AGU Ecohydrology
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog: Adding our Leaves
  • Events
  • Committee
  • Career Resources
  • Links
  • Ecohydrologist Directory
  • Contact

MEET A LEAF: FRANCINA DOMINGUEZ

6/18/2018

0 Comments

 
Francina Dominguez is a Hydroclimatologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois.
Picture
What does ecohydrology mean to you?
As a hydroclimatologist, I see ecohydrology through the lens of land-atmosphere interactions. My focus is on understanding how ecosystems mediate the transfer of water/energy/momentum from the surface and subsurface to the overlying atmosphere. I mainly see these interactions at the very large scales (regional to continental).

What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in?
My undergraduate and graduate degrees are in Civil and Environmental Engineering. I did a Postdoc in Hydrology and have been faculty in Atmospheric Sciences since 2009.

How did you arrive at working in/thinking about ecohydrology?
My PhD thesis focused on precipitation recycling, or the contribution of evapotranspiration within a region to its own precipitation. Ecosystems play a critical role in this, because through transpiration plants affect the time and spatial scale of precipitation recycling. I have been thinking of the role of ecosystems on the overlying atmosphere ever since. Now I have broadened my focus, and in addition to precipitation recycling I try to understand how ecosystem variability affects the overlying atmosphere by changing the thermodynamics and dynamics of the atmospheric system - from the local to the global scale.

What do you see as an important emerging area of ecohydrology?
The impacts of land-use and land-cover change on the hydroclimate of a region (from the subsurface to the atmosphere). I know this is really not a new area, but I don’t think we have really answered this question.

Do you have a favorite ecohydrology paper?  Describe/explain.
My new favorite paper is: “Hydrologic regulation of plant rooting depth” in PNAS by Fan et al. 2017. This paper lays out a new paradigm for plant rooting depth based on soil moisture availability from both precipitation and groundwater. It provides a global map of plant rooting depth, based on both observations and numerical modeling. I am a big fan of the work of this group!

What do you do for fun (apart from ecohydrology)?
I dance! I used to be a contemporary dancer. Now, I don’t belong to a dance group, but I dance with my two girls all the time. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    AGU Ecohydro TC

    Archives

    July 2025
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All
    Academia
    Alt Academia

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.