Lei Lab

Research

Working Group Synthesis

Mitigating Global Warming through Surface Reflectivity (Albedo)

Currently, estimating surface albedo is particularly difficult due to spatial (land use, agronomic practices, anthropogenic activities) and temporal (seasonality, sampling frequency) factors affecting surface irradiance. It is also compounded by precision, where one method of acquiring data favors space, but is drastically limited over its temporal component, or vice versa. Thus, broadening initiatives in climate change research to include environmental spatio-temporal data through modelling is critically needed. This research focuses on the exploration of albedo on multiple unique landscapes, the importance of socio-economic factors such as agronomic management and farmer chioce, as well as the integration of surface irradiance into climate modeling. This work will facilitate the development of modelling global warming potentials of different landscapes in order to advance climate modelling and prediction over space and time.

Meet The Team!

Cheyenne Lei

Prinicpal Investigator

Abigail Bielecki

2025 Undergraduate Intern

GEOG 3992 Senior Research Project

University of Iowa

Finley Bickford

2025 Undergraduate Intern

GEOG 3992 Senior Research Project

University of Iowa

Bethany Richardson

2025 Undergraduate Intern

GEOG 3992 Senior Research Project

University of Iowa

Sylvie Heard

2025 Undergraduate Intern

GEOG 3992 Senior Research Project

University of Iowa

Collaborators

Department of Geographical & and Sustainable Sciences

University of Iowa

Diverse Corn Belt Project

Collaboration with Dr. Silvia Seechi to explore unique opportunities beyond corn and soybeans by investigating agronomic practices and policy on the real-world impacts of diversified farming systems.

Silvia Seechi

Professor

University of Iowa

Institute for Global Change Biology

University of Michigan

Disentangling the complex effects of climate change on forest ecosystems

Collaboration with Dr. Ines Ibanez to examine forest demographic responses to the combined effects of these stressors for temperate forests. This work facilitates the development of vegetative models that inform decisions on climate change mitigation and conservation management practices.

Peter Reich

Director of the Institute for Global Change Biology

Ines Ibanez

Professor of Ecosystem Science and Management (School for the Environment and Sustainability)

Landscape Ecology & Ecosystem Lab

Michigan State University

Albedo and Bioenergy at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center

Collaboration with Dr. Jiquan Chen and Dr. Philip Robertson to understand the changes in albedo during bare-ground, peak growing, and senescence seasons, and contribute to assessing the global warming potentials of different types of biofuel cropping systems.