{"id":14876,"date":"2013-09-26T11:39:09","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T15:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?p=14876"},"modified":"2021-11-10T16:43:58","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T20:43:58","slug":"drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm","title":{"rendered":"Drexel University researchers hone tools for measuring green roof benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to urban greening, many people think rooftop gardens are a good idea. There are now presumed benefits like shade and reduced costs in heating and cooling. But when you scratch the surface, these and other benefits of green spaces are not yet very well quantified.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, a key metric to charting urban green roof success is evapotranspiration, a combination of evaporation and plant transpiration. To learn more about ET and establish better procedures to estimate ET from green roofs, a group of researchers from Drexel University set up an experiment in Bronx, N.Y. Their work, published in the American Society of Civil Engineers\u2019 journal, will make ET estimates for urban green spaces more accurate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are different ways of estimating evapotranspiration. Many of the empirical methods are based on energy and water balance computations, and use crop coefficients to consider variability due to plant type,\u201d said Franco Montalto, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at Drexel University. \u201cA big question is whether these equations are appropriate for green roofs and other urban green spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another direct way to measure ET involves the use of a weighing lysimeter, a sensitive scale placed under a section of green roof that can detect rainfall input and water lost to the atmosphere through evapotranspirative processes. ET over a particular dry period is equivalent to the reduction in recorded mass, converted into a depth of water.<\/p>\n

Montalto and his group are using a weighing lysimeter in their study as a reference point. They compared the lysimeter ET values to those obtained by empirical equations derived long ago for use in agricultural studies. They were trying to determine whether, with appropriate crop coefficients, these classical equations could reasonably predict green roof ET.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get better at predicting the effectiveness of urban roofs,\u201d said Montalto. \u201cCan we characterize their stormwater capture performance using the same old equations or do we need to develop new ones?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wind

Wind and rain gauges provide climatic data, which is plugged into equations for calculating evapotranspiration. (Credit: Franco Mantalto)<\/p><\/div>\n

Montalto says that the equations will likely need to be updated. The ones existing for agricultural applications are for uniform, well-watered crops in a field. But the plants used on green roofs are quite different.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hot up there,\u201d said Montalto. \u201cThe soils dry up, and so you often you pick desert-adapted crops like sedum, which is certainly not well-watered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irrigating a green roof, he says, could potentially accelerate ET rates. \u201cBy adding more water, ET can be accelerated beyond the rate that would otherwise be possible in this water-limited environment. We have to know how much is evapotranspiring from the roof in order to quantify annual stormwater capture volumes accurately,\u201d said Montalto.<\/p>\n

On the Bronx roof, multiple sensors were used in the analysis. Soil moisture sensors tracked the wetting and drying of the growing medium in response to ET, which was also measured directly with the weighing lysimeter. A climate station was used to chart precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar radiation, and other microclimatic variables needed in the agricultural ET equations.<\/p>\n

\"A

A weighing lysimeter tracks the reduction in mass before and after rainy or dry periods, giving a precise measure of evapotranspiration. (Credit: Franco Mantalto)<\/p><\/div>\n

Montalto and the rest of the research team found that crop equations worked under certain sets of conditions. Under other conditions, they needed to be adjusted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expected we\u2019d need to develop new crop coefficients,\u201d said Montalto. \u201cAnd we\u2019re optimistic that we can adapt those equations for use in green spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top image:\u00a0A weighing lysimeter tracks the reduction in mass before and after rainy or dry periods, giving a precise measure of evapotranspiration. (Credit: Franco Mantalto)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Drexel University green roof experiment will make evapotranspiration estimates for urban green spaces more accurate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":14880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-14876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-atmosphere","tag-featured"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\nDrexel University researchers hone tools for measuring green roof benefits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Drexel University green roof experiment will make evapotranspiration estimates for urban green spaces more accurate.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Drexel University researchers hone tools for measuring green roof benefits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Drexel University green roof experiment will make evapotranspiration estimates for urban green spaces more accurate.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Environmental Monitor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-26T15:39:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-10T20:43:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daniel Kelly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Kelly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Kelly\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\"},\"headline\":\"Drexel University researchers hone tools for measuring green roof benefits\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-26T15:39:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-10T20:43:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm\"},\"wordCount\":650,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"featured\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Earth & Atmosphere\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm\",\"name\":\"Drexel University researchers hone tools for measuring green roof benefits\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-26T15:39:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-10T20:43:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\"},\"description\":\"A Drexel University green roof experiment will make evapotranspiration estimates for urban green spaces more accurate.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/09\\\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg\",\"width\":420,\"height\":470,\"caption\":\"A weighing lysimeter tracks the reduction in mass before and after rainy or dry periods, giving a precise measure of evapotranspiration. (Credit: Franco Mantalto)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Environmental Monitor\",\"description\":\"Application and technology news for environmental professionals\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\",\"name\":\"Daniel Kelly\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daniel Kelly\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/daniel-kelly\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Drexel University researchers hone tools for measuring green roof benefits","description":"A Drexel University green roof experiment will make evapotranspiration estimates for urban green spaces more accurate.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Drexel University researchers hone tools for measuring green roof benefits","og_description":"A Drexel University green roof experiment will make evapotranspiration estimates for urban green spaces more accurate.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm","og_site_name":"Environmental Monitor","article_published_time":"2013-09-26T15:39:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-10T20:43:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":420,"height":470,"url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Daniel Kelly","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Kelly","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Kelly","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7"},"headline":"Drexel University researchers hone tools for measuring green roof benefits","datePublished":"2013-09-26T15:39:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-10T20:43:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm"},"wordCount":650,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg","keywords":["featured"],"articleSection":["Earth & Atmosphere"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm","url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm","name":"Drexel University researchers hone tools for measuring green roof benefits","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg","datePublished":"2013-09-26T15:39:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-10T20:43:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7"},"description":"A Drexel University green roof experiment will make evapotranspiration estimates for urban green spaces more accurate.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/drexel-university-researchers-hone-tools-measuring-green-roof-benefits.htm#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/GreenRoofFeatured.jpg","width":420,"height":470,"caption":"A weighing lysimeter tracks the reduction in mass before and after rainy or dry periods, giving a precise measure of evapotranspiration. (Credit: Franco Mantalto)"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/","name":"Environmental Monitor","description":"Application and technology news for environmental professionals","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7","name":"Daniel Kelly","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b1a53273429ff6b46dfea6cf5731e1278d990bbf6958f4de0ca57131c443dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Kelly"},"url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/author\/daniel-kelly"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14876"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34916,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14876\/revisions\/34916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}