ACROVOC – Aerial sensing of CROpland VOC emissions
Name of applicant
Andreas Westergaard-Nielsen
Title
Associate Professor
Institution
University of Copenhagen
Amount
DKK 6,994,634
Year
2025
Type of grant
Semper Ardens: Accelerate
What?
Crop production and climate change pose among the most fundamental challenges for our civilization today. Croplands influence the climate through multiple feedbacks, notably the release and uptake of gases known as biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). These gases are produced by plants and microbes, and amongst others include methane, a well-known potent greenhouse gas.
Why?
The impact of plant phenology and soil nutrients on emissions and the functioning of BVOCs in the atmosphere remains highly complex, and we are still not able to accurately project net emissions at large scale. This is a problem because projections of when, where, and how much is emitted are critical to disentangle the associated climate feedbacks
How?
ACROVOC is the first to quantify and upscale complex rice field BVOC emissions from small-scale plot experiments to much larger regional scales. We will link the upscaled emissions to regional climate and quantify real-world feedbacks to regional climate processes with implications for our future climate. This is only possible by combining field experiments with drone and satellite remote sensing