STEM Shoutout: Dr. Marcy Litvak

Biology professor measures atmospheric changes in New Mexico

UNM Biology Professor Marcy Litvak is participating in a project using eddy covariance towers to determine the fluctuations in energy, water and carbon between the environment and the atmosphere. Eddy covariance towers are stations that measure certain atmospheric conditions, and can be used for a variety of purposes.

Funded by the Department of Energy, this set of nine towers is one of the biggest projects of its kind in the United States.

“It allows us to quantify how ecosystem processes and sensitivity to climate varies across elevation gradients,” Litvak said. “In addition, these data are useful for validating land surface models that will predict how ecosystem processes are likely to change in response to changes in climate.”