A lysimeter is going on a big journey

UGT GmbH is a part of an international working team that consisted of scientists from Kostanay State Pedagogical Institute, Altai State University, “AMAZONE” Kasachstan, Leibniz University Hannover, University of Halle, UFZ Halle, in the project REKKS.

The task of the UGT was the development and fabrication of a weighable lysimeter station that operates during the whole year. Plant-accessible water is the limiting factor for agricultural yields in the steppe zone of Kazakhstan, especially in the light of the ongoing climate change with an increase in the mean annual temperatures along with more infrequent precipitation events in the study area.

A novel weighable lysimeter station consisting of two gravitation lysimeters and allowing long-term online operation will be developed and implemented, and quantitative and qualitative parameters of the soil water budget will be recorded for different soil management systems. High-resolution measurements concern for example the determination of the actual evaporation. Being equipped with a multitude of atmosphere and soil, the lysimeter station will also serve as a basis for the recording climate change effects in the region of the Kazakh dry steppes and compared with the development in the Kulunda steppe in southwest Siberia, where another lysimeter station is running.
 
“Innovations for Sustainable Use of Agricultural Resources and Climate-adaption in the Arid Steppes of Kazakhstan and Southwestern Siberia (ReKKS)”
The project is funded by: