting the effect of topography, soil type, land use/land cover and soil management. Another question of importance is the “intra-storage” of mobilized soil and carbon along the hillslopes and in different compartments within catchments. Driving factors of soil carbon distribution and the role of sediment connectivity across the landscape induced by erosion remain largely unknown. This session combines contributions on soil erosion and soil carbon at hillslope, small or large catchment scale in different agroecosystems, including both agricultural and forestry landscapes, using a diverse set of tools and data analyses such as field measurements, monitoring techniques, remotely sensed and GIS analyses, modelling, isotopic and non-isotopic erosion tracers, fingerprinting techniques, among others. Let’s come together and share findings, views and concepts to better understand soil erosion processes and its effect on the landscape-scale distribution of soil carbon.

Public information:
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PROGRAM online Chat

16:15
WELCOME to SSS2.5 online chat by conveners

16:17 (Chairperson: Leticia Gaspar)
D2148 | EGU2020-5833
Soil Organic Carbon Distribution and Isotope Composition Response to Erosion in Cropland under Soybean/Maize Production
Greg McCarty, Xia Li

16:27 (Chairperson: Leticia Gaspar)
D2149 | EGU2020-11147
Visual assessments and model estimations of soil erosion and relations to soil organic carbon
Hakan Djuma, Adriana Bruggeman, Marinos Eliades

16:37 (Chairperson: Jay Le Roux)
D2150 | EGU2020-3947
Soil erosion and sediment transport in South Africa: an overview
John Boardman, Ian Foster

16:47 (Chairperson: Jay Le Roux)
D2151 | EGU2020-8802
South Africa’s agricultural dust sources and events from the MSG SEVIRI record
Frank Eckardt, Johanna Von Holdt, Nickolaus Kuhn, Anthony Palmer, Jonathan Murray

16:57 (Chairperson: Jay Le Roux)
D2152 | EGU2020-3913
Determining Sub-Catchment Contributions to the Suspended Sediment load of the Tsitsa River,
Eastern Cape, South Africa
Laura Bannatyne, Ian Foster, Ian Meiklejohn, Bennie van der Waal

17:07 (Chairperson: Jay Le Roux)
D2153 | EGU2020-1186
Gully Initiation on the Quartzite Ridges of Ibadan, South West, Nigeria
Olutoyin Fashae, Rotimi Obateru, Adeyemi Olusola

17:17 (Chairperson: Lionel Mabit)
D2156 | EGU2020-494
Are human activities main drivers of soil organic carbon losses in mountain rainfed agroecosystems?
Ivan Lizaga, Leticia Gaspar, Laura Quijano, Maria Concepción Ramos, Ana Navas

17:27 (Chairperson: José Alfonso Gómez)
D2160 | EGU2020-17676
Lateral transport of SOC induced by water erosion in a Spanish agroecosystem
Leticia Gaspar, Lionel Mabit, Ivan Lizaga, Ana Navas

17:37 (Chairperson: Iván Lizaga)
D2163 | EGU2020-10027
Erosion and sediment enrichment ratio in volcanic soils
Ludmila La Manna, César Mario Rostagno, Manuela Tarabini, Federico Gomez, Ana Navas

17:47 (Chairperson: Jay Le Roux)
D2166 | EGU2020-2228
Quantitative assessment of gully erosion dynamics using a GIS implementation of Sidorchuks' DYNGUL model in Southern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Adel omran, Dietrich Schroeder, Christian Sommer, Volker Hochschild, Aleksey Sidorchuk, Michael Maerker

17:57
GENERAL DISCUSSION

18:00
CLOSING SSS2.5 online chat by conveners

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Monday, 04 May, 16:15 - 18:00 (CEST)

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_____________________________________________________________________________


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The quantification and understanding of hydrological, erosive, and biogeochemical processes in catchments are essential to the sustainable management of water and soil resources. Soil-erosion studies and hydrological simulation models comprise a large range of scopes and objects of investigation with different levels of spatial and temporal scales and/or innovative approaches that are important tools to address environmental problems in a cost-effective way. Thus, for example, analyses may range from absence-presence inventories of erosion features in large areas, -such as badlands-, to detailed studies of rill and ephemeral gullies; or focus on the assessment of the overall expansion of permanent gullies and their evolution; characterization of headcut migration; or identification of downstream deposition areas after intense sheet/rill erosion; among others. Assessment of the environmental impact of economic activities in catchments should be based on the acquisition of experimental data to implement and/or to evaluate conservation practices at different scales. However, monitoring systems can be restricted by technological, economic and legal factors, spatial and temporal sampling strategies and availability, and are rarely conceived in the long term.
Remote sensing is increasingly being utilized to address a plethora of hydrological and soil erosion issues, providing highly valuable information both on surface reflection and surface heights. In fact, the continued improvement of remote sensing techniques has allowed the study of a large range of erosive processes at varying spatial and temporal scales. More sensitive and accurate sensors are available every day. In addition, the frequency of observations is rapidly increasing and new statistical analysis techniques are increasingly used.
Here, the authors are encouraged to present new environmental challenges related with the use of models, remote sensing techniques and new experiments to address hydrological and erosive issues. In addition to classical modeling procedures such as evaluation of models; new conceptualizations to address current environmental problems facing society, tools and techniques aimed to conserve water, soil and nutrients, and evaluate degradation processes of soil and water as well as analyses concerning the ways and potential of using remote-sensing techniques to assess soil erosion are also expected.

The latest reference document of the United Nations (UN) on the status of global soil resources (FAO & ITPS, The Status of the World’s Soil Resources 2015) stresses that "…the majority of the world’s soil resources are in only fair, poor or very poor condition" and soil erosion is a major threat to soil worldwide. Soil erosion is the detachment and transport of soil particles or aggregates by action of wind, water, and gravity and is responsible for land degradation processes that end in Desertification. High erosion rates results in non-sustainable agriculture production and the need to find expensive solutions via costly governmental policies.

This session will show the State-of-the-Art of the soil erosion processes in agriculture, forest and urban areas. Our main objective is to assess the process but also to find solutions that may help farmers, policy makers and to support the ongoing research activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) on soil national erosion, i.e., the new bottom-up UN Global Soil Erosion Map (GSERmap).

Restoring degraded landscape, managing soil and water resources are important for human well-being. Hillslope management and bioengineering, reforestation, and torrent control work using transverse structures, such as check dams and more recently open check dams, are becoming more common to mitigate soil erosion and torrential hazards. Such techniques are particularly important as they control the flux of water, sediments, nutrients, and other solutes from headwaters to downstream in any watershed management. The design and criteria of the check dams are also facing challenges due to complex hydrological, geological, and biological processes that affect water and sediment transport over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. However, there are still lack of long term monitoring and sufficient understanding on the effects of soil and water conservation techniques on soil erosion processes, vegetation restoration, and torrential hazards control. Integrated watershed management also becomes increasingly crucial to mitigate the unprecedented impacts of environmental changes (e.g. climate, land-use changes). In this fourth consecutive year of organizing the session during EGU, we welcome studies that focus on soil conservation techniques from hillslopes to watershed scale. Any contributions to the understanding of soil erosion control and sediment transport management based on detailed field monitoring, high-quality laboratory works, mathematic models and effectiveness assessment methods are welcomed. In particular, we propose an approach to join and share scientific and technical studies from all around the world related to the legacy effects of check-dams and the potential of open check dams, highlighting the role of complex interactions between ecological elements, geomorphic processes and engineering activities.

Public information:
Online Chat Schedule

08:30 (14:30 Beijing Time)
WELCOME to SSS2.9 online chat by convener team

08:32 (14:32) (Chairperson: Yang Yu)
D2135 | EGU2020-1236
Influence of Check Dams on Flood and Erosion Dynamic Processes of a Small Watershed in the Loss Plateau
Shuilong Yuan, Guoce Xu, Peng Shi, and Kexin Lu

08:40 (14:40) (Chairperson: Yang Yu and Peng Li)
D2136 | EGU2020-1361
Understorey vegetation drives surface runoff and soil loss in teak plantation-based system of Northern Laos
Layheang Song, Laurie Boithias, Oloth Sengtaheuanghoung, Chantha Oeurng, Christian Valentin, Phabvilay Sounyafong, Anneke de Rouw, Bounsamai Soulileuth, Norbert Silvera, Alain Pierret, and Olivier Ribolzi

08:48 (14:48) (Chairperson: Manuel Esteban Lucas Borja and Peng Li)
D2137 | EGU2020-1690
The Topography Meter: a measurement system applicable for gravity-erosion experiments using a novel 3D surface measuring technique
Xiangzhou Xu, Feilong Xu Xu, Wenzhao Guo, and Chao Zhao

08:56 (14:56) (Chairperson: Manuel Esteban Lucas Borja)
D2138 | EGU2020-2066
Distribution of soil organic carbon impacted by land-use change and check dam on the Loess Plateau of China
Peng Shi, Yan Zhang, Kexin Lu, Zhaohong Feng, and Yang Yu

09:04 (15:04) (Chairperson: Guillaume Piton)
D2140 | EGU2020-4738
Alternative approach for works controlling stony debris flows
Carlo Gregoretti, Matteo Barbini, Martino Bernard, and Mauro Boreggio

09:12 (15:12) (Chairperson: Manuel Esteban Lucas Borja and Peng Li)
D2143 | EGU2020-7441
Soil water flow behavior of abandoned farmland restored with different vegetation communities in the Loess Plateau of China
Rui Wang, Zhengchao Zhou, Ning Wang, Zhijing Xue, and Liguo Cao

09:20 (15:20) (Chairperson: Manuel Esteban Lucas Borja)
D2144 | EGU2020-1388
Plant root exerted a stronger positive effect on aggregate stability than soil during plant secondary succession on the Loess Plateau, China
Lie Xiao and Peng Li

09:28 (15:28) (Chairperson: Demetrio Antonio Zema)
D2145 | EGU2020-737
The magnitude of soil erosion of small catchments with different land use patterns under an extreme rainstorm on the Northern Loess Plateau, China
Nan Wang and Juying Jiao

09:36 (15:36) (Chairperson: Demetrio Antonio Zema)
D2146 | EGU2020-1232
Quantitative assessment of check dam system impacts on catchment hydrological response - a case in the Loess Plateau, China
Tian Wang, Zhanbin Li, Jingming Hou, Shengdong Cheng, Lie Xiao, and Kexin Lu

09:44 (15:44) (Chairperson: Demetrio Antonio Zema)
D2147 | EGU2020-1234
Effects of ecological construction on the transformation of different water types on Loess Plateau, China
Binhua Zhao and Zhanbin Li

09:52 (15:52) (Chairperson: Guillaume Piton and Peng Li)
D2150 | EGU2020-4779
Adaptation of the MMF (Morgan-Morgan-Finney) model to Mediterranean forests subject to wildfire and post-fire rehabilitation measures
Demetrio Antonio Zema, Joao Pedro Nunes, and Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja

10:00 (16:00) (Chairperson: Guillaume Piton)
D2162 | EGU2020-9921
Check dams effects on plant and soil interface immediately after wildfire
Bruno Timóteo Rodrigues, Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja, Demetrio Antonio Zema, and Yang Yu

10:08 (16:08) (Chairperson: Guillaume Piton)
D2164 | EGU2020-10009
Are site characteristics and channel hydro-morphology related with check dam functioning? A case study in México
Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja, Bruno Gianmarco Carrà, Demetrio Antonio Zema, and Yang Yu

10:20 (16:20) A brief conclusion and closing SSS2.9 online chat by conveners
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The chat SSS2.9 will be available on 05 May, 08:30–10:15 (14:30-16:15, Beijing Time)

Land cover plays a key role for geomorphic processes in steep-land environments. It exhibits both beneficial and adverse effects on hillslope denudation and substantially influences landscape evolution. Land cover information becomes of fundamental importance in many applications for assessing soil erosion loss and landslide activity at difference scales, from local to global analysis. Apparent land cover of a landscape affects the accuracy of most investigations that aim to detect, observe, analyse, model or predict geomorphic and landform-shaping processes. In contrast, denudational processes have a strong impact on both natural ecosystems and cultivated land, leading from increasing environmental diversity to economic damages.
This session is designed to cluster the most recent scientific researches on the analyses, modelling and prediction of soil erosion and landslide processes that are directly linked to land cover dynamics. Such variations can alter the soil properties as soil reinforcement and soil aggregation, and make the modelling and prediction of higher complexity.
Studies that pay heed on the impact of land cover changes on shallow or deep-seated and transient or long-term slope instabilities as well as surface water flow and related soil erosion processes are welcome. Research abstracts are invited to address:
1. observation and detection of different land cover types, land use changes and occurrences of erosion or landslides using a wide spectrum of technologies, from field measurements to remote sensing techniques;
2. analyses on the relationship between land cover and geomorphic processes from local to regional scale;
3. prediction of impacts on surface water flow, erosion and slope stability due to land cover changes;
4. innovative modelling approaches for assessing soil instabilities (statistical, physically-based, numerical) that focus on model implementation, parameterisation, uncertainties and simulation of land cover evolution;
5. development of guidelines and regulations for practitioners, technicians, policy and decision makers.
We highly welcome pioneering research from all fields, especially from geomorphology, agricultural science, soil science, geotechnics and environmental engineering. In particular, young career scientists are encouraged to contribute to the session with original and advanced studies.

Climate change (CC) is expected affecting weather forcing regulating the triggering, reactivation, and severity of slope failures and soil erosion. In this view, the influence of CC can be different according to the area, the time horizon of interest and to the specific trends of weather variables. Similarly, land use/cover change can play a pivotal role in exacerbating or reducing such hazards.
Thus, the overall impacts depend on the region, spatial scale, time frame and socio-economic context addressed. However, even the simple identification of the weather patterns regulating the occurrence of such phenomena represents a not trivial issue, also assuming steady conditions, due to the crucial role played by geomorphological details. To support hazards’ monitoring, predictions and projections, last-generation and updated datasets with high spatio-temporal resolution and quality - like those from the Copernicus Services’ Portals - are useful to feed models, big-data analytics and indicators’ frameworks enabling timely, robust and efficient decision making.
The Session aims at presenting studies concerning ongoing to future landslide dynamics and soil erosion hazards across different geographical contexts and scales (from slope to regional, to global scale) including analyses of historical records and related climate variables, or modeling approaches driven by future climate exploiting downscaled output of climate projections. Studies assessing variations in severity, frequency and/or timing of events and consequent risks are valuable. Finally, tested or designed adaptation strategies can be discussed.

Soil-forming processes can be observed at various spatial and temporal scales, including molecular - microscopic - pedon - landscape scales, and a similarly wide range of temporal scales. They are influenced not only by the “classical five” soil-forming factors, but also by the factor “humans”. This holds true not only for the industrial period and urbanized areas, but also for palaeopedological and archaeological contexts.
In this session, we seek abstracts on all of these aspects of “soils as records in time and space”:
- soil processes proceeding at different scales, incl. interactions across scales (both spatial and temporal)
- human-induced soil changes (incl. mechanical and chemical changes, as well as the introduction of artificial parent materials)
- advances in understanding weathering mechanisms and mineralogical changes in time and space
- linkages of spatial patterns and processes in soil landscapes over time
- processes taking place on short time scales, thereby contributing to long-term soil changes
- aeolian inputs to soils, implications for soil genesis and ecologically relevant soil properties
- palaeosols and geomorphic features as records of former environments and human activity
- use of soil classification and soil maps, and possibly links to digital soil mapping and novel soil survey techniques such as proximal sensing technologies and detailed digital elevation models.

Documenting the diversity of human responses and adaptations to climate, landscapes, ecosystems, natural disasters and the changing natural resources availability in different regions of our planet, cross-disciplinary studies in human-landscape interaction provide valuable opportunities to learn from the past. This session is targeted at providing a platform for scientists with common interests in geomorphology and geoarchaeology and, in particular, the complex and integrated nature of the relationship between landforms, geomorphological processes and societies during the Anthropocene, and how this has developed over time at different spatial and temporal scales.

This session seeks related interdisciplinary papers and specific geomorphological or geoarchaeological case-studies that deploy various approaches and tools to address the reconstruction of former and present human-environmental interactions from the Palaeolithic period through the modern. Topics related to records of the Anthropocene from Earth and archaeological science perspectives are welcome. We are inviting contributions that focus on the two-way interactions between geomorphological processes/landforms and human activity. These should show how the various factors of the physical environment interact with the Anthroposphere, and, in turn, how population and individuals may affect (and change) these factors. Furthermore, contributions may include (but are not limited to) insights about how people have coped with environmental disasters or abrupt changes; defining sustainability thresholds for farming or resource exploitation; distinguishing the baseline natural and human contributions to environmental changes. In this context, topics of different fields may be addressed in the session such as landform evolution, landscape sensitivity and resilience in the overall context of the interrelation between geomorphology and society, geohazards, geoheritage and conservation, geomorphological responses to (and evidence for) environmental change, and applied geomorphology. Moreover, issues of scale and hierarchies may be addressed, and methods and applications of dynamic rather than equilibrium ideas and metaphors. Ultimately, we would like to understand how strategies of human resilience and innovation can inform our modern strategies for addressing the challenges of the emerging Anthropocene, a time frame dominated by human modulation of surface geomorphological processes and hydroclimate.

During the Quaternary Period, the last 2.6 million years of Earth's history, changes in environments, and climate shaped human evolution. In particular, large-scale features of atmospheric circulation patterns varied significantly due to the dramatic changes in global boundary conditions that accompanied abrupt changes in climate. Reconstructing these environmental changes relies heavily on precise and accurate chronologies. Dependent on records, time range, and research questions, different methods can be applied, or a combination of various dating techniques.
Varve counting and dendrochronology allow for the construction of high-resolution chronologies, whereas radiometric methods (radiocarbon, cosmogenic in-situ, U-Th) and luminescence aim at longer time scales and often are complementary or supportive.
In this session, contributions are particularly welcome that aim to (1) reduce, quantify and express dating uncertainties in any dating method, including high-resolution radiocarbon approaches; (2) use established geochronological methods to answer new questions; (3) use new methods to address longstanding issues, or; (4) combine different chronometric techniques for improved results, including the analysis of chronological datasets with novel methods, e.g. Bayesian age-depth modelling. Applications may aim to understand long-term landscape evolution, quantify rates of geomorphological processes, or provide chronologies for records of climate change.

Anthropogenic impact on ecosystems has a crucial effect on soil properties, functions and ecosystem services including biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Arable soils and soils of urban, industrial, traffic, mining and military areas (SUITMAs) are exposed to anthropogenic disturbance and transformation. Biological capacity, greenhouse gases’ emission and carbon stocks of anthropogenically-transformed soils differ considerably from natural soils but so far remain overlooked. Negative anthropogenic impacts (e.g., soil sealing, construction, and contamination) can alter and deplete soil functions and ecosystem services, whereas best-management practices (e.g., no till, crop rotation, soil engineering) can enhance the value of anthropogenically-transformed soils. Further, the development of diversified cropping systems (rotations, multiple cropping and intercrops for food, feed and industrial products) under low-input practices for conventional and organic systems could increase land productivity and crops quality, and reduce machinery, fertilizers, pesticides, energy and water demands.
The session will focus on biological diversity and capacity, carbon stocks and fluxes of anthropogenically-transformed soils at the local, regional and global scales. It will promote research achievements addressing advanced and integrated methods in monitoring and assessment of plant and microbial diversity, chemical and physical properties, biological capacity and soil health to support best management practices and nature-based solutions. Indicators and parameters of soil-plant interactions, effectiveness of crops and soil management practices will also be discussed during the session. The session format will promote knowledge and information exchange about soil micro- and mesofauna, community succession, and biochemical processes following the development and evolution of SUITMAs and arable soils. A comprehensive analysis and original case studies presenting contribution of soil biota to the ecosystem services provided by agricultural lands and urban green infrastructure, would greatly contribute to this session. Spatial variability and temporal dynamics in properties, functions and ecosystem services of arable soils and SUITMAs in the context of global changes will be discussed regarding the perspectives of sustainable development of urban and rural areas.

The rhizosphere is regarded as the soil compartment with the highest level of nutrient flux through a multitude of interactions between plants, soil, and (micro)biota. Roots and associated (micro)organisms interact with heterogeneous soil environments that provide habitats for biota on various scales. High metabolic activity and nutrient cycling can be observed from single root tips to whole root systems which makes the rhizosphere of central importance for ecosystem functioning.
The main knowledge-gaps in rhizosphere research are related to the difficulty in mechanistically linking the physical, chemical and biological processes, taking place at different scales (nm to cm) in the rhizosphere and to the challenge of upscaling these processes to the scale of the root system and the soil profile. The key for overcoming these knowledge gaps is to understand rates of matter flux, and to link the spatial arrangement of the different interconnected components of the rhizosphere with their temporal dynamics. This requires concerted efforts to combine methods from different disciplines like plant genomics, imaging, soil physics, chemistry and microbiology.
We welcome experimental and modelling studies on rhizosphere functioning that aim at revealing spatial gradients of e.g. functional biodiversity of microorganisms, uptake and release patterns by roots, soil structure modification by root growth (and vice versa) as well as feedbacks between those processes in order to improve our mechanistic understanding of emerging properties like water acquisition, nutrient cycling, plant health, soil structure development and feedbacks among them.

This PICO session will gather most recent tools and experimental strategies to shed light on (i) the role of the soil physical structure on the soil biota on the one hand and (ii) focus on soil biota shaping soil physical structure and functionality on the other hand. Case studies linking soil structure to soil biota with respect to soil functions and the processing of organic matter will be described using novel techniques and approaches. Materials such as manufactured aggregates or synthetic polymers (Soil Chips) are used to re-create soil structure with defined characteristics and open unprecedented experimental possibilities in soil physics-soil ecology boundary line. Under natural conditions, cutting-edge imaging techniques, such as µCT (X-rays), neutron radiography and Nano-SIMS allow to finely characterise soil structures and link it to soil biological activity (isotopes, PLFA). Vice-versa, soil biota shapes soil physical structure, in particular through extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), excreted mainly by bacteria, fungi and plants. EPS are assumed to play a role in particle cohesion and thus in soil physical structure, besides the several functions they promote in microbial life, e.g. adhesion to surfaces; reduction of cellular desiccation; tolerance of excessive changes in temperature, pH, salinity. If and how this can be transferred to soil functionality such as soil hydrologic properties and under which condition significant EPS will be produced is still a pending question. The overview provided here mostly focus on microorganisms and microfauna, with some case studies reporting the effect of roots or larger organisms, such as earthworms. The PICO format will convey demonstration of new tools and approaches to study the soil physics - soil ecology interface.
The Keynote speaker of this session is Dr. Edith Hammer (Lund University, Sweden).

Microbial hotspots in soils such as the rhizosphere, detritusphere, biopores, hyphasphere, aggregate surfaces, charsphere, etc., are characterized by high activity and fast rates of such process as soil organic matter (SOM) turnover, nutrient mobilization, litter decomposition, respiration, organic matter stabilization, greenhouse gas emission, acidification, etc. The turnover intensity of microbial biomass and SOM as well as nutrient cycling in such hotspots is at least one order of magnitude higher than in the bulk soil.
This session invites contributions to: 1) Various aspects of microbial activity, interactions, communities composition and distribution in hotspots; 2) Factors influencing (micro)biological nutrient (re)cycling including biotic and abiotic controls; 3) New developments to assess and simulate the crucial microbial mechanisms that underpin biogeochemical processes in hotspots (e.g. new approaches and imaging methods); and 4) Combination of experimental, theoretical and modelling approaches to predict the fate and functions of microorganisms in hotspots.

Terrestrial ecosystems across the globe are being exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2, causing increase in temperatures and more frequent and intense drought and rainfall events. These changes have strong implications for biogeochemical cycling and the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Understanding the mechanisms controlling the response of plants and soil biota to climate change is therefore critical to predict potential feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems to future climate scenarios.

The aim of this session is to bridge the knowledge of different disciplines to elucidate the multi-scale mechanisms and feedbacks underpinning the biogeochemical response to climate change, with emphasis on warming, drought and drying-rewetting dynamics. This session will give a broad overview of empirical and modelling studies across different scales, considering how climate change affects terrestrial biogeochemistry and the interactions between soil, microorganisms, plants and fauna. Attention will be given to the resistance or adaptation mechanisms of plants and soil biota during single or repeated environmental disturbances, as well as to the resilience and the associated temporal recovery dynamics after a disturbance. We will bring together researchers from different environments and create a discussion platform to review the current state-of-the-art, identify knowledge gaps, share ideas, and tackle new challenges in the field.

Soil biodiversity and the provision of services that are beneficial to the productivity and sustainability of land use systems occur at different spatio-temporal scales and depend on environmental factors. Biogeographic mapping and land use systems affect soil biodiversity and how soil biodiversity (i.e. the performance of functional groups) feeds back to soil functions and ecosystem services. Soil organisms are at the center of soil organic matter formation and degradation. They transfer plant-derived carbon into stabile soil carbon pools, which has been termed the soil-carbon-pump. Carbon use efficiency (CUE), the efficiency of the pump as well as growth and turnover, the pump’s throughput, are increasingly used to describe soil organic matter formation. Since CUE and growth are influenced by numerous biotic and abiotic factors and interactions, a wide range of approaches has been used to get a grip on the controls of the soil-carbon-pump.
In this session, we welcome studies on spatio-temporal aspects of soil biodiversity as well as the role of soil organisms in the carbon cycle, and especially on soil microbial physiology, CUE, growth and turnover. We encourage contributions that examine soil biodiversity on all scales and trophic levels, CUE, microbial growth and turnover in models, lab and field experiments, and in ecological conceptual frameworks.

Public information:
Soil biodiversity and the provision of services that are beneficial to the productivity and sustainability of land use systems occur at different spatio-temporal scales and depend on environmental factors. Biogeographic mapping and land use systems affect soil biodiversity and how soil biodiversity (i.e. the performance of functional groups) feeds back to soil functions and ecosystem services. Soil organisms are at the center of soil organic matter formation and degradation. They transfer plant-derived carbon into stabile soil carbon pools, which has been termed the soil-carbon-pump. Carbon use efficiency (CUE), the efficiency of the pump as well as growth and turnover, the pump’s throughput, are increasingly used to describe soil organic matter formation. Since CUE and growth are influenced by numerous biotic and abiotic factors and interactions, a wide range of approaches has been used to get a grip on the controls of the soil-carbon-pump.
In this session, we will discuss spatio-temporal aspects of soil biodiversity as well as the role of soil organisms in the carbon cycle, and especially on soil microbial physiology, CUE, growth and turnover.
! We have now updated the program for the live chat. It can be found in the uploaded session summary. !

Soil organic matter (SOM) is well known to exert a great influence on physical, chemical, and biological soil properties, thus playing a very important role in agronomic production and environmental quality. Globally SOM represents the largest terrestrial organic C stock, which can have significant impacts on atmospheric CO2 concentrations and thus on climate. The changes in soil organic C content are the result of the balance of inputs and losses, which strongly depends on the processes of organic C stabilization and protection from decomposition in the soil. This session will provide a forum for discussion of recent studies on the stabilization and sequestration mechanisms of organic C in soils, covering any physical, chemical, and biological aspects related to the selective preservation and formation of recalcitrant organic compounds, occlusion by macro and microaggregation, and chemical interaction with soil mineral particles and metal ions.

Soil organic matter (SOM) plays a vital role not only in soil fertility and quality (by providing a number of physical, chemical, and biological benefits), but also in C cycling.
The decline of SOM represents one of the most serious threats facing many arable lands of the world. Crop residues and animal manures have long been used as soil organic amendments to preserve and enhance SOM pools. Nowadays, organic amendments originate from many kinds of organic wastes, which are being increasingly produced mainly by farms, food and energy industries, and municipalities. Besides serving as a source of organic matter and plant nutrients, these materials may contribute to fight plant diseases and reduce soil contamination, erosion, and desertification.
At the same time, a safe and useful application of organic amendments requires an in-depth scientific knowledge of their nature and impacts on the soil-plant system, as well as on the surrounding environment.
This session will focus on the current research and recent advances on the use of organic amendments in modern agriculture as well as for the restoration of degraded soils, covering physical, chemical, biological, biochemical, environmental and socio-economical aspects.

Soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics play a major role in determining soil fertility, atmospheric CO2 concentrations and climate change adaptation. However, the relationship between soil C persitance and vulnerability under increasing atmospheric temperature and growing global population is poorly understood. Therefore better constraints on SOM pools and fluxes and their reaction to global change are required allowing to disentangle soil C persistence and vulnerability. This session focuses on empirical and modeling studies of soil carbon and its response to warming, and ecosystem vulnerability in different soil types. Contributions focusing on organic as well as mineral soils in contrasting climatic regions are welcome. They may include interdisciplinary research from experiments and observation networks collecting long term, geographically distributed data. International efforts working towards soil data harmonization and data-model sharing are also featured.

Organo-mineral associations are recognized as key factors in stabilizing organic matter within microaggregates and even larger structural units in soil. A better understanding of the mechanisms behind the formation and stabilization are essential to predict or manage soil
structure, fertility and organic matter dynamics. Recent studies point to the highly dynamic nature
of the structural units of soil, while the major interaction mechanisms, e.g. adsorption and
and coprecipitation, are strongly dependent on the environmental conditions. Microaggregates including the OM-associations may form, alter, and break up depending on the local milieu (i.e., the presence of minerals, redox conditions, pH, water content, type of organic molecules, biotic drivers, etc.), under natural and management-induced variations in soil. With the growing experimental and observational evidence of the existence and build-up of these sub-micrometer soil compounds, in turn the number of modeling approaches increase that aim for an advanced mechanistic understanding of the formation and stabilization processes, the resulting 3d-structures, and their role in the functioning of soil. With this session, we respond to the growing awareness and intensive debate of the importance of the sub-micrometer-architecture for the dynamics and functioning of soils. Presentations will focus on studies that investigate organo-mineral interactions up to the size of microaggregates in soil and sediments, including their time dependence, conceptual, analogic or numerical modeling, the spatial explicit characterization of organo-mineral associations down to the nanoscale through high-resolution imaging microscopies and spectroscopies, the impact of plant C input, the role of the soil fauna and microorganisms, as well as their potential to increase C storage in any types of ecosystem.

Note: This session is a merger of SSS5.6 "Organo-mineral association dynamics in soil" and SSS5.10 "Microaggregates in Soil"

Fate and activity of heavy metals, pesticides, PAHs and other xenobiotics depend on their interaction with humic substances present in soil, coal, freshwater and marine systems. They may be deactivated due to various interactions with humic substances, and from the other hand, xenobiotics may affect the properties of humic substances. These processes are dependent on the properties of specific fractions, including humic acids, fulvic acids and humin. Papers covering various aspects of mutual interaction between humic substances and heavy metals, pesticides and PAHs are welcome. This will provide deeper insights and understanding of the mechanisms of xenobiotics sorption on humic substances, as well as their influence on properties of humic substances occurring in terrestrial and aquatic systems.

Soils represent a major terrestrial carbon store and fulfil a variety of functions from which the environment and humankind benefit. Soils processes operate and interact across the Critical Zone: the near-surface terrestrial layer extending from the bedrock through to the lower atmosphere. Multiple external pressures may result in changes to soil functioning, and we need a good understanding of how soils respond at a range of spatial and temporal scales.

The storage, stability, and cycling of carbon is fundamental to the resilience of soil systems. It is essential that we consider the role of carbon in all soil systems, from the microbial and aggregate scale to the catchment and the whole land surface, in order to better understand the interconnectivity between rocks, soils, plants, and the atmosphere. This is particularly important as soils are facing multiple perturbations, ranging from rapid shifts in land use and management to degradation and long-term environmental and climatic change. To maintain soil functions we need to develop further knowledge of how resistant soils are to these changes, alongside if, and how, they recover.

This session will consider terrestrial carbon pools and dynamics, and explore soil resilience at any, or multiple scales. We welcome contributions that consider processes within and between different elements of the Critical Zone, alongside innovative methods of quantifying and investigating change. Early career researchers are strongly encouraged to apply, and we seek submissions considering empirical, modelling, or meta-analytical approaches.

Organic substances in the soil are very heterogeneous and include low and high molecular weight compounds, and may be derived from plant and microbial residues. Besides contribution to soil organic matter (SOM) formation, living microorganisms regulate C and nutrient cycles by recycling processes. Detailed analyses of SOM transformation can highlight the role of selective preservation mechanisms, for example, and how these are modified and influenced by biological, physical and chemical interactions. In order to link processes of SOM formation with the pools, the broad range of approaches is used, including an application of various isotopes 13C/14C, 15N, 18O, 33P and analysis of plant and microbial biomarkers comprising both structural and chemical aspects related to SOM turnover. The specific attention is dedicated to the low molecular weight organic substances (LMWOS), which serve as a fuel for microorganisms, regulates their activity, composition, the transition from dormant to active stages and transformation of SOM (e.g. priming effect).
Thus, this session invites contributions, especially from early-career students, to i) the fate and turnover of organic substances in soil: from uptake and utilization by microorganisms to stabilization in SOM, ii) functions of LMWOS for priming of SOM decomposition, regulation of nutrient availability and rock weathering, iii) microbial recycling of elements (C, N, and P) from fresh or aged organic material. Analytical approaches comprising structural and chemical aspects related to SOM, such as potential biomarkers, isotopes, and their combinations are highly desirable. We also encourage contributors to present and discuss analytical challenges that remain due to both environmental and analytical uncertainty.

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Dear Authors and Visitors of the session!

Please, find attached the time slots, when you can discuss the works of authors in an online discussion. If some of the authors do not present in chat, you can contact them later directly per e-mail using the option ''contact authors'' when you open their abstracts.

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See you online,
Your conveners

The analysis of infiltration, especially when infiltration experiments are used to estimate soil hydraulic properties, is becoming increasingly important for the geosciences community. Indeed, infiltration process is an important component of the hydrological cycle; it refers to the entry into the soil of water and all substances transported by it. Thus, estimates of soil infiltrability are mandatory key tasks to be performed on number of hydrologic, agronomic, ecological or environmental studies. Under natural conditions, infiltration is characterized by high spatial variability resulting from a high degree heterogeneity of both soil texture and structure. On the other hand, local infiltration experiments are sensitive to space-time variability of the unsaturated soil properties. High resolution infiltration measurement is crucial to properly describe and analyze soil water properties needed to model soil water flow. The aim of the session focus is on the principles, capabilities and applications of both infiltration techniques and models at different scales, including, but not limited to: - field infiltration measurements for a wide variety of infiltration devices, from the most simple to the most sophisticated and complete, combined to complementary information provided by other methods (i.e., TDR probes, GPR, ERT, etc.), - new or revisited numerical and analytical models to account for multiple-porosity, hydrophobicity, organic matter, or swelling on infiltration, clogging, biofilm development; and many other factors that are not taken into account in classic infiltration models, - estimation of soil hydraulic parameters, among which the saturated-unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and sorptivity which are fundamental in soil science. We will explore diverse topics of infiltration and interactions encompassing soil processes. The session is not limited by methodology or approach and we welcome studies including laboratory or numerical simulation of infiltration, in-situ studies of water and solutes infiltration. We welcome contributions from simulated and real data investigations in the laboratory or field, successful and failed case studies as well as the presentation of new and promising infiltration approaches.

Preferential and non-uniform flows are induced by biotic and abiotic factors and processes (roots, wet-dry and freeze-thaw cycles, lithology) as well as anthropogenic activities (e.g. tillage and cultivation, mining activity). In consolidated porous fractured systems, the vadose zone may reach a thickness of several hundred meters and preferential flow paths are commonly associated with discontinuities (fissures, fractures, etc). The understanding of preferential flow (PF) is of premium importance in relation to soil surface and catchment hydrology. PF can move a considerable amount of water and solutes (pollutants and bacteria) from the soil surface to groundwater bodies. PF shortens the residence time in the vadose zone and reduces pollutant contact with the soil reactive particles. Therefore, the importance of understanding preferential flow processes cannot be overstated, regarding the fate and transport of solutes, nutrients and contaminants in agricultural land, landscapes, catchments, mine waste covers and tailings storage facilities. This session welcomes studies on experimental and theoretical challenges aimed to identify, quantify, and model the physical processes involved in preferential flows and their impacts on mass transfers in porous media across scales (from pore scale to catchment scale):
• Understand the geometry and connectivity, formation and dynamics of fissure, fractures and macropores;
• Understand the effect of physical processes and geochemical processes on the dynamics of macropores and fracture networks;
• Develop and refine models for quantifying preferential flow, from pore scale to pedon scale and entire catchments and landscapes;
• Unpacking the pore structure of soil using new methods and approaches, including the use of non-Newtonian fluids, for improved characterization of heterogeneous soils and preferential flow.
• Effects of preferential flows on solute, nutrient or contaminant transport in the saturated and unsaturated zone;
• Coupling the physical processes of preferential flows and geochemical processes for improving the understanding of solute sorption and desorption, mineral precipitation and dissolution;
• Modelling of the effect of preferential flow on mass transport across scales, from pore scale to pedon scale and entire catchments and landscapes.

Soil structure and its stability determine soil physical functions and chemical properties such as water retention, hydraulic conductivity, susceptibility to erosion, and redox potentials. These soil physical and chemical characteristics are fundamental for biological processes, among them root penetration and organic matter and nutrient dynamics. The soil pore network forms the habitat for soil biota, which in turn actively reshape it according to their needs. The soil biota, root growth, land management practices like tillage and abiotic drivers (e.g. wetting/drying cycles) lead to a constant evolution of the arrangement of pores, minerals and organic matter. With this, also the soil functions and properties are perpetually changing. The importance of the interaction between soil structure (and thus soil functions) on one side and soil biology, climate and soil management on the other, is highlighted by recent research outcomes, which are based on advanced imaging techniques and novel experimental setups. Still, present studies have barely scratched the surface of what there is to discover.
In this session, we are inviting contributions on the formation and alteration of soil structure and its associated soil functions over time. Special focuses are on feedbacks between soil structure dynamics and soil biology as well as the impact of mechanical stress exerted by heavy vehicles deployed under land management operations. Further, we encourage submissions that are integrating complementary measurement techniques or aim at bridging different scales.

The hydrophysical and thermal properties of soils play a major role in current societal issues such as agricultural productivity, the preservation of water resources, gas and energy exchanges between soil and atmosphere and ultimately the protection of livelihoods. However, laboratory and field methods used to characterize soil properties remain questionable as to their suitability, and representativeness of the highly heterogeneous soil medium.
Moreover, reliable parameterization of key soil processes is important in land surface models. Parameter uncertainties, missing processes, process descriptions that lack reality, and the assumption that soil parameters remain constant in time, adversely impact the fidelity of flux- and state variable estimates. For example, in recent years, highly spatially resolved global data sets of soil properties have been developed for improved parameterization of soil hydraulic properties, yet they lack incorporation in Earth system models.
Also, while many pedotransfer functions exist to estimate the parameters that describe the hydrophysical and thermal soil characteristics, they remain globalizing approaches, based on limited available in-situ data, that are often dominated by certain regions and soil types. Hence, their usefulness is limited when it comes to assessing the impact of innovative practices that bring about changes in soil structure.
In this context, this session acknowledges that soil structure matters and invites contributions presenting new approaches to characterise the physical properties of soils using new sensors, new field and/or lab measurement techniques, as well as contributions illustrating comparative approaches between methods and/or laboratories.
This scientific session also welcomes contributions on improved parameterization of soil and critical zone processes. This session aims to bring together scientists from the climate- and soil-biogeosciences communities and to identify key shortcomings in current land surface models. Specifically, we welcome contributions that are already exploring the use of existing global datasets to advance soil model parameterization, including those embedded in weather forecast or climate models.
The session is part of the SOPHIE initiative (Soil Program on Hydro-Physics via International Engagement)
https://www.wur.nl/en/article/Soil-Program-on-Hydro-Physics-via-International-Engagement-SOPHIE.htm

In arid and semi-arid areas, the interaction between surface water management, irrigation practices, soil hydrologic dynamics and groundwater are key for sustainable water management, food production and for the resilience of agroecosystems. Their importance goes beyond the sole technological aspects, often being connected with some traditional techniques, part of local cultural heritage, to be faced with an (at least) interdisciplinary approach which involves also humanities. On the other hand, improper land and water management in those areas may contribute to soil degradation and groundwater exploitation. As an example, irrigation may lead to salinization of both the root-zone and shallow groundwater layers, with dramatic fallout on agricultural productivity, and overgrazing may lead soil to compaction with negative effects on the soil’s capability to buffer water.
This session presents contributions ranging from the understanding of the soil hydrological behaviour, including the mass fluxes between surface and groundwater, in arid and water—scarce environments; to the interaction between irrigation, soil hydrology and groundwater; and to the design and management of water harvesting and irrigation systems in arid and semi-arid regions, including oases. Particular attention will be given to the maintenance and improvement of traditional irrigation techniques as well as to precision irrigation techniques, also with local community involvement. Interdisciplinary contributions, which deal with different aspects and functions of the link between social dynamics, soil hydrology, groundwater management and irrigation techniques in arid environments, are encouraged.

This session deals with the use of geophysical methods for the characterisation of subsurface properties, states, and processes in contexts such as hydrology, agriculture, contaminant transport, etc. Geophysical methods potentially provide subsurface data with an unprecedented spatial and a high temporal resolution in a non-invasive manner. However, the interpretation of these measurements is far from straightforward in many contexts and various challenges still remain. Amongst these, the need for improved quantitative use of geophysical measurements in model conceptualisation and parameterisation, and the need to move quantitative hydrogeophysical investigations beyond the column and field scale towards the catchment scale. Therefore, we especially encourage submissions addressing advances in i) the acquisition, inversion and interpretation of geophysical data and other minimally invasive methods in a (contaminant) hydrological context, ii) model-data fusion including new concepts for joint and coupled inversion, and iii) petrophysical understanding linking hydrological and geophysical properties.

Terrestrial ecosystems including forests and grasslands provide critical functions and services such as provision of food, fibre and fuel, water and air purification and climate regulation among others. However, the ability to perform such services is seriously threatened due to global change, e.g. climate modifications and land use intensification. Overall, land degradation affects more than 52 billion hectares of land around the world. This is caused to a large extent by anthropogenic activities such as land abandonment, mining activities, deforestation and inadequate ecosystem management.
Disturbance or insufficient rebuilding of the soil system services can modify the ecosystem functions and services, and, in the absence of appropriate management and restoration, functional landscapes and ecosystem would remain in a degraded state or continue to decline. Therefore, effective ecosystem management as well as restoration and rehabilitation of degraded land is critical to support essential functions and services in terrestrial ecosystems.

In this session, we welcome contributions covering research conducted in this area of research describing experimental, observational, and theoretical studies. Topics of interest are (although not limited to a) management of forest and grassland ecosystems, b) global change effects on ecosystems, c) causes and impacts of ecosystem/land degradation and remedial actions and strategies for restoration at local, regional or global scales

The growing amount of data on chemical composition of soils all over the world shows constantly increasing anthropogenic activity accompanied by emissions of chemical elements and compounds in quantities exceeding natural background levels which leads to contamination of basic foods of plant and animal origin. However, the diversity of pollution sources and their location in different climatic, physiographic and geochemical conditions require not only constant monitoring of the soil condition, but also the development of differentiated approaches to assess and prevent the risk of pollution. The development of technologies for the rehabilitation of soil properties, including its fertility is also a challenge. The problem of soil monitoring and rehabilitation is becoming increasingly topical due to population expansion to abandoned mining areas as well as other industrial areas. We invite researchers to share their ideas and results of studying soil contamination/rehabilitation at various spatial levels - from children's and sports grounds to large cities, abandoned and active areas of mining, agricultural areas, etc.. Studies of the site-specific forms of occurrence, migration and accumulation of rare earth and potentially hazardous elements in soils, from different natural and anthropogenic transformed substrata are particularly welcome. We consider it especially important to evaluate the variation and spatial distribution of natural and man-made associations of macro- and microelements as a key to understanding the dynamics of the existence and sustainability of natural and anthropogenic substances and their spatial structures formed in soils that you need to know to return to safe operation of polluted land.

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The growing amount of data on chemical composition of soils all over the world shows constantly increasing anthropogenic activity accompanied by emissions of chemical elements and compounds in quantities exceeding natural background levels which leads to contamination of basic foods of plant and animal origin. However, the diversity of pollution sources and their location in different climatic, physiographic and geochemical conditions require not only constant monitoring of the soil condition, but also the development of differentiated approaches to assess and prevent the risk of pollution. The development of technologies for the rehabilitation of soil properties, including its fertility is also a challenge. The problem of soil monitoring and rehabilitation is becoming increasingly topical due to population expansion to abandoned mining areas as well as other industrial areas. We invite researchers to share their ideas and results of studying soil contamination/rehabilitation at various spatial levels - from children's and sports grounds to large cities, abandoned and active areas of mining, agricultural areas, etc.. Studies of the site-specific forms of occurrence, migration and accumulation of rare earth and potentially hazardous elements in soils, from different natural and anthropogenic transformed substrata are particularly welcome. We consider it especially important to evaluate the variation and spatial distribution of natural and man-made associations of macro- and microelements as a key to understanding the dynamics of the existence and sustainability of natural and anthropogenic substances and their spatial structures formed in soils that you need to know to return to safe operation of polluted land.

Bioremediation and biomining techniques involve the i) extraction of inorganic pollutants or economically valuable elements from soils or technogenic substrates , ii) stabilization of potentially toxic elements in the root zone of plants as well as iii) the microbial degradation of organic pollutants. Generally these techniques are considered as cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies for the in situ restoration of the health and productive capacity of soils, mitigating environmental impacts of impaired soils, and last but not least, the recovery of raw materials. Optimization and establishment of these technologies requires a sound understanding of soil-associated factors and plant-associated factors as well as root-soil-microbial interactions in the rhizosphere of plants controlling the mobility and availability of the target compounds in soils.

This session aims to bring together contributions of all aspects of biomining and bioremediation research including the effects of rhizosphere processes, soil management and microbial leaching.
This includes, among others:

-advances in the understanding of functions of plant-soil-microbe interactions

-factors influencing the mobility (leaching) of target elements or soil contaminants

-distribution of target elements inside the organisms

-final recovery of metals from accumulator plants or leachates

We welcome presentations of laboratory and field research results as well as theoretical studies. We intend to bring together scientists from multiple disciplines. Young researchers are especially encouraged to submit their contributions. Furthermore, we plan to publish the outcome of this session in a special issue of an internationally indexed journal.

Sorbent materials have various environmental applications, i.e. water filtration, separation, and purification. Rapid progress in nanotechnology and a new focus on biomass-based instead of non-renewable starting materials have produced a wide range of novel engineered sorbents. The development and evaluation of novel sorbents requires a multidisciplihttps://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2020/so1/35078nary approach encompassing environmental, nanotechnology, physical, analytical, and surface chemistry. The necessary evaluations encompass not only the efficiency of these materials to remove contaminants from surface waters and groundwater, industrial wastewater, polluted soils and sediments, etc., but also the potential side-effects of their environmental applications. Contributions examining the use of novel sorbents for environmental remediation are welcome. More specifically the contributions may be focused on:

• biosorbents: characterization; evaluation;
• biochars: process optimization; physically and chemically activated biochars;
• reactive sorbents: development; characterization; evaluation;
• nanotechnology based sorbents: development; characterization; evaluation;
• development of sorbents, reactive sorbents, or catalysts from geomaterials;
• sorbent-based in-situ remediation of contaminated soils, aquifers and sediments: experimental work; field studies;
• ecotoxicity of novel sorbents.

There is no doubt that among many anthropogenic environmental stresses that are threatening the future of life on our planet, plastic pollution is one of the topics on top of the list. Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been an accelerating trend in the research concerning the detection of microplastics and their negative impacts on the aquatic ecosystems and marine environments. However, studies concerning the role of plastics in polluting the terrestrial ecosystems, soils and plants are limited and numerous questions still need to be addressed.
The aim of this session is to bring together contributions on novel measurement techniques or analytical approaches to observe, detect or quantify plastics in soil-plant systems in any observational or process scales. Any studies highlighting how nano and microplastics accumulate or are transported in soil, contaminate groundwater, change chemical properties of the soil, affect soil biota or is adsorbed by plants roots are welcome. Presentations addressing how microplastics alter the rhizosphere condition by affecting the biological, chemical and physical properties of the soil are appreciated. One main purpose of this session is to gather researchers from the related disciplines to exchange experiences and finding innovative solutions for the current unknown problems and highlight the future research needs of the potential impacts of microplastics on soils and plants.

Urban and peri-urban areas comprise a wide variety of soils, ranging from semi natural (e.g., urban forest) to highly disturbed soils (e.g., constructed areas), with great variability in short distances. This spatial variation represents a major challenge to investigate, classify and characterize the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. Soil properties determine their ability to provide ecosystem services, such as food production, water regulation, carbon sequestration and recreation. Increasing human pressure in urban and peri-urban environments is a cause of soil degradation and compromise their ability to provide ecosystem services in quality and quantity, and build resilience to global changes. This session aims to discuss (i) methodologies to assess the spatiotemporal variability of urban and peri-urban soils, including the use of soil quality indices, (ii) soil ecosystem services; (iii) main soil threats leading to soil degradation, such as sealing, compaction, erosion, contamination/pollution and biological decline in soil quality; and (iv) strategies to enhance ecosystem functions and services of urban and peri-urban soils, particularly focused on nature-based solutions. Studies emphasising the role of soil to improve urban sustainable development, namely through the use of information about soil quality to support urban planning strategies and optimizing ecosystem services are very welcome. Discussion to promote a more efficient and sustainable use of soil and improving soil-related decision-making processes at international, national, regional and local levels are encouraged in this session.

Ecosystems, their abiotic and biotic compartments as well as their internal processes and interactions can be interpreted as the result of numerous evolutionary steps during system development. Understanding ecosystem development can be regarded, therefore, as crucial for understanding ecosystem functioning.
Most of these basic ecosystem processes are not directly accessible and several of them become apparent only after disturbance (e.g. drought, heat waves) or anthropogenic system modifications when single ecosystem processes produce distinct signals. Thus, experiments are widely used for elucidating Critical Zone development, function and its links to ecosystem processes. In this part of the session we aim at creating an overview on experimental ecosystem development research infrastructures and model natural systems. Besides insights into flagship sites this session provides interdisciplinary contributions dealing with exemplary concepts of experimental ecosystem infrastructures and landscape observatories in Critical Zone research, concepts for monitoring Critical Zone processes in experimental landscape observatories, results of experiments and monitoring studies, as well as modelling approaches for explaining process linking Critical zone and ecosystem processes in responses to global changes.
The second part of the session focuses on spatial patterns of vegetation, soils and landforms which are recognized as sources of valuable information for inferring the state and function of ecosystems. This part of the session will focus on ecogeomorphological and ecohydrological aspects of landscapes, conservation of soil resources, and the restoration of ecosystem functions. Contributions will deal with theoretical, modelling and empirical studies addressing the organization of vegetation and coevolving soils and landforms, and particularly, the soil erosion-vegetation relationships that rule the formation of landscape-level spatial patterns. In addition, studies describing the implications of these spatial patterns of soils and vegetation for the resilience and stability of ecosystems under the pressure of climate change and/or human disturbances will be presented.
The conveners are happy to announce a solicited talk on "Dynamics and patterns of plant development in restored mining areas - practical examples" given by Carolina Martínez-Ruis from the University Institute of Research in Sustainable Forestry at the University of Valladolid (Spain).

The dynamics of the solid Earth and its surface are strongly affected by their interplays as well as biota and climate. These constant feedback systems operate at a variety of spatial and temporal scales that are regulated in a complex system of interactions. For instance, in the critical zone -the terrestrial surface environment ranging from the lower atmosphere to the solid parent material- interplays not only regulate manifold ecosystems and bio-geochemical cycles, but also shape the Earth’s surface at the interface between atmosphere and lithosphere, where soils develop. At much larger scales, plate tectonics and global geodynamics control the physiography, climate and hydrosphere, which in turn strongly affect the surface feedback processes via tectonic, biological, geochemical and hydrological processes. Ultimately, climate and tectonics are prominent macro-ecological drivers of landscape development. But even though the underlying geology and tectonic processes have long been recognized as driving parameters, this is much less so for biological processes. The driving force of microorganisms, plants and animals on the shape of land surfaces is still poorly understood.
Understanding the links between the solid Earth and the external spheres of the Earth has experienced a recent upswing due to advanced analytical techniques, but also thanks to fostered interactions between researchers from different disciplines. This session aims to bring together geoscientists, soil scientists, climatologists and biologists working at different spatial and temporal scales on the feedback interactions between geology, topography, soils, climate and biosphere at the surface of the Earth. The session covers a multitude of topics from the microbial to the geodynamics time and space scales.

Solicited speakers are:
Carina Hoorn, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Alexia Stokes, French National Institute for Agricultural Research – INRA, France
Veerle Vanacker, University of Louvain, Belgium

As an integral part of terrestrial ecosystems, soils play a crucial role in the provision of numerous ecosystem services. Soil ecosystem services are vital components to all aspects of life and support the production of ecosystem goods and services, such as food and fibre production, water storage and climate and natural hazards regulation, among many others. The provision of soil ecosystem services relies on soil characteristics, processes and functions. Moreover, healthy and diverse soils ensure biodiversity among soil biota (soil biodiversity), which in turn guarantees the provision of soil ecosystem services. Incorrect land uses such as intense land management may critically reduce the ecosystem services provided by soils and result in land degradation through erosion, sealing or pollution processes. Sustainable land management and the conservation and restoration of degraded ecosystems is therefore key to maintain functional soils that can provide multiple ecosystem services.
In this session, we welcome contributions covering inter and transdisciplinary research through observational, theoretical and applied studies, on soil ecosystem services and soil function in the context of a changing global environment. Topics of interest are (although not limited to): 1) Impacts of soil degradation on soil function and ecosystem services, 2) Soil conservation and restoration actions for maintaining ecosystem services (including research, management, education and policy), 3) Linking soil ecosystem services and soil function in the context of the SDGs.

A special issue of the session is planned in the journal "Geography and Sustainability "
(https://www.journals.elsevier.com/geography-and-sustainability)

This session is supported by the project A09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0104 Lithuanian National Ecosystem Services Assessment and Mapping (LINESAM) is funded by the European Social Fund according to the activity “Improvement of researchers” qualification by implementing world-class R&D projects. The session is also supported by "Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program by the China Association for Science and Technology
(2017–2019, awarded to Dr. Yang Yu)".

The changes in mineral and organo-mineral assemblages during pedogenesis are affected by chemical weathering and transformation of primary minerals over a wide range of time scales. The subsequent formation and transformation of secondary minerals are tightly linked to hydrological conditions and biological processes. Changes in mineral types, organo-mineral organisation and reactivities constrain the biogeochemical cycles of major elements (e.g., silicon, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulphur) and trace elements (e.g., iron, manganese, antimony, cadmium, molybdenum, and selenium) which are often intricately coupled and controls the release, transport, and immobilization of nutrients and toxic trace elements, especially in redox-dynamic soil environments. The distribution of elements in soil affects soil quality, biota, ecosystem health, and ultimately, Earth’s climate and life. In this session, we invite field, laboratory, and modelling studies from a molecular-level to ecosystem observations exploring:
(1) the mechanisms and rates of mineral weathering, formation, and transformation at different time scales, as well as the links to biogeochemical element cycling,
(2) the speciation, reactivity, and environmental fate of elements during soil wetting and drying, freezing and thawing, and changing water-flow regimes, and
(3) the impact of mineral weathering and redox oscillations on element turnover, climate, and biota.

The need to predict ecosystem responses to anthropogenic change, including but not limited to changes in climate and increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations, is more pressing than ever. Global change is inherently multi-factorial and as the terrestrial biosphere moves into states without a present climate analogue, mechanistic understanding of ecosystem processes and their linkages with ecosystem function is vital to enable predictive capacity in our forecast tools.

This PICO session aims to bring together scientists interested in advancing our fundamental understanding of vegetation and whole-ecosystem processes. We are interested in contributions focused on advancing process- and hypothesis-driven understanding of plant ecophysiology, biodiversity and ecosystem function. We welcome studies on a range of scales from greenhouse and mesocosm experiments to large field manipulative experiments and process-based modelling. We encourage contributions of novel ideas and hypotheses in particular those from early stage researchers and hope the session can create an environment where such ideas can be discussed freely.

The interactions between plants and the environment play a prominent role in terrestrial fluxes and biochemical cycles, but we still lack a general understanding of how these interactions impact plant growth and plant access to soil resources particularly under deficient conditions. The main challenge arises from the complexity of both soil and plants. To address such a knowledge gap, an improved understanding and predictability of plant-related transfer processes are urgently needed.
Emerging experimental techniques such as non-invasive imaging technique and system modeling tools have deepened our insights into the functioning of water and solute transport processes in the soil-plant system. Quantitative approaches that integrate across disciplines and scales constitute stepping stones to foster our understanding of fundamental biophysical processes at the frontier of soil and plants.
This session targets researchers investigating plant-related resource transfer processes across different scales (from the rhizosphere to the global scale) and welcomes scientists from multiple disciplines ranging from soil to plant sciences. We are specifically inviting contributions of:
- Measuring and modeling of water and solute fluxes across soil-plant-atmosphere continuum at different scales.
- Novel experimental and modeling techniques assessing below-ground plant processes such as root growth, root water, and nutrient uptake, root exudation, microbial interactions, and soil aggregation
- Measuring and modeling of soil-plant hydraulics
- Bridging the knowledge gap between biologically and physically oriented research in soil and plant sciences
- Identification of plant strategies to better access and use resources from soil under abiotic stress
- Mechanistic understanding of drought impact on transpiration and photosynthesis and their predictions by earth system model

Invited speakers:
1) Dr. Borjana Arsova
Theme: "From the root’s point of view: understanding the plant response to beneficial microbes, with primary aim of improved plant nutrient uptake”
2) Prof. Dr. Boris Rewald
Theme: " Root traits as key proxies to unravel plant and ecosystem functioning: entities, trait selection and outlook"

Viticulture is one of the most important agricultural sectors of Europe with an average annual production of 168 million hectoliters (54% of global consumption). The concept of “Terroir” links the quality and typicity of wine to the territory, and, in particular, to specific environmental characteristics that affect the plant response (e.g. climate, geology, pedology). The environmental factors that drive the terroir effect vary in space and time, as well as soil and crop management.
Understanding the spatial variability of some environmental factors (e.g. soil) is very important to manage and preserve terroirs and face the current and future issue of climate change. In this sense, it is important to stress that in the last decade, the study of terroir has shifted from a largely descriptive regional science to a more applied, technical research field, including: sensors for mapping and monitoring environmental variables, remote sensing and drones for crop monitoring, forecast models, use of microelements and isotopes for wine traceability, metagenome approach to study the biogeochemical cycles of nutrients.
Moreover, public awareness for ecosystem functioning has led to more quantitative approaches in evidencing the relations between management and the ecosystem services of vineyard agroecosystems. Agroecology approaches in vineyard, like the use of cover crops, straw mulching, and organic amendments, are developing to improve biodiversity, organic matter, soil water and nutrient retention, preservation from soil erosion.
On those bases, the session will address the several aspects of viticultural terroirs:
1) quantifying and spatial modelling of terroir components that influence plant growth, fruit composition and quality, mostly examining climate-soil-water relationships; 2) terroir concept resilience to climate change; 3) wine traceability and zoning based on microelements and isotopes; 4) interaction between vineyard management practices and effects on soil and water quality as well as biodiversity and related ecosystem services.

China and European Union faces the challenge of increasing yield and the quality of produced food while simultaneously enhance the provision of ecosystems services from agricultural areas, some of them severely degraded. This is a transversal challenge encompassing all kind of agricultural systems which need to optimize the use of soil resources, particularly soil and water, while simultaneously adapt to changing climate and market conditions. Currently there are many initiatives, among them several EU funded projects, related to generate basic and applied science to meet this challenge.
In this frame, this session will try to promote discussion and networking among researchers working or interested in this issue from different background, focusing on recent and past development of SWC, especially related to:
i) Comparison of strategies to optimize soil and water use in different EU and Chinese agricultural systems under different environmental conditions and scales.
ii) Interaction between basic and applied science to deliver viable technological packages for addressing these challenges for stakeholders.
iii) Synergies between digital agriculture and basic and applied research for more sustainable agricultural systems in EU and China.

Soil is the largest carbon (C) reservoir in terrestrial ecosystems with twice the amount of atmospheric C and three times the amount in terrestrial vegetation. Carbon related ecosystem services include retention of water and nutrients, promoting soil fertility and productivity and soil resistance to erosion. In addition, changes in the soil C can have strong implications for greenhouse gas emissions from soil with implications in environmental health.

Drivers controlling C pools and its dynamics are multiple (e.g. land use/vegetation cover, climate, texture and bedrock, topography, soil microbial community, soil erosion rates, soil and other environment management practices, etc. ) and some of them are mutually interacting. Also, rate of net soil C loss can be high in some environments due to both climatic constrains or management. Thus, investigation of C dynamics should be addressed with regards to the climate change and climatic extreme events to provide a better understanding of carbon stabilization processes and thus support decision making in soil management and climate adaptation strategies.

The present session highlights the importance of soil C changes, and the interaction among the mechanisms affecting C concentration and stocks in soil. Discussion about the proxies to measure and model C stocks, with special emphasis to cropping systems and natural/semi-natural areas, is encouraged. These proxies should be approached at varying the availability of soil and environment information, including, e.g., soil texture, rainfall, temperature, bulk density, land use and land management, or proximal and remote sensing properties. Studies presented in this session can aim to a wealth of aims, including soil fertility, provision of ecosystem services, and their changes, and the implication for economy, policy, and decision making.

Types of contribution appreciated include, but are not limited to, definitive and intermediate results; project outcomes; proposal of methods or sampling and modelling strategies, and the assessment of their effectiveness; projection of previous results at the light of climate change and climatic extremes; literature surveys, reviews, and meta-analysis. These works will be evaluated at the light of the organisation of a special issue in an impacted journal

Intensive agricultural practices are worldwide drivers of soil, water and atmosphere pollution. In this optic, there is an urgent need to implement sustainable methodologies which help to preserve these fundamental non-renewable environmental resources.
One of the main issues related to intensive agriculture is the excess use of N and P fertilizers coupled with the low fertilizer efficiency. When their application surpasses the crop uptake, the excess N and P is leached into waterways or, in the specific case of N, volatilized as harmful or greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, during the last decades several organic and inorganic amendments (e.g. zeolites, biochar, manure, etc.) have been recognized as an efficient strategy for soil, water and air preservation. Specifically, the application of different inorganic and organic soil amendments has been found to improve soil quality, soil organic matter, aggregate stability, nutrient retention, plant N use efficiency, influence microbial activity and population as well as soil gaseous emissions. Soil amendments are also effective in improving soil water retention, which can be beneficial when extreme events such as drought occurs. Furthermore, the high immobilization potential of pollutants by these soil amendments make them an attractive tool for the recovery of contaminated areas and disturbed landscapes. With this session we aim to focus on the current research and latest advances on a wide spectrum of soil inorganic and organic amendments in agriculture as well as for the restoration of degraded soils, covering biological, chemico-physical, biochemical and environmental aspects.
Submission of abstracts from PhD students and early career scientists are particularly encouraged.

According to the Global Wildfire Information System, every year approximately 350 million hectares of land are affected by wildfires. This global phenomenon is responsible for substantial environmental, social and economic losses, which together with land abandonment, droughts, absence of appropriate land management and urban development planning, are expected to aggravate land degradation. In addition, wildfires are becoming a persistent threat, since the fire risk is expected to increase in a context of a warmer and drier climate.
This increased land degradation as a consequence of wildfires has also been highlighted in the latest Climate Change and Land, IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. The impacts of wildfires on soils and ecosystems severely affect ecosystem services supply such as raw material and water provisioning, carbon storage, erosion and flood control, and habitat support, which are essential for human life. Therefore, attention of researchers, stakeholders and decision makers worldwide is urgently needed.
The aim of this session is to join researchers that study the effects of wildfires on ecosystems from wildfire prevention to post-fire mitigation. We warmly invite studies that approach:
i. prescribed and/or experimental fires;
ii. fire severity and burn severity;
iii. fire effects on vegetation, soils and water;
iv. post-fire hydrological and erosive response;
v. post-fire management and mitigation;
either by means of laboratory, field experiments, and/or numerical modelling.

Public information:
Short summary and feedback of the session
Our session aimed at bringing together researchers who study the effects of wildfires on ecosystems from wildfire prevention to post-fire mitigation. Overall, all the objectives of the session were addressed, and the main outcomes from this session agree in the need for a multidisciplinary approach to implement adequate pre-and post-fire management. It should be highlighted that many advances are being made:
• at the level of using remote-sense technologies to address wildfire risk and fuel connectivity within rural-urban interfaces;
• in the development of direct and indirect techniques to determine/estimate impacts of fires in soil properties;
• more than in the past, we can now observe more studies addressing post-fire mitigation treatments;
• the same way, several advances were made in modeling post-fire hydrological response and soil erosion processes.

• Efficiency and productivity of water irrigation
• Scale-dependent and driven resilience in irrigated landscapes
• Resilience in coupled natural and human systems where ground and surface water and land are limiting resources for irrigation
• Traditional, novel, and transitional technologies for irrigation management and improvement
• Pros and cons of marginal water use in irrigated agriculture
• Better agronomic and irrigation management practices for soil biodiversity and natural ecosystems improvements and recovery.
• Information technologies , complex system integration and proximal and remote sensing in irrigated agriculture as alternatives to tackle current irrigation problems
• Agro-hydrological models and decision support systems to improve decisions in irrigation management and in safe surface water-groundwater interactions.

Terrestrial (semi-)natural and managed ecosystems like forests, grasslands, croplands and wetlands are important sources and/or sinks for greenhouse gases (GHGs: CO2, CH4, N2O) as well as for other trace gases (VOCs, NH3, NO, HONO, Rn, He, etc.). Soils sustain complex patterns of life and act as biogeochemical reactors. Production and consumption of gases and their transport in the soil result in typical patterns of gas concentrations that play a fundamental role affecting many soil functions, such as root and plant growth, microbial activity, and stabilization of soil organic carbon. Plants can contribute to ecosystem exchange by uptake and transport of soil-produced gases to the atmosphere, in-situ production and consumption of gases in plant tissues, and alternation of carbon- and nitrogen-turn-over in adjacent soil. However, the contribution of these individual processes to the net ecosystem GHGs exchange is still unclear and seems to depend on many aspects as plant/tree species, ecosystem type, soil type and conditions, environmental parameters and seasonal dynamics.
Due to the simultaneous influence of various environmental drivers and in case of managed land also management activities, the flux patterns in soil-plant-atmosphere systems are often complex and difficult to attribute to individual drivers. However, it is clear that Interactions between soil, vegetation and the atmosphere exert a crucial role controlling the global budget of these gases and need to be well understood to make any predictions for future.
The session addresses experimentalists and modellers working on trace gas fluxes and their dynamics, production and consumption processes, transport mechanisms and interactions in terrestrial ecosystems at any relevant scale, and from the full climatic and hydrological ecosystem range. We welcome also contributions presenting methodological aspects, development and application of new devices and methods, and modelling studies that seek to integrate our understanding of trace gas exchange in terrestrial ecosystems.

In many parts of the world, weather represents one of the major uncertainties affecting performance and management of agricultural systems. Due to global climate changes the climatic variability and the occurrence of extreme weather events is likely to increase leading to substantial increase in agricultural risk and destabilisation of farm incomes. This issue is not only important for farm managers but also for policy makers, since income stabilisation in agriculture is frequently considered as a governmental task.

The aim of this session is to discuss the state of the art research in the area of analysis and management of weather-related risks in agriculture. Both structural and non-structural measures can be used to reduce the impact of climate variability including extreme weather on crop production. While the structural measures include strategies such as irrigation, water harvesting, windbreaks etc., the non-structural measures include the use of the medium-range weather forecast and crop insurance.

The topic is at the borderline of different disciplines, in particular agricultural and financial economics, meteorology, modelling and agronomy. Thus, the session offers a platform to exchange ideas and views on weather-related risks across these disciplines with the focus on quantifying the impact of extreme weather on agricultural production including impacts of climate change, analysis of financial instruments that allow reducing or sharing weather-related risks, evaluation of risk management strategies on the farm level, development of the theory of risk management and to exchange practical experiences with the different types of weather insurance.

This session has been promoted by:
• Natural hazard Early career scientists Team (NhET, https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/nh/tag/early-career-scientists/)
• Boosting Agricultural Insurance based on Earth Observation data (BEACON, https://beacon-h2020.com/)
• Research Center for the Management of Agriculutral and Environmental Risks (CEIGRAM, http://www.ceigram.upm.es/ingles/)

Spatial soil information is fundamental for environmental modelling and land use management. Spatial representation (maps) of separate soil attributes (both laterally and vertically) and of soil-landscape processes are needed at a scale appropriate for environmental management. The challenge is to develop explicit, quantitative, and spatially realistic models of the soil-landscape continuum to be used as input in environmental models, such as hydrological, climate or vegetation productivity (crop models) while addressing the uncertainty in the soil layers and its impact in the environmental modelling. This contemporary research would greatly benefit from synergies between pedometrics and spectroscopy/remote sensing scientists. There is the need to create models linking soil properties with ancillary environmental variables, such as proximal and remote sensing data. Modern advances in soil sensing, geospatial technologies, and spatial statistics are enabling exciting opportunities to efficiently create soil maps that are more consistent, detailed, and accurate than previous maps while providing information about the related uncertainty. The pillars of this paradigm are: a) the link between spectroscopy and wet soil laboratory analysis, seeking for the best strategy to evolve soil quality analysis; b) the link between proximal and remote sensing, with soil analysis; c) the link between proximal/remote sensing and pedometrics for extrapolating relationships established at point support to the spatial and temporal extent covered by proximal/remote sensing. Examples of implementation and use of digital soil maps in different disciplines such as agricultural (e.g. crops, food production) and environmental (e.g. element cycles, water, climate) modelling are welcomed. All presentations related to the tools of digital soil mapping, the philosophy and strategies of digital soil mapping at different scales and for different purposes are welcome.

In complex systems, such as terrestrial ecosystems uncertain information (whether in observation, measurement, interpretation or models) is the norm, and this impinges on most knowledge that earth scientists generate. It is important to quantify and account for uncertainty in our models and predictions otherwise results can be misleading. This is particularly important when predictions are to be used in a decision-making process where the end user needs to be able to properly evaluate the risk involved.

Quantitative estimation of uncertainty is a difficult challenge, that continually calls for the development of more refined tools. Many diverse methods have been developed, such as non-linear kriging in spatial prediction, stochastic simulation modelling and other error propagation approaches and even methods including the use of expert elicitation, but many challenges still remain. A second and often overlooked challenge with uncertainty is how to communicate it effectively to the end users such as scientists, engineers, policy makers, regulators and the general public.

In this session, we will examine the state of the art of both uncertainty quantification and communication in earth systems sciences. We shall give attention to three components of the problem: 1) new methods and applications of uncertainty quantification, 2) how to use such information for risk assessment, and 3) how to communicate it to the end-user. Dealing with uncertainty across all these three layers is a truly multidisciplinary task, requiring input from diverse disciplines (such as earth science, statistics, economics and psychology) to ensure that it is successful. The main aim of this session is to connect the three components of the problem, offering multiple perspectives on related methodologies, connecting scientists from different fields dealing with uncertainty and favouring the development of multidisciplinary approaches.

Soils provide many essential functions which are indispensable for terrestrial ecosystems and the health of human societies. Beyond the production of biomass these functions are nutrient cycling, filter and buffer for water, climate regulation and habitat for an overwhelming biodiversity.
In view of an increasing pressure on agricultural soils and the need for sustainable soil management all these functions need to be taken into account, especially in organic farming fields. They emerge from complex interactions between physical, chemical and biological processes in soil. This need to be understood and disentangled to predict soil quality and the impact of agricultural soil management on soil functions by the use of indicators and simulation models.
Various international project consortiums are working on related research questions, such as the Soil Security Programme (SSP), BonaRes or LANDMARK. With this session, we aim to bring together the expertise of those and similar projects to combine the gained knowledge and identify still open research gaps for future work.
We seek contributions which (i) enhance our current process understanding of how soil management practices impact one or more soil functions, (ii) show how to quantify soil functions based on suitable proxies or indicators, (iii) present modelling approaches for simulating one or more soil functions, and (iv) demonstrate how soil functions resist and recover from perturbations. Advanced information technologies in modern decision support systems integrated along with large and complex databases, models, tools, and techniques, to improve the decision-making process in soil quality management are also welcome.

This session has been promoted by:
Sustainable Agro-ecosystems (AGRISOST, https://www.agrisost.org/en/)
International Soil Modeling Consortium (ISMC, https://soil-modeling.org/)

Soil organic matter (SOM) is an ecosystem property that emerges from a suite of complex biological, geochemical, and physical interactions across scales. As the largest pool of actively-cycling terrestrial carbon, understanding how SOM persistence and vulnerability will respond to global change is critical. However, Earth System Models (ESMs) are often unable to capture emergent SOM patterns and feedbacks at across smaller spatial and temporal scales. Identifying, prioritizing, and scaling key driving mechanisms from detailed process models to advance ESMs is crucial, and better empirical constraints on SOM pools and fluxes are urgently needed to advance understanding and provide model benchmarks. Interdisciplinary research and observation networks collecting long-term, geographically-distributed data can help elucidate key mechanisms, and international efforts that synthesize and harmonize these data are needed to inform data-model comparisons.

We invite theoretical and empirical contributions that investigate controls on SOM across scales, from detailed process understanding to emergent landscape-scale dynamics in natural and managed ecosystems. We seek modelling studies that work across scales, data analyses that leverage multi-site networks and/or long-term experiments, or collaborations between empiricists and modelers within and across networks. Studies that use novel tools across scales, from microbial -omics to remote sensing, are also welcome.

This session has been promoted by:
• Sustainable Agro-ecosystems (AGRISOST, https://www.agrisost.org/en/)
• International Soil Modeling Consortium (ISMC, https://soil-modeling.org/)

Geostatistics is commonly applied in the Water, Earth and Environmental sciences to quantify spatial variation, produce interpolated maps with quantified uncertainty and optimize spatial sampling designs. Extensions to the space-time domain are also a topic of current interest. Due to technological advances and abundance of new data sources from remote and proximal sensing and a multitude of environmental sensor networks, big data analysis and data fusion techniques have become a major topic of research. Furthermore, methodological advances, such as hierarchical Bayesian modeling and machine learning, have enriched the modelling approaches typically used in geostatistics.

Earth-science data have spatial and temporal features that contain important information about the underlying processes. The development and application of innovative space-time geostatistical methods helps to better understand and quantify the relationship between the magnitude and the probability of occurrence of these events.

This session aims to provide a platform for geostatisticians, soil scientists, hydrologists, earth and environmental scientists to present and discuss innovative geostatistical methods to study and solve major problems in the Water, Earth and Environmental sciences. In addition to methodological innovations, we also encourage contributions on real-world applications of state-of-the-art geostatistical methods.

Given the broad scope of this session, the topics of interest include the following non-exclusive list of subjects:
1. Advanced parametric and non-parametric spatial estimation and prediction techniques
2. Big spatial data: analysis and visualization
3. Optimisation of spatial sampling frameworks and space-time monitoring designs
4. Algorithms and applications on Earth Observation Systems
5. Data Fusion, mining and information analysis
6. Integration of geostatistics with optimization and machine learning approaches
7. Application of covariance functions and copulas in the identification of spatio-temporal relationships
8. Geostatistical characterization of uncertainties and error propagation
9. Bayesian geostatistical analysis and hierarchical modelling
10. Functional data analysis approaches to geostatistics
11. Geostatistical analysis of spatial compositional data
12. Multiple point geostatistics
13. Upscaling and downscaling techniques
14. Ontological framework for characterizing environmental processes

Modeling soil and vadose zone processes is vital for estimating physical states, parameters and fluxes from the bedrock to the atmosphere. While the media soil, air and water physically affect biogeochemical processes, transport of nutrients and pollutants, and infiltration-runoff generation, the implications on ecosystem functions and services and terrestrial storage capacities are vital to the understanding of global, land use and climate change. Advanced measurement techniques, increased availability of high-frequency models and data, and the need for terrestrial system understanding challenge vadoze zone modeling concepts, budging model parameterizations from static to near dynamic. This session aims to bring together scientists advancing the current status in modelling soil processes from the pore to the catchment and continental scale. We welcome contributions with a specific focus on soil hydrological processes but also those that address the role of soil structure on land surface processes, soil biogeochemical processes and their interactions with hydrology, transport of pollutants, and soil vegetation atmosphere modelling.

The terrestrial vegetation carbon balance is controlled not just by photosynthesis, but by respiration, carbon allocation, turnover (comprising litterfall, background mortality and disturbances) and wider vegetation dynamics. Observed, and likely future, changes in vegetation structure and functioning are the result of interactions of these processes with atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, climate and human activities. The quantification and assessment of such changes has proven extremely challenging because of a lack of observations at large scales and over the long time periods required to evaluate trends.

Thus, our current understanding of the environmental controls on vegetation dynamics and properties, and, in turn, their impact on carbon stocks in biomass and soils, is limited. The behaviour of vegetation models regarding many of the processes mentioned above remains under-constrained at scales from landscape to global. This gives rise to high uncertainty as to whether the terrestrial vegetation will continue to act as a carbon sink under future environmental changes, or whether increases in autotrophic respiration or carbon turnover might counteract this negative feedback to climate change. For instance, accelerated background tree mortality or more frequent and more severe disturbance events (e.g. drought, fire, insect outbreaks) might turn vegetation into carbon sources. Likewise, understanding how these shifts in dynamics will influence forest composition is crucial for long-term carbon cycle projections.

Uncertainties and/or data gaps in large-scale empirical products of vegetation dynamics, carbon fluxes and stocks may be overcome by extensive collections of field data and new satellite retrievals of forest biomass and other vegetation properties. Such novel datasets may be used to evaluate, develop and parametrize global vegetation models and hence to constrain present and future simulations of vegetation dynamics. Where no observations exist, exploratory modelling can investigate realistic responses and identify necessary measurements. We welcome contributions that make use of observational approaches, vegetation models, or model-data integration techniques to advance understanding of the effects of environmental change on vegetation dynamics, tree mortality and carbon stocks and fluxes at local, regional or global scales and/or at long time scales.

Environmental systems often span spatial and temporal scales covering different orders of magnitude. The session is oriented in collecting studies relevant to understand multiscale aspects of these systems and in proposing adequate multi-platform and inter-disciplinary surveillance networks monitoring tools systems. It is especially aimed to emphasize the interaction between environmental processes occurring at different scales. In particular, a special attention is devoted to the studies focused on the development of new techniques and integrated instrumentation for multiscale monitoring high natural risk areas, such as: volcanic, seismic, energy exploitation, slope instability, floods, coastal instability, climate changes and other environmental context.
We expect contributions derived from several disciplines, such as applied geophysics, geology, seismology, geodesy, geochemistry, remote and proximal sensing, volcanology, geotechnical, soil science, marine geology, oceanography, climatology and meteorology. In this context, the contributions in analytical and numerical modeling of geological and environmental processes are also expected.
Finally, we stress that the inter-disciplinary studies that highlight the multiscale properties of natural processes analyzed and monitored by using several methodologies are welcome.

A key goal within geomorphic research is understanding the processes linking topographic form, erosion rates, and sediment production, transport and deposition. Numerical modelling, by allowing the creation of controlled analogues of natural systems, provides exciting opportunities to explore landscape evolution and generate testable predictions.

In this session, we invite contributions that use numerical modelling to investigate landscape evolution in a broad sense, and over a range of spatial and temporal scales. We welcome studies using models to constrain one or more of: erosion rates and processes, sediment production, transport and deposition, and sediment residence times. We also particularly wish to highlight studies that combine numerical modelling with direct Earth surface process monitoring techniques, such as topographic, field, stratigraphic, or geochronological data. Contributions using numerical models to unravel the interaction between environmental variables such as precipitation and lithology are further encouraged. There is no geographical restriction: studies may be focused on mountain environments or sedimentary basins, or they may establish links between the two. Studies beyond planet Earth are welcome too.

The interactions between geo-environmental and anthropic processes are increasing due to the ever-growing population and its related side effects (e.g., urban sprawl, land degradation, natural resource and energy consumption, etc.). Natural hazards, land degradation and environmental pollution are three of the possible “interactions” between geosphere and anthroposphere. In this context, spatial and spatiotemporal data are of crucial importance for the identification, analysis and modelling of the processes of interest in Earth and Soil Sciences. The information content of such geo-environmental data requires advanced mathematical, statistical and geomorphometric methodologies in order to be fully exploited.

The session aims to explore the challenges and potentialities of quantitative spatial data analysis and modelling in the context of Earth and Soil Sciences, with a special focus on geo-environmental challenges. Studies implementing intuitive and applied mathematical/numerical approaches and highlighting their key potentialities and limitations are particularly sought after. A special attention is paid to spatial uncertainty evaluation and its possible reduction, and to alternative techniques of representation of spatial data (e.g., visualization, sonification, haptic devices, etc.).

In the session, two main topics will be covered (although the session is not limited to them!):
1) Analysis of sparse (fragmentary) spatial data for mapping purposes with evaluation of spatial uncertainty: geostatistics, machine learning, statistical learning, etc.
2) Analysis and representation of exhaustive spatial data at different scales and resolutions: geomorphometry, image analysis, machine learning, pattern recognition, etc.

Soils are formed through complex processes often resulting in a highly heterogeneous mixture of organic and mineral phases, whose analysis requires structural insight across several length scales. Therefore, the choice of analysis methods for investigation of soil chemical, biochemical and physical properties play very important role in the progress of soil science. New research approaches, such as “lab on phone” that has appeared in scientific literature during the last few years, and which specifies the use of smartphones as analytical instruments in labs and also for field experiments, could serve as easily available soil analysis method and as means to increase involvement of the society to the soil science research. On the other hand, the unceasing developments in advanced synchrotron based analytical techniques continue to break frontiers in how questions on soil biogeochemistry and structure can be addressed, particularly at micro- and nano-scales.

This session will explore the diverse possibilities offered by various analytical techniques: from advanced synchrotron based ones, to the “lab on phone”, ICP-MS, GC-MS, HPLC-MS, TGA-MS, FTIR, fluorescence and others, in the analysis of soils.

Public information:
New techniques are a prerequisite to widen the scope of knowledge, or to simplify and speed up known procedures

Soil is the key element in the Earth System acting as a control on hydrological, biological, erosional and geochemical cycles. Moreover, the soils are a critical resource for food and fiber production that sustains human societies. Because of the crucial role that soils play in the Earth System, soil conservation is necessary to achieve a sustainable world. This session provides the premier forum for the presentation of new advances and research results in the fields of experimental, theoretical, and applied soil conservation and eco sustainability. The session will bring together leading researchers, engineers and scientists in the domain of interest from around the world. Topics of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:

(1) METHODS
Remote sensing
Lab experiments
Field experiments
Environmental regulation and monitoring
Economic technology and instruments
Modeling and decision support tools

(2) GEOECOLOGY
Soil micromorphology
Hydrology
Surface and subsurface
Geomorphology and spatial
Erosional and depositional processes
Watershed geomorphology

(3) LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION
Soil evolution and weathering
Soils and surface processes
Geomorphic change
Land use impacts on geomorphology
Landscape degradation and restoration
Applied soil science

(4) SUSTAINABILITY
Soil and water conservation
Environmental sustainability
Resource management
Sustainable cities
Health and the Environment
Hazardous substances and detection techniques

Public information:
How to make a live online chat presentation in EGU 2020

Dear authors,
We are starting our first virtual General Assembly, which will be a historical landmark. Nevertheless, most scientists are not accustomed to the live online chat. The following guides may do help to your presentation:
(1) Prepare your presentation materials IN TEXT in advance of the session discussion. Remember please: hardly anyone has time to read the materials connected to your abstract before.
(2) Paste the text materials as soon as your presentation begins, and then wait the questions from the colleagues. The attached figure shows the chat webpage.
(3) Answer the questions in concise sentences. Attention please: you will not have enough time to write a very long discussion online.

Kind regards,

Conveners of SSS11.4 Development of new technologies in soil conservation and eco sustainability, EGU2020

A well-designed experiment is a crucial methodology in Soil Science, Geomorphology and Hydrology.
Depending on the specific research topic, a great variety of tempo-spatial scales is addressed.
From raindrop impact and single particle detachment to the shaping of landscapes: experiments are designed and conducted to illustrate problems, clarify research questions, develop and test hypotheses, generate data and deepen process understanding.
Every step involved in design, construction, conduction, processing and interpretation of experiments and experimental data might be a challenge on itself, and discussions within the community can be a substantial and fruitful component for both, researchers and teachers.
This PICO session offers a forum for experimentalists, teachers, students and enthusiasts.
We invite you to present your work, your questions, your results and your method, to meet, to discuss, to exchange ideas and to consider old and new approaches.
Join the experimentalists!

The MacGyver session focuses on novel sensors made, or data sources unlocked, by scientists. All geoscientists are invited to present
- new sensor systems, using technologies in novel or unintended ways
- new data storage or transmission solutions sending data from the field with LoRa, WIFI, GSM, or any other nifty approach
- started initiatives (e.g., Open-Sensing.org) that facilitate the creation and sharing of novel sensors, data acquisition and transmission systems.

Connected a sensor for iPhone to an Arduino or Raspberri Pi? 3D printed an automated water quality sampler? Or build a Cloud Storage system from Open Source Components? Show it! New methods in hydrology, plant physiology, seismology, remote sensing, ecology, etc. are all welcome. Bring prototypes and demonstrations to make this the most exciting Poster Only (!) session of the General Assembly.

This session is co-sponsered by MOXXI, the working group on novel observational methods of the IAHS.

Human interaction with the environment has gone through several stages of evolution. Being a product of the natural evolution of living organisms in the biosphere, Homo sapiens as a species has evolved in the geochemical conditions of the virgin biosphere. The rapid development of intellectual abilities of this genus allowed, first, to survive in adverse environmental conditions around the whole world, then, to cultivate the land, transform the entire system of biocenoses, and now to create a new habitat for man exclusively. The result was a significant geochemical transformation of the virgin biosphere, but a kind of punishment for the achieved progress was the emergence of a number of endemic diseases of a geochemical nature. Nowadays a variety of anthropogenic sources of pollution and their location in various natural geochemical conditions require not only constant monitoring of the chemical state of soil, water, air and food products, but also the development of spatially differentiated approaches to assessing the risk of provoked diseases. To solve this problem it is necessary concertedly interpreting a geochemical and medical information in order to assess the risks to human health associated with modern natural and anthropogenic geochemical features in urban and rural habitats. During session we propose to discuss:
1) global trends of health transformation in new geochemical environment of modern noosphere;
2) criteria for determining pollution level depending on environmental and geochemical constrains;
3) new approaches to assess the risk of diseases of geochemical nature in different countries;
4) the problem of mapping the risk zones, related to negative medical effects due to deficiency or excess of certain chemical elements or compounds.
Session co-sponsored by the European Association of Geochemistry.

The session aims to bring together experiences on soil education and evidence syntheses in agro-environmental science. Soil is the key element in the Earth System for controlling hydrological, biological, erosional and geochemical cycles. Moreover, the soils are the source of food and fiber services and resources for human societies. Soils provide food but also many other ecosystem services for society, including water regulation, carbon storage, habitat of biodiversity, climate regulation among others. This key role that soils play makes soil conservation necessary to achieve a sustainable world. Soil degradation and sustainable soil use are key threats because agriculture, deforestation, grazing, fire, global change, road construction and mining accelerate soil degradation rates. All these issues are currently addressed in many different institutions and universities all around the world. When teaching, the fundamental purposes of scientists are to impart knowledge, insight, and inspiration.
Through this session we would like to discuss the application of quantitative methodological approaches for retrieving general outcomes from previous studies, including use of grey literature and reports from national and international Governmental institutions, and non-governmental organizations (e.g., United Nation’s FAO, NGOs) discussions of problems and new innovations in evidence synthesis, and experiences of the application of these methods in geosciences. Furthermore, we would like to bring together experiences, methodologies, ideas, approaches from different parts of the world on the teaching of soil science. Session outputs will be very helpful in order to establish future guidelines for soil science transference to society.

The editors of Land Degradation and Development Currently, several aspects of land degradation and resilience are at the centre of hot debates: How much do no-till technologies contribute to sustainable soil management? Can reclaimed land be converted to arable land? Do we have strong evidence of the land restoration potential of regenerative agriculture? Does land degradation lead to large carbon storage in sediment, hence a feedback on global warming? What is the optimal level of soil organic matter? Is biochar addition enhancing or curbing soil erosion? Does the revival of ancient land management techniques induce soil erosion? Can 137Cs efficiently be used to measure soil-loss rates? Researchers will present evidence and defend their opinion concerning either side of these and other ongoing debates. After debating, the authors will be invited to publish their (opinion) papers in a special issue of “Land Degradation and Development”. This approach will direct auditors and readers to evidence that contributes to the debates. The session will provide suggestions on how the research community may assist in resolving such very important questions of land and soil degradation.

Soils are complex, dynamic systems that are essential to support life on earth. Healthy soils provide food security, regulate the climate and play a vital role in controlling the flow of pollutants into the wider environment. Soils also contain a vast reservoir of genetic material in soil microbes, with potential to inspire future technological advances. However, soils are under threat, as harmful management practices and climate change are altering organic matter levels and microbial composition, and increasing salinisation, contamination and erosion rates. Through an array of approaches, soil scientists explore soil processes and systems, and characterise soil communities and resources in order to understand changes in our soils. We aim to celebrate the power of the soil in a wide-ranging session organised by a cohort of early career researchers, containing voices from throughout the soil science community. We believe that soil holds the key to solving some of the global environmental challenges in achieving a sustainable future by 2050. By bringing together a wide variety of interests and approaches in one place, we hope to foster interdisciplinary connections and solutions to challenges in soil science.

Public information:
We would like to invite authors and attendees to a post-session "coffee meeting" for a more general discussion of the fascinating research and topics on display today. The session will take place on Zoom and we will start this at 10:45 Vienna time, but the channel will be open from 10:30. We do hope you will join us and look forward to seeing you there! Zoom details will be release in the live chat.

The critical zone comprises the Earth's permeable near-surface layer from the top of the canopy to the bottom of the groundwater. It is the zone where hydrosphere, atmosphere, pedosphere and geosphere interact with the biosphere. This fragile skin of our planet, which supports the life and survival of humans maintaining food production and drinking water quality, is endangered by threats such as climate change and land use change.
New approaches and innovative modeling strategies are needed to understand these complex interactions between hydrological, biogeochemical cycles and human resilience processes that may govern critical zone system dynamics, including sources, dynamics and chemistry of water, models to quantify external influences like human activities or erosion, weathering rate, water transfer in the frame of global change and biological feedback mechanisms.
This session focuses on the advancing proxies that may address pressing interdisciplinary scientific questions in coupling various disciplines like hydrology, soil science and biogeochemistry that cover single-site investigations, targeted experiments, remote sensing studies, large data compilations and modelling. This will be illustrated in this session through studies regarding the critical zone as a whole or within its different compartments, including the different environmental processes (geological, physical, chemical, and biological), their couplings and reactive transport modeling , and exploring the cities resilience.

A grand challenge facing society in the coming decades is to feed the growing human population in a sustainable and healthy manner. This problem is made more complex by an increasingly globalised food system and its interactions with a changing climate. Agri-food system actors - including policy makers, corporations, farmers, and consumers - must meet this challenge while considering potentially conflicting priorities, such as environmental sustainability (e.g., minimising disturbance to ecosystems via greenhouse gas emissions and the use of water, land, fertilisers and other inputs), economic viability (e.g., revenues for food producers and guaranteed access for consumers), nutritional balance and quality (e.g., addressing overconsumption and undernourishment), and resilience to climate change.
This growing complexity of agri-food systems, which can involve global supply chains and difficult environmental and societal tradeoffs, needs to be better understood.
The type of product (e.g. plant or meat based, fresh or processed), as well as the location and method of production, can play an important role in improving the nutritional quality and environmental sustainability of global food production, to enable healthy and sustainable diets. Quantifying and assessing these multiple outcomes while accounting for the linkages, interconnections, and scales of local and global supply chains will be essential for informing decisions aimed at developing sustainable and resilient agri-food systems.
This session welcomes submissions that quantify and assess a range of outcomes from agri-food systems across multiple spatial and temporal scales, and the trade-offs or synergies between them. The session will include studies providing improved methods for quantifying multiple environmental, economic or social dimensions, studies that incorporate the role of food trade into solution-development, and studies that seek to achieve multiple sustainability goals together.

The world's energy, water, and land systems are in transition and rapidly integrating, driven by forces such as socioeconomic, demographic, climatic, and technological changes as well as policies intended to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other societal priorities. These dynamics weave across spatial scales, connecting global markets and trends to regional and sub-regional economies. At the same time, resources are often locally managed under varying administrative jurisdictions closely tied to inherent characteristics of each commodity such as river basins for water, grid regions for electricity and land-use boundaries for agriculture. Local decisions in turn are critical in deciding the aggregate success and consequences of national and global policies. Thus, there is a growing need to better characterize the energy-water-land nexus to guide robust and consistent decision making across these scales. This session invites abstracts exploring energy-water-land dynamics, trade patterns, policy interventions, infrastructure planning and uncertainty characterization across variable spatial boundaries.

Most of the processes studied by geoscientists are characterized by variations in both space and time. These spatio-temporal phenomena have been traditionally investigated using linear statistical approaches, as in the case of physically-based models and geostatistical models. Additionally, the rising attention toward machine learning, as well as the rapid growth of computational resources, opens new horizons in understanding, modelling and forecasting complex spatio-temporal systems through the use of stochastics non-linear models.
This session aims at exploring the new challenges and opportunities opened by the spread of data-driven statistical learning approaches in Earth and Soil Sciences. We invite cutting-edge contributions related to methods of spatio-temporal geostatistics or data mining on topics that include, but are not limited to:
- advances in spatio-temporal modeling using geostatistics and machine learning;
- uncertainty quantification and representation;
- innovative techniques of knowledge extraction based on clustering, pattern recognition and, more generally, data mining.
The main applications will be closely related to the research in environmental sciences and quantitative geography. A non-complete list of possible applications includes:
- natural and anthropogenic hazards (e.g. floods; landslides; earthquakes; wildfires; soil, water, and air pollution);
- interaction between geosphere and anthroposphere (e.g. land degradation; urban sprawl);
- socio-economic sciences, characterized by the spatial and temporal dimension of the data (e.g. census data; transport; commuter traffic).

The nature of science has changed: it has become more interconnected, collaborative, multidisciplinary, and data intensive. The main aim of this session, now in its third edition, is to create a common space for interdisciplinary scientific discussion where EGU-GA delegates involved in recent and ongoing COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)* Actions can share ideas and present the research activities carried out in their networks. The session represents an invaluable opportunity for different Actions and their members to identify possible synergies and establish new collaborations, find novel links between disciplines, and design innovative research approaches. So far, this session has hosted contributions stemming from 26 Actions, covering different areas of the geosciences (sky, earth and subsurface monitoring, terrestrial life and ecosystems, earth's changing climate and natural hazards, sustainable management of resources and urban development, environmental contaminants, and big data); we are looking forward to receiving new contributions this year.

Same as in past editions, part of this session will be dedicated to presenting and discussing activities carried out in further national and international scientific networks, associations, and collaborative projects.

Moreover, this session is of course open to everyone and abstracts authored by individual scientists or small research teams are most welcome, too. Actually, in 2018 and 2019 we received a very good number of such abstracts, submitted by researchers who wanted to disseminate the results of their studies in front of the multidisciplinary audience that characterizes this session, as an alternative to making a presentation in a thematic session. In fact, contributing to this session can be a productive way to broaden the perspective and find new partners for future interdisciplinary research ventures.

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* COST (www.cost.eu) is funded by the EU and enables researchers to set up their interdisciplinary and international scientific networks (the “Actions”). Academia, industry, public- and private-sector laboratories work together in the Actions, sharing knowledge, leveraging diversity, and pulling resources. Every Action has a main objective, defined goals and deliverables. This session is a follow-up initiative of COST Action TU1208 “Civil engineering applications of Ground Penetrating Radar” (www.gpradar.eu).