Heterogeneity and scaling in soil-vegetation atmosphere systems: implications for pattern analysis (Invited)

Advances in sensor physics and technology create opportunities for explicit consideration of patterns in soil-vegetation-atmosphere systems (SVAS). The purpose of this talk is to provoke discussion on the current status of pattern analysis and interpretation in SVAS. The explicit consideration of patterns requires observations and analysis at scales that are both coarser and finer than the scale of interest. Within-scale scaling relationships are often observed in SVAS components. However, direct scaling relationships have not been discovered between scales, possibly because the different scales provide different types of information about the SVAS, use different variables to characterize SVAS, and exhibit different variability of the system. To transcend the scales, models are needed that explicitly treat the fine-scale heterogeneity and rare occurrences that control processes at the coarser scale. As patterns are generated from simulations and or/or observations, methods are needed for pattern characterization and comparison. One promising direction here is the symbolic representation of patterns which leads to the exploitation of methods developed in the bioinformatics community. Examples drawn from soil hydrology and micrometeorology will be used in illustrations to make the argument that observation and analysis of patterns is the important part of understanding and quantifying relationships between structure, functioning and self-organization in SVAS and their components.