VPDrought

A novel approach to disentangle air dryness and soil drought

VPDrought is the first experiment worldwide to investigate the influence of air dryness and soil drought in a mature natural forest. It has been fully operational since early summer 2024. Its aim is to disentangle the processes affected by air dryness (specifically vapor pressure deficit, VPD) and soil drought. The research will be carried out from the cellular to the tree and ecosystem level.

The experiment is situated at the Pfynwald research platform, a pivotal long-term monitoring and experimental irrigation site in a pine forest in Valais, where the effects of soil drought have been studied since 2003. The site benefits from extensive data series, including more than 120 parameters collected across multiple temporal and spatial scales.

  • In a nutshell: the Pfynwald research platform (PDF) and the VPDrought experiment (PDF), in German and French

Networks

  • The Long-Term Forest Ecosystem Research (LWF) programme
  • The Integrated European Long-Term Ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological Research eLTER
  • TreeNet – the biological drought and growth indicator network
  • PSInet: A global water potential network

Terms of use - Safety Concept - Data- and Project Management

Collaboration at the Pfynwald Research Platform is highly welcome. For your safety and to protect the forest ecosystem and research infrastructure, we kindly ask all participants to follow the attached Terms of Use (ToU) including the Safety Concept, the mandatory Project Application Form, a User Checklist, and information on data management, data submission, and publications related to the research platform.