Terra Incognita: The importance of soils in the Earth system

Soil is one of the most important resources for humankind. It provides food, feed, and biomass, and plays an important role in regulating our climate. The importance of soil will only increase in the coming years because of the need to sustain an ever increasing world population. However, the resource soil is under pressure due to non-sustainable use and global change.

In a festive lecture at the annual reception of the Forschunszentrum Jülich, Prof. Harry Vereecken presented an overview of the activities of the IBG 3 Agrosphere related to the soil system with a particular focus on biogeochemical cycles, novel measurement methods to characterize the subsurface, and high-performance computing for improved predictions of water, energy, and matter fluxes from the single plant to the continental scale.

If you missed the lecture, it can be viewed again here.