Field Laboratory

The Halo Lab's field activities includes scaling, corrosion biofouling studies on industrial cooling tower processes, field based sampling using high tech tools at a number of suitable wadi sites for terrestrial hydrological cycle measurement, and field sampling using Meteo-Lysimeter to study arid lands hydrology.

The Interfacial Lab (iLab) has been developing and testing new and novel soil augmentation materials that reduce evaporative losses during irrigation, and maximize sub-surface water retention to achieve more crop-per-drop.

Soil Amendments

The Interfacial Lab (iLab) has been developing soil-amendment technologies for aridland agriculture comprising superhydrophobic sand (SandX), biochar with ultrahigh cation exchange capacity, and superabsorbent polymers (SAP). In hot and dry conditions, these materials boost irrigation efficiency and enhance soil fertility, dramatically improving plant survival and growth under nominal irrigation

Arid Lands Hydrology

The research encompasses a range of topics, from describing the surface and sub-surface hydrology of these environments and validating the flow of water and energy with modeling and undertaking in-situ observations to better constrain the uncertainty.

Terrestrial Hydrological Cycle Measurement

Distribution and variability of hydrometeorological variables is required to measure the terrestrial hydrological cycle. Field based sampling is acquired, using the following tools at a number of suitable wadi sites within the vicinity of KAUST.