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Environmental Physics and Irrigation |
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Head:
Daniel (Dani) Kurtzman, Ph.D.
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Aims:
Improving our understanding, knowledge and ability to quantitatively describe processes in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum in order to advance agriculture and sustain the quality of soil and water resources.
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Objectives: 1. To identify knowledge gaps, to support R&D initiatives, to advance new research directions (basic and applied), to improve our abilities to measure and simulate in the soil-water-plant atmosphere domain, in order to improve water use efficiency, to increase yields, and to constrain pollution and damage to water and soil resources and services. 2. To contribute and strengthen the status of the Institute and the ARO in the research forefront in Israel and the world by publishing the results of research activities in leading journals, establish cooperation with other research centers and organizations, participate in conferences and train students. 3. To create basic and applied knowledge in topics related to the Soil-Water-Plant-Atmosphere continuum (SWPAC) in order to: a. Improve water and nutrient use efficiency in Agriculture and increase profitability of agriculture b. To develop soil and water resources and improve their utilization c. To minimize the impact on environmental quality and contribute to revitalization of polluted natural resources. Activities: Long term interdisciplinary research on: - Models for simulating the soil-water-plant-atmosphere continuum
- Methods for improving water use efficiency and irrigation control
- Methods for real-time monitoring of soil and crop water status at the plant (precision agriculture) and field level.
Research students and Post-docs (2020) Department member in Gilat Research Center: Alon Ben-Gal, Ph.D |
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Staff |
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Researchers |
Name (Surname, First name) |
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Research Interests / Job description |
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Bernstein Nirit, Prof. |
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Medical Cannabis
Plant stress physiology
Plant nutrition
Water Footprint of Israel's Agriculture
Irrigation with marginal water |
Friedman Shmulik, Ph.D. |
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Drip Irrigation, Irrigation with saline and recycled water
Methods of soil oxygenation
Soil-bacteria interactions, Bioclogging
Transport and retention properties of soils and granular/porous media
Electrical conductivity and permittivity of soils and rocks
Electromagnetic methods for measuring soil water content and salinity
Interactions between charged particles and ions
Flow and transport processes of water, solutes, gas molecules and colloidal particles in soils
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Hochberg Uri, Ph.D. |
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Water stress physiology:
Plant water relations
Plant hydraulics
Stomatal regulation
Stress monitoring
Irrigation scheduling in vineyards |
Kamai Tamir, Ph.D. |
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Hydrology, Soil Physics |
Kurtzman Daniel (Dani), Ph.D. |
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Influence of agricultural practices on water resources
Groundwater and vadose zone hydrology – field tests, data analysis and modeling
Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR)
Water Resources of Israel
Flow and transport in fractured and porous media
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Moreno Ziv, Ph.D. |
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Flow and transport at heterogeneous porous media
Hydro-geophysics
Stochastic hydrology
Geo-statistics
Multiphase flow |
Rozenstein Offer, Ph.D. |
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Mathematical and Statistical Models in Irrigation.
Remote Sensing and Image Processing (sensors, algorithms, applications)
Applied Spectroscopy
Spatial Analysis
Temporal Analysis
Deserts
Biological Soil Crusts |
Strobach Ehud, Ph.D. |
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Engineers/Technicians |
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Scholars |
Name (Surname, First name) |
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Research Interests / Job description |
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Retiree |
Name (Surname, First name) |
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Research Interests / Job description |
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Cohen Shabtai, Ph.D. |
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Micro-meteorology around vegetation and soil; Canopy structure of agricultural plants; Radiation distribution in vegetation and in agricultural structures; Global dimming (contemporary reductions in global radiation); Environmental physiology of plants, including leaf resistance behavior and modeling; Sap flow measurement; Hydraulic architecture of plants and rootstocks; Energy balance of plants, crops, and lakes; Evapo-transpiration modeling and irrigation management; Urban Climate and thermal comfort |
Cohen Yehezkel, Ph.D. |
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Emeritus |
Communar Gregory, Ph.D. |
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Trickle Irrigation, Irrigation with saline and recycled water
Methods of soil oxygenation
Flow and transport processes of water, solutes, gas molecules and colloidal particles in soils
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Fuchs Marcel, Ph.D. |
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Greenhouse climate control
Micro-meteorology around vegetation and soil
Soil heat flow
Environmental physiology of plants
Energy balance of plants
Radiometric properties of vegetation
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Hadas Amos, Ph.D. |
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Emeritus,
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Laufer Asher, Mr. |
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Meiri Avraham, Ph.D. |
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Emeritus |
Nadler Arie, Ph.D. |
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1. In-situ monitoring of water content and salinity down the soil profile, mainly by dielectric and conductivity methods.
2. Developing instrumentation and software for the above targets and interpreting into actual values.
3. Developing (with others) tools for scheduling optimal/deficient irrigation.
4. Monitoring trees water status by dielectric measurements in stems for the determination of irrigation timing and amounts.
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Russo David, Ph.D. |
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(i) water flow and chemical transport in heterogeneous porous formations; (ii) Estimation of soil hydraulic properties; (iii) Characterization of the spatial heterogeneity of soil properties relevant to flow and transport; (iv) Modeling of flow and transport at the field scale; (v) Contamination of soils and groundwater; and (vi) Modeling of flow, transport and crop production and its application to management of saline and sodic soils. |
Tanny Josef, Ph.D. |
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Agricultural meteorology; Crop water consumption; Microclimate in agricultural screenhouses and greenhouses; Properties of wind above and inside vegetated canopies; Eddy covariance and other turbulent transport measurements of surface fluxes; Evaporation processes; Natural ventilation of buildings; Double-diffusive convection; Free convection flows; Turbulent flows; Experimental methods in fluid mechanics, meteorology and heat transfer. |
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