
Ross MorrisonUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology | CEH · UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Wallingford
Ross Morrison
Doctor of Philosophy
About
49
Publications
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Introduction
My research focuses on biophysical and biogeochemical processes and ecosystem functioning, mostly using eddy covariance. I'm currently measuring greenhouse gas and energy fluxes at over fifty sites in the UK and Falkland Islands, at a range of peatlands and other ecosystems.
Publications
Publications (49)
Cultivation of maize for biomethane production has expanded rapidly, including on drained peat soils. The resulting soil CO2 emissions at the point of feedstock production are largely overlooked when assessing biogas climate mitigation potential. On the basis of field-scale flux measurements, we calculate that soil CO2 emissions from biomethane fee...
The use of livestock waste as an organic fertiliser releases significant greenhouse gas emissions, exacerbating climate change. Innovative fertiliser management practices, such as treating slurry with plasma induction, have the potential to reduce losses of carbon and nitrogen to the environment. The existing research on the effectiveness of plasma...
The area of land dedicated to growing maize for bioenergy in the United Kingdom is rapidly expanding. To understand how maize production influences soil carbon (C) dynamics, and whether this is influenced by soil type, we measured net ecosystem exchange (NEE) using the eddy covariance technique over the 2021 growing season. We combined the NEE data...
Cultivation of maize for biomethane production has expanded rapidly, including on drained peat soils. The resulting soil CO2 emissions at the point of feedstock production are largely overlooked when assessing biogas climate mitigation potential. Based on field-scale flux measurements, we calculate that soil CO2 emissions from biomethane feedstock...
Accurately monitoring crop water use and crop photosynthesis is essential for predicting crop yield and optimising management strategies, in order to sustainably enhance crop productivity and maintain future food security. The synthesis of thermal and multi-spectral remote sensing dataset is a promising approach for improving estimates of crop wate...
The synergy of thermal and multi-spectral remote sensing datasets can enable better predictions of crop water-use and productivity that feed into sustainably enhancing crop yields. This study investigates data sampled from ground-based, drone and satellite sensors to model evapotranspiration (ET) and crop productivity in wheat (Triticum aestivum) a...
Perennial bioenergy crops are a key tool in decarbonizing global energy systems, but to ensure the efficient use of land resources, it is essential that yields and crop longevity are maximized. Remedial shallow surface tillage is being explored in commercial Miscanthus plantations as an approach to reinvigorate older crops and to rectify poor estab...
Agricultural peatlands are the most productive soils in the UK for the cultivation of many food crops. Historical drainage of peat for agriculture (i.e., cropland and managed grassland), without consideration of other associated environmental and climatic impacts, has resulted in a significant emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). There is a need to...
The Peatland Code and the peatland elements of UK's national GHG emissions inventory both seek to determine the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals that occur as a result of land-use and land-use change. The approaches are conceptually similar, multiplying estimated areas of peatland in any given condition category by an associated set of E...
One of the major undetermined problems in evaporation (ET) retrieval using thermal infrared remote sensing is the lack of a physically based ground heat flux (G) model and its integration within the surface energy balance (SEB) equation. Here, we present a novel approach based on coupling a thermal inertia (TI)-based mechanistic G model with an ana...
The net impact of greenhouse gas emissions from degraded peatland environments on national Inventories and subsequent mitigation of such emissions has only been seriously considered within the last decade. Data on greenhouse gas emissions from special cases of peatland degradation, such as eroding peatlands, are particularly scarce. Here, we report...
Northern India is a densely populated subtropical region with heavy aerosol loading (mean aerosol optical depth or AOD is ∼0.7), frequent heat waves, and strong atmosphere–biosphere coupling, making it ideal for studying the impacts of aerosols and the temperature variation in latent heat flux (LH) and evaporative fraction (EF). Here, using in situ...
Drained, lowland agricultural peatlands are greenhouse gas (GHG) emission hotspots and a large but vulnerable store of irrecoverable carbon. They exhibit soil loss rates of ~2.0 cm yr‐1 and are estimated to account for 32% of global cropland emissions whilst producing only 1.1% of crop kilocalories. Carbon dioxide emissions account for >80% of thei...
The major undetermined problem in evaporation (ET) retrieval using thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing is the lack of a physically based ground heat flux (G) model and its amalgamation with surface energy balance (SEB) model. Here, we present a novel approach based on coupling a thermal inertia (TI)-based mechanistic G model with an analytical SE...
Whilst all ecosystems must obey the second law of thermodynamics, these physical bounds and controls on ecosystem evolution and development are largely ignored across the ecohydrological literature. To unravel the importance of these underlying restraints on ecosystem form and function, and their power to inform our scientific understanding, we hav...
The net impact of greenhouse gas emissions from degraded peatland environments on national Inventories and subsequent mitigation of such emissions has only been seriously considered within the last decade. Data on greenhouse gas emissions from special cases of peatland degradation, such as eroding peatlands, are particularly scarce. Here, we report...
North India is a densely populated subtropical region with heavy aerosol loading, frequent heatwaves and strong atmosphere-biosphere coupling, making it ideal for studying the impacts of aerosols and temperature variation on latent heat flux (LH) and evaporative fraction (EF). Here, using in situ observations during the onset of the summer monsoon...
Global peatlands store more carbon than is naturally present in the atmosphere1,2. However, many peatlands are under pressure from drainage-based agriculture, plantation development and fire, with the equivalent of around 3% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gases emitted from drained peatland3–5. Efforts to curb such emissions are intensifying throu...
The COSMOS-UK observation network has been providing field-scale soil moisture and hydrometeorological measurements across the UK since 2013. At the time of publication a total of 51 COSMOS-UK sites have been established, each delivering high-temporal resolution data in near-real time. Each site utilizes a cosmic-ray neutron sensor, which counts ep...
The 2018 drought and heatwave over northern Europe were exceptional, with unprecedented forest fires in Sweden, searing heat in Germany and water restrictions in England. Monthly, daily, and hourly data from ERA5, verified with in situ soil water content and surface flux measurements, are examined to investigate the subseasonal‐to‐seasonal progress...
Pedotransfer functions are used to relate gridded databases of soil texture information to the soil hydraulic and thermal parameters of land surface models. The parameters within these pedotransfer functions are uncertain and calibrated through analyses of point soil samples. How these calibrations relate to the soil parameters at the spatial scale...
Pedotransfer functions are used to relate gridded databases of soil texture information to the soil hydraulic and thermal parameters of land surface models. The parameters within these pedotransfer functions are uncertain and calibrated through analyses of point soil samples. How these calibrations relate to the soil parameters at the spatial scale...
This study presents an analysis of daily field-scale soil-moisture (SM) variations, measured using the COsmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System (COSMOS), over a tropical monsoon site (IITM, Pune) in India, for the period 2017-2020. Being located in the core zone of the Indian summer monsoon, the daily field-scale SM observations at COSMOS-IITM pro...
Availability of global satellite based Soil Moisture (SM) data has promoted the emergence of many applications in climate studies, agricultural water resource management and hydrology. In this context, validation of the global data set is of substance. Remote sensing measurements which are representative of an area covering 100 m2 to tens of km2 ra...
This study presents an analysis of daily field-scale soil-moisture (SM) variations, measured using the COsmic-ray
Soil Moisture Observing System (COSMOS), over a tropical monsoon site (IITM, Pune) in India, for the period
2017–2020. Being located in the core zone of the Indian summer monsoon, the daily field-scale SM observations
at COSMOS-IITM pro...
The COSMOS-UK observation network has been providing field scale soil moisture and hydrometeorological measurements across the UK since 2013. At the time of publication a total of 51 COSMOS-UK sites have been established, each delivering high temporal resolution data in near-real time. Each site utilises a cosmic-ray neutron sensor, which counts fa...
The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) was launched to the International Space Station on 29 June 2018 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary science focus of ECOSTRESS is centered on evapotranspiration (ET), which is produced as Level‐3 (L3) latent heat flux (LE) data p...
Under the INCOMPASS project, state of the art eddy‐covariance based surface flux measurement systems were installed at eight locations across India. These sites cover different climatic conditions, land use and land cover, and water management practices. Here we present the initial analysis of the measurements taken at seven sites mainly focusing o...
The INCOMPASS field campaign combines airborne and ground measurements of the 2016 Indian monsoon, towards the ultimate goal of better predicting monsoon rainfall. The monsoon supplies the majority of water in South Asia, but forecasting from days to the season ahead is limited by large, rapidly developing errors in model parametrizations. The lack...
Miscanthus x giganteus's efficacy as an energy crop relies on maintaining low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As demand for Miscanthus is expected to rise to meet bioenergy targets, fertilisers and composts may be employed to increase yields, but will also increase GHG emissions. Manipulation experiments are vital to investigate the consequences of...
The INCOMPASS field campaign combines airborne and ground measurements of the 2016 Indian monsoon, towards the ultimate goal of better predicting monsoon rainfall. The monsoon supplies the majority of water in South Asia, but forecasting from days to the season ahead is limited by large, rapidly developing errors in model parametrizations. The lack...
This study uses one year of eddy covariance flux observations to investigate seasonal variations in evapotranspiration and surface energy budget closure at a tropical semi-deciduous forest located in north east India. The annual cycle is divided into four seasons, namely: pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter. The highest energy balance cl...
Energy derived from second generation perennial energy crops is projected to play an increasingly important role in the decarbonisation of the energy sector. Such energy crops are expected to deliver net greenhouse gas emissions reductions through fossil fuel displacement and have potential for increasing soil carbon (C) storage. Despite this, few...
We use eddy-covariance measurements over a semi-natural grassland in the central Indo-Gangetic Basin to investigate biases in energy fluxes simulated by the Noah land-surface model for two monsoon onset periods: one with rain (2016) and one completely dry (2017). In the preliminary run with default parameters, the offline Noah LSM overestimates the...
Observations from the Cloud-Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment-Integrated Ground Observation Campaign (CAIPEEX-IGOC) provide a rare opportunity to investigate nocturnal atmospheric surface-layer processes and surface-layer turbulent characteristics associated with the low-level jet (LLJ). Here, an observational case study...
On a global scale, the release of greenhouse gases (GHG) from peatland drainage and cultivation are believed to account for ∼5% of estimated anthropogenic GHG emissions. Drainage generally leads to peat subsidence and extensive soil loss, resulting in a diminishing store of soil carbon (C). This is a challenge for maintaining drainage-based agricul...
The first International Peat Congress (IPC) held in the tropics - in Kuching (Malaysia) - brought together over 1000 international peatland scientists and industrial partners from across the world (“International Peat Congress with over 1000 participants!,” 2016). The congress covered all aspects of peatland ecosystems and their management, with a...
The scale difference between point in situ soil moisture measurements and low resolution satellite products limits the quality of any validation efforts in heterogeneous regions. Cosmic Ray Neutron Probes (CRNP) could be an option to fill the scale gap between both systems, as they provide area-average soil moisture within a 150-250 m radius footpr...
The first International Peat Congress (IPC) held in the tropics - in Kuching (Malaysia) - brought together over 1000 international peatland scientists and industrial partners from across the world ("International Peat Congress with over 1000 participants!," 2016). The congress covered all aspects of peatland ecosystems and their management, with a...
National governments and international organisations perceive bioenergy, from crops such as Miscanthus, to have an important role in mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and combating climate change. In this research we address three objectives aimed at reducing uncertainty regarding the climate change mitigation potential of commercial Miscan...
Cosmic-ray soil moisture sensors have the advantage of a large measurement footprint (approximately 700m in diameter) and are able to operate continuously to provide area-averaged near-surface (top 10-20cm) volumetric soil moisture content at the field scale. This paper presents the application of this technique at four sites in southern England ov...
A major part of international agreements on combating climate change is the conversion from a fossil fuel economy to low carbon economy. Bioenergy crops have been proposed as a way to improve energy security while reducing CO2 emissions to help mitigate the effects of climate change. However, the effects of land use change from a traditional land u...
This paper evaluates the suitability of the ECOSSE model to estimate soil greenhouse gas fluxes from short rotation coppice willow (SRC-Willow), short rotation forestry (SRF-Scots Pine) and Miscanthus after land-use change from conventional systems (grassland and arable). We simulate heterotrophic respiration (Rh), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (...