Courses

Overview

Time and place: Will be announced on Stud.IP

Course of study: Bachelor of Environmental Natural Sciences

Module: PHY-IGÖ-03, Pedosphäre 1 – Soil Science Fundamentals

Teacher: PD Dr. Axel Don

Volume: 4 GT

Prüfungsleistung: Report

Qualification Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Scientifically address and document soil profiles in the field using common tools.
• Apply their knowledge regarding soil assessment and practical issues related to soil and water protection.

Content

Approach to soil profile description. Familiarization with important natural spatial units and soil types in the Braunschweig area. We will meet at the specified dates in the parking lot in front of the institute, and return is expected around 5:00 PM. Please remember to bring food, sturdy footwear, and weather-appropriate clothing.

Overview

Course of study: Master of Environmental Natural Sciences

Module: GEA-STD2-13, Environmental Monitoring: Water and substance balance assessment

Teacher: Dr. Sascha Iden, Jannis Bosse

Time and place: Will be announced on Stud.IP

Volume: 5 GT

Examination performance: Report

Qualification Objectives

Students will be able to independently design field measurement campaigns to capture soil water balance and substance transport in the unsaturated zone, utilize appropriate measurement instruments, capture and present their results, evaluate them for data plausibility, and analyze them using numerical simulation.

Content

The module "Environmental Monitoring: Water and Substance Balance Assessment" consists of a field practical and a seminar/exercise. The event is part of the specializations "Environmental Fate" and "Soil and Land Use Management" in the Master's program in Environmental Sciences. The event is open to students of the Master's program in Environmental Engineering with appropriate background (see below).

The core of the module is the field practical "Monitoring of Water and Substance Transport in the Vadose Zone," with a slightly changing focus each year. Students will be empowered to independently design field measurement campaigns to capture soil water balance and substance transport in the unsaturated zone, utilize appropriate measurement instruments, capture and present their results, evaluate them for data plausibility, and analyze them using numerical simulation. In addition to field data collection, the theoretical part covers the fundamentals of capturing and evaluating water balance components.

Please register for the event in Stud.IP. The seminar "Measurement Technology and Monitoring" takes place in the subsequent winter semester. Participants of the event can only register for the "Field Practical." The number of participants is limited to 12.

Übersicht

Course of study: Master of Environmental Natural Sciences

Module: GEA-STD2-11, Environmental Fate: Inverse Modellierung

Teacher: Dr. Sascha Iden

Time and place: Mi 09:45 – 13:00 Uhr, LK19c.4

Volume: 4 SWS

Examination performance: Oral Examination

Qualification Objectives

• Students will be able to independently apply methods of linear and nonlinear regression to estimate parameters of water and substance transport using a computer algebra system.
• They will be familiar with the main procedures of iterative minimization and capable of utilizing them, considering their advantages and disadvantages, to solve practical problems.
• They will be able to formulate and solve inverse problems for any problem statement and model types (linear and nonlinear compartment models, transport models in the form of partial differential equations).
• They can quantify, represent, and statistically interpret uncertainties of model parameters and model predictions in the form of confidence and prediction intervals.
• They will be capable of planning experiments to investigate substance behavior in the environment and optimizing them in terms of their information content.
• They can independently present, explain, and interpret the results of conducted projects.

Contents

• Linear and nonlinear regression in matrix notation
• Residual analysis, goodness-of-fit measures, and model selection
• Calculation of confidence and prediction intervals
• Collinearity analysis and parameter correlation
• Weighting of data points with different error variance
• Nonlinear minimization in one and multiple dimensions
• Identifiability, stability, and uniqueness of inverse problems
• Optimization of experimental designs
• Application of the learned methods to the following problems: determination of sorption isotherms, degradation parameters, and sorption kinetics; estimation of soil hydraulic properties; estimation of transport parameters from transport experiments in laboratory and field conditions

Materials and Software Used

• Python: Participants will develop their own scripts to solve given problems using NumPy and SciPy.

Time and place: Will be announced on Stud.IP

Qualification Objectives

During the field exercise "Forest Site Assessment," relationships between site quality and forest management are established in the vicinity of Braunschweig on various soil-forming substrates or soils. Students are familiar with characteristic indicator species of dominant forest communities in Central Europe and can assess site potential in terms of water balance and nutrient supply from ecological-economic perspectives.

Content

In the context of two to three full-day excursions, the content of the lecture "Forest Management in Central Europe" is deepened through practical exercises. Various stands are economically and ecologically classified through vegetation surveys and description of soil profiles. Building on this, various development possibilities are discussed, taking into account climate change.

Instructor

The event is offered by Dr. Marc Overbeck from the Lower Saxony Forest Planning Office. Dr. Overbeck heads the Department III for Forest GIS and Site Mapping there.

When und Where: Thu 13:45 - 14:45, LK 19c.5

Qualification Objectives

Knowledge about the effects of soil management on the environment is conveyed. The focus is on material flows between soils and the adjacent compartments of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Students are familiar with the legal and technical foundations of soil protection and can evaluate measures for soil use with regard to soil protection and assess their areas of application.

Contents

• Soil as a Limited Resource - Need for Soil Protection
• Legal Foundations of Soil Protection
• Protection against Soil Hazards and Contamination
  Soil Erosion
  Soil Compaction
  Protection of Organic Soil Substances and Natural C-Stores
  Nutrients: Over- and Under-supply
  Soil Salinization
  Contamination by Heavy Metals and Biocides
  Soil Acidification
  Specific Problems of Technosols and Anthrosols
• Soil Improvement
• Remediation of Contaminated Soils

Course of study: Master of Environmental Natural Sciences

Teacher: Prof. Magdalena Sut-Lohmann

When and Where: Do 09:45 - 11:15, LK 19c.1

Exam performance: Final Report

Learning objectives:
You will receive an overview of the specific characteristics of urban soils, various starting materials, technogenic substrates, soil formation processes, and the resulting physical, chemical, and biological properties. Topics such as sealing, contamination, starting substrates, and soil functions, including urban agriculture, are explained in more detail. The practical part provides a hands-on approach essential for understanding the basics of geoecological research. Students learn research design and planning, sampling, laboratory procedures, and the creation of a technical report.

Contents:

Lecture:

• Ecosystem Services (important characteristics and functions)
• Classification of urban soils according to WRB (World Reference Base for Soil Resources)
• Challenges with urban soils (heat islands, sealing, contamination)
• Remediation and sustainable management approaches (sponge cities, remote sensing, urban gardening, soil amendments)

Practice:

• Study Design/Problem
• Formulation Soil Sampling in the City
• Laboratory Analyses