Sarah Waldo

Sarah Waldo
  • PhD Candidate
  • Washington State University
  • Civil and Environmental Engineering
sarah.waldo@email.wsu.edu

Advisor: 

Brian Lamb

Thesis or Dissertation Citation: 

Waldo, S. 2016. Using micrometerorological methods and modeling to determine greenhouse gas budgets over agricultural systems in the inland Pacific Northwest. Washington State University PhD Dissertation.
Thesis or Dissertation Link

Research Focus: 

Measuring the emission and uptake of greenhouse gasses over agricultural fields

Research Abstract: 

Agricultural soils are an important source of nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas (GHG) with three hundred times the warming potential of carbon dioxide (CO2) per molecule. At the same time, agricultural fields can be a sink for CO2 if the right management practices are employed. My research uses the micrometeorological techniques (eddy covariance and flux gradient) to measure the exchange of these two GHGs over agricultural fields in the inland Pacific Northwest. The results will provide a baseline GHG budget for cropping systems in this area. The results will also be used to inform models such as CropSyst, which will improve larger-scale estimates of the GHG budget of agriculture in the region.

Biography: 

Sarah Waldo received her Bachelor's in Environmental Science from Colorado College in 2009. She started a Ph.D. program with the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research at WSU in 2010. Her research interests include sources and fates of reactive nitrogen in the atmosphere, greenhouse gas budgets of systems, and the interface between science and policy. Her current research looks at fluxes of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide over farmland using micrometeorological methods.

Publications and Presentations: 

Waldo, S., Kostyanovsky, K., O'Keefe, P., Pressley, S., Huggins, D., Claudio, S., Lamb, B. Characterizing Nitrous Oxide (N2O) Emissions over a Wheat-based Cropping System in the Northwest United States Using the Modified Bowen Ratio Technique and Static Chambers. European Geosciences Union General Assembly, April 12-17, 2015, Vienna, Austria.
Waldo, S., Chi, J., Pressley, S., O'Keefe, P., Pan, W., Brooks, E., Huggins, D., Stockle, C. Lamb, B. 2016. Assessing carbon dynamics at high and low rainfall agricultural sites in the inland Pacific Northwest US using the eddy covariance method. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 218-219: 25-36.
Chi, J., Maureira, F., Waldo, S., Pressley, S.N., Stöckle, C.O., O’Keeffe, P.T., Pan, W.L., Brooks, E.S., Huggins, D.R., Lamb, B.K. Carbon and Water Budgets in Multiple Wheat-based Cropping Systems in the Inland Pacific Northwest US: Comparison of CropSyst Simulations with Eddy Covariance Measurements, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, section Agroecology and Land Use Systems, https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2017.00050.