About Me
I am currently a scientific programmer at the Institute for Earth System Science and Remote Sensing of Leipzig University. During my M.Sc. and Ph.D. studies, I have been investigating the distribution of the energy gained by the Earth system due to the energy imbalance at the top of the atmosphere caused by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Particularly, I have evaluated long-term global climate simulations against observations of heat storage within the different components of the climate system. Additionally, I obtained long-term reconstructions of ground surface temperature and ground heat flux histories from borehole temperature profiles, providing an update of the estimates of global land heat storage based on observations.
After my Ph.D., my research has focused on heat exchanges between the lower atmosphere and the shallow subsurface, with particular attention to ground heat flux. I have used machine learning techniques and remote sensing products to derive estimates of ground heat flux and ground heat content at the global scale, complementing the long-term reconstructions of heat storage from geothermal data. This research has shown that the heat stored by the terrestrial subsurface is currently increasing in an accelerated way.
Currently, I am studying the simulated relationship between hydrology and vegetation by land surface models. Small changes in code or parameters within the hydrological modules of the models lead to different trajectories for variables depending on soil moisture, such as gross primary productivity, latent heat flux, ground heat flux, and leaf area index. Understanding the magnitude of these differences, as well as the reasons why they arise, will help to develop more realistic land surface models and climate simulations.
Research Interests
Climate change
Earth's heat inventory
Surface energy fluxes
Model simulations
Borehole climatology
Land-atmosphere interactions
Extreme evets
Remote sensing
Machine learning
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This work by Francisco José Cuesta Valero is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.