Preface

This book has its roots in courses on Micrometeorology by Henk de Bruin and courses on Soil Physics and Agrohydrology by Reinder Feddes and colleagues at Wageningen University and Research Centre. Most universities teach these subjects in separate courses. In 2007, during a BSc-education reprogramming round at Wageningen University, micrometeorology, soil physics and agrohydrology were brought together in the current course ‘Atmosphere-Vegetation-Soil Interactions’. As teachers we had our reservations, but it turned out to work very well.

The interface between atmosphere and land is the location where both domains exchange energy, water and carbon. On the one hand, processes in soil and vegetation influence the development in the atmosphere (e.g., cloud formation). On the other hand, the atmospheric conditions determine to a large extent what happens below the soil surface (e.g., through the extraction of water for transpiration). Many environmental challenges, whether they concern climate change in drought-prone areas, salinization of coastal regions, development and spread of plant pathogens, natural vegetation impoverishment due to deep drainage or low water use efficiency in irrigated agriculture, have their origin in close interactions between atmosphere and land. To understand these processes and solve practical problems, students and professionals should have operational knowledge of transport processes in both domains and be able to understand how the atmosphere affects the land and vice versa.