Ecosystem functioning of natural as well as man-made landscapes is vulnerable to changing
climate conditions. 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).