Environmental Physics and Irrigation

Our department includes (July 2024) 11 independent research groups of various sizes (1.5 – 8 persons including a researcher , technician(s), MSc., Ph.D students, post docs). 8 groups are in the main Volcani campus, 2 at the southern station (Gilat) and 1 at the northern station (Neve Yaar). Our researchers are experts in the following disciplines: Soil Physics, Agrometeorology (and climate), Plant Physiology, Subsurface Hydrology and Remote Sensing. If you are into agricultural-environmental quantitative research contact us, we may have opportunities.

The following is only some of the ongoing research activities (July 2024) in the department (researcher):

• Mapping subsurface water and solute dynamics with non-invasive geo-electrical measurements (Ziv Moreno)
• Modeling flow and transport at porous media with physically based deep learning techniques (Ziv Moreno)
• Data-driven farming to support precision management of irrigation, fertilization, and pruning (Offer Rozenstein)
• Assimilating earth observation data into mechanistic crop yield prediction models (Offer Rozenstein).
• Coupled air-water flow and transport of solutes and gases through porous media (Ilan Ben-Noah)
• Design and development of systems and methods for the remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater (Ilan Ben-Noah)
• Mechanistic model-based economically-coupled decision making tools for irrigation planning (Alon Ben Gal)
• Precision irrigation of field and fruit tree crops considering field-scale spatial variability (Alon Ben Gal)
• Comparing groundwater contamination under effluents vs. fresh water irrigation (Daniel Kurtzman)
• Modeling and tracer-testing in a soil-aquifer-treatment system (Daniel Kurtzman)
• Design and scheduling of drip and sprinkler irrigation (Shmulik Friedman)
• Supplemental irrigation over shallow groundwater (Shmulik Friedman)
• Developing seasonal prediction system for wheat yield in Israel (Ehud Udi Strobach)
• Investigating the role of air-sea interactions in regulating regional climate conditions (Ehud Udi Strobach)

Our general goal is 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.