Climate change poses a threat to the functioning of ecosystems in both natural and man-made 
landscapes. In the proposed project, we intend to study hydraulic and thermal properties of both 
natural and urban soil surfaces. Surface soil properties are often inappropriately determined 
using routine methods of soil sampling and laboratory analysis - neglecting the complex nature 
of the ground-atmosphere interface. The proposed research will try to bridge this 
methodological gap by combining high-resolution observations in situ with physically based 
direct and inverse modeling of near-surface fluxes of water and energy. The improved
characterization of surface properties will facilitate more reliable predictions of the landscape 
responses to extreme events (intense rainfalls, snowmelt episodes and droughts).