08.02.2023
On January 16, 2023, Ms Annelie Ehrhardt, M. Sc., successfully defended her dissertation thesis entitled: „Mechanisms and methods for identification and monitoring of lateral subsurface flow in erosion affected arable soil landscape of the hummocky ground moraine”. The event took place at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Faculty III, in Halle, Germany; Presentation and lively discussion were chaired by Prof. Dr. Robert Mikutta (Soil Science and Soil Protection, MLU). The committee consisted of 6 more Professors from MLU Halle, the supervisor from the ZALF, Müncheberg, and Prof. Dr. Ole Wendroth (University of Kentucky) who was participating per video. After the formal part, she received her creatively designed doctoral cap that considered also her nature conservation passion.
Ms Ehrhardt was part of the working group “Hydropedology“ , Research Area 1, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and supervised by Dr. Horst H. Gerke. Her work was financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Bonn, within the project GE 990/13-1, entitled „Vadose Zone Modeling of Water Flow in Hillslope Soil (VAMOS)“.
Her studies were in close cooperation with related projects supervised by Prof. Dr. Vogel (UFZ Halle) and Prof. Dr. T. Wöhling (TU Dresden). In her thesis, she developed and applied methods to identify subsurface lateral flow phenomenon in the mostly unsaturated arable soil landscapes of the hummocky ground moraines. She analysed long-term soil moisture and temperature time series’ of the VAMOS project’s field and lysimeter stations, and experimentally determined lateral water movement on soil monoliths in the laboratory. Her results are documented to date in four peer reviewed publications. We thank Annelie for her scientific achievements and best wishes and success for the future!
