D'Odorico, Paolo
Primary Appointment
Environmental Sciences
Contact Information
PO Box 400123
Clark Hall 207
Telephone: 434 924 7241
Fax: 434-982-2137
Email: paolo@virginia.edu
Research Disciplines
Environmental Sciences
Research Interests
Ecohydrology, surface hydrology, stochastic modelling of hydrologic processes, soil moisture dynamics, soil erosion.
Research Description
My research focuses on the understanding and modeling of the hydrological processes that determine the temporal and spatial dynamics of soil moisture at different scales. In particular I am presently studying how these dynamics affect the soil nutrient budget, the occurrence of water stress in vegetation, the coupling between the land surface and the overlying atmosphere, the soil susceptibility to wind erosion and the stability of hillslopes and colluvial deposits.
In these analyzes I use a process-based, probabilistic approach to develop simple mechanistic models, which are then tested against data. These models offer a quantitative framework to study non-linearity and feedbacks embedded in the dynamics. They also show to which extent and in which conditions hydrologic processes have an impact on soils, vegetation, and near-surface atmosphere.
This research offers the possibility to establish a number of interactions and collaborations with students and colleagues working in ecology, land surface processes, and climatology.