Prof.dr. Z. Su | People Pages: Find employees & contact details

Key qualification

Scientist and educator with 30 years of experience in research, education, and project and human resources management
Expertise in spatial hydrology, earth observation, water cycle and climate, land-atmosphere interaction, and water resources management

Professor Bob Su holds the Chair of Spatial Hydrology and Water Resources Management, and previously served for 15 years as Chairman of Department of Water Resources in Faculty of Geo-Information and Earth Observation (ITC) of University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands. Bob Su is a recognized international expert in land-atmosphere processes and interactions and earth observation of water cycle. His research covers remote sensing and numerical modeling of land-atmosphere processes and land–atmosphere interactions, earth observation of water cycle and applications in climate, ecosystem and water resources studies, as well as monitoring food security and water-related disasters. He has coordinated and participated in numerous international projects and experiments and served as committee member of various science communities. His current research focuses on integrated water, energy and carbon processes in the water-soil-plant-atmosphere pathway as a component of earth system model, modelling microwave signature of land surface and retrieval of soil moisture and vegetation properties, and developing data driven machine learning algorithms for digital twin earth.

Expertise

Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Model
- Soil Moisture
- Datum
- Tibetan Plateau
- Land Surface
- Investigation
- Observation
- Soil

Organisations

Ancillary activities

WMO World Climate Research ProgrammeGEWEX Hydroclimatology Panel (GHP) Member

Publications

2025

Modelling surface turbulent heat fluxes over heterogeneous landscapes (2025)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Njuki, S. M.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036564724Advancing groundwater hydrology in a data-scarce mountainous catchment on the Tibetan plateau: challenges and innovations (2025)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Li, M.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036564786Replication Data for: Modelling Surface Turbulent Heat Fluxes Over Heterogeneous Landscapes (2025)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. DATA Archiving and Networked Services (DANS). Njuki, S. M., Su, B. & Mannaerts, C.https://doi.org/10.17026/PT/CO8OTMData for PhD thesis: Advancing Groundwater Hydrology in a Data-Scarce Mountainous Catchment on the Tibetan Plateau: Challenges and Innovations (2025)[Dataset Types › Dataset]. DATA Archiving and Networked Services (DANS). Li, M., Su, B. & Zeng, Y.https://doi.org/10.17026/PT/UW9SIE

2024

On the predictability of turbulent fluxes from land: PLUMBER2 MIP experimental description and preliminary results (2024)Biogeosciences, 21(23), 5517-5538. Abramowitz, G., Ukkola, A., Hobeichi, S., Page, J. C., Lipson, M., De Kauwe, M. G., Green, S., Brenner, C., Frame, J., Nearing, G., Clark, M., Best, M., Anthoni, P., Arduini, G., Boussetta, S., Caldararu, S., Cho, K., Cuntz, M., Fairbairn, D., … Zeng, Y.https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5517-2024Investigating the role of groundwater in mitigating vegetation water stress (2024)[Contribution to conference › Abstract] World Groundwater Congress 2024, IAH 2024. Daoud, M. G. M., Alidoost, S. F., Schilperoort, B., Zeng, Y., van der Tol, C., Salama, M. S., Lubczynski, M. W., Yu, L. & Su, Z.Assessment of long-term multisource surface and subsurface soil moisture products and estimate methods on the Tibetan Plateau (2024)Journal of hydrology, 640. Article 131713. Zhang, P., Zheng, D., van der Velde, R., Zeng, J., Wang, X., Wang, Z., Zeng, Y., Wen, J., Li, X. & Su, Z.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.131713Dynamics of regional soil moisture and soil temperature profile on the Tibetan plateau: observations analysis and modelling (2024)[Thesis › PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT]. University of Twente, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC). Zhang, P.https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036561235Understanding the effects of revegetated shrubs on fluxes of energy, water, and gross primary productivity in a desert steppe ecosystem using the STEMMUS-SCOPE model (2024)Biogeosciences, 21(4), 893-909. Tang, E., Zeng, Y., Wang, Y., Song, Z., Yu, D., Wu, H., Qiao, C., van der Tol, C., Du, L. & Su, Z.https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-893-2024Advancing river monitoring using image-based techniques: challenges and opportunities (2024)Hydrological sciences journal, 69(6), 657-677. Manfreda, S., Miglino, D., Saddi, K. C., Jomaa, S., Eltner, A., Perks, M., Peña-Haro, S., Bogaard, T., van Emmerik, T. H. M., Mariani, S., Maddock, I., Tauro, F., Grimaldi, S., Zeng, Y., Gonçalves, G., Strelnikova, D., Bussettini, M., Marchetti, G., Lastoria, B., … Rode, M.https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2024.2333846

Research profiles

Courses academic year 2024/2025

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2023/2024

Recent major projects

(PI: Principal investigator, CO-I: Co-investigator)

- PI: WUNDER: Water Use and Drought Ecohydrological Responses of Agricultural and Nature Ecosystems in the Netherlands - Towards Climate-Robust Production Systems and Water Management. NWO KIC (TUD, WU, HAS, Planet, Deltares, WEnR, HKV+ stakeholders, 2022-2028) (€ 1,516,238)

- CO-I: EcoExtreML: Accelerating Process Understanding for Ecosystem Functioning under Extreme Climates with Physics-Aware Machine Learning. NL eScience Center (PI: Y. Zeng, 2021-2025) (€ 253000)

- CO-I: MINERVA: MIcrowaves for a New Era of Remote sensing of Vegetation for Agricultural monitoring. NWO PIPP (Partnerships for space Instruments & Applications Preparatory Programme) (PI: S. Steele-Dunne, TUD; J. Reiche, WU; + stakeholders, 2020-2023) (€ 155373, plus bench fee)

- PI: CLIMATE-Pan-TPE: Monitoring and Modelling Climate Change in Water, Energy and Carbon Cycles in the Pan-Third Pole Environment (ESA-MOST Dragon Programme IV, Young scientist, 2020-2024) (ID.58516)

- PI: iAqueduct: An integrative information aqueduct to close the gaps between global satellite observation of water cycle and local sustainable management of water resources, ERA-NET Water JPI 2018 joint call, 2019-2023 (Co-Is: Y. Zeng; F. Francés, F. Vallés Morán, Uni Politecnic Vallencia; Giulia Vico, Swedish Uni Agr Sci., S. Manfreda, Uni Basilicata; Brigitta Tóth, Hungary Academy of Sciences ; N. Romano, Uni Naples; E. Ben-Dor, Tel Avis Uni)

- PI: NWO/GO SMAP-Freeze/thaw: Modelling Freeze-Thaw Processes with Active and Passive Microwave Observations, 2015-2019 (Co-Is: R. van der Velde; Y. Zeng; M. Schwank, ETH Zürich; P. Ferrazzoli, TVU, Rome; J. Wen, CAREERI/CAS; Y. Ma, ITP/CAS)

- PI: EU FP7 CORE-CLIMAX: COordinating Earth observation data validation for RE-analysis for CLIMAte ServiceS 2013-2015 (CO-Is: J. Schulz, EUMETSAT; P. Poli, ECMWF; F. Kaspar, DWD; E. Swinnen, VITO; J.-C. Calvet; H. Gregow, FMI; Y. Ma, ITP/CAS; J. Wen, CAREERI/CAS)

- PI: ESA-MOST Dragon Programme I-II-III-IV Advanced Training, 2005-2020 (dragon4.esa.int)

- PI: ESA TIGER Capacity Building Facility I/II, 2007-2012 (Co-I: M. Menenti, TU Delft; E. Swinnen, VITO; M. Painho, ISEGI-UNL) (tiger.itc.nl)

- PI: ESA WACMOS: Water Cycle Multimission Observation Strategy (ESA Support to Science Programme, 2009-2012) (Co-Is: W. Wagner, TU Vienna; R. de Jeu, Vrije Universiteit; R. Roebeling, KNMI and J. Schulz, DWD) (wacmos.org)

- Co-I: EU-FP7 CEOP-AEGIS: Coordinated Asia-European long-term Observing system of Qinghai – Tibet Plateau hydro-meteorological processes and the Asian-monsoon systEm with Ground satellite Image data and numerical Simulations (EU FP7, 2008-2012) (PI: M. Menenti, Université Louis Pasteur LSIIT ULP; Z. Su, ITC; G. Durso, ARIES Space; T. Folken, Uni Bayreuth; L. Jia, Alterra; G. Sobriono, Uni Valencia; Y. Ma, ITP/CAS; L. Liu, CMA; X. Li, BNU; K.D. Sharma, NIH; K. Ueno, Uni Tsukuba; W. Bastiaanssen, WaterWatch; J. Wang, CAREERI/CAS; F. Porcù, Uni Ferrara; C. Liu, IGSNRR/CAS; Q. Liu, IRSA/CAS) (CEOP-AEGIS.org)

- PI: NWO-GO EcoRTM: Modeling radiation, heat and mass (water vapour and carbon) exchanges at the land-atmosphere interface using multi-angular optical and thermal measurements (NWO/SRON GO - User Support Programme, 2005-2008) (Co-Is: L. Jia, WU; M. Menenti, ULP; W. Verhoef, NLR; H. Dolman, VU)

Climate Change and Droughts - monitoring, prediction and adaptation

WUNDER PROJECT FOR STRENGTHENING THE RESILIENCE OF WATER-SOIL-PLANT SYSTEMS

https://www.utwente.nl/en/research/themes/resilient/news-and-events/newsletter-v1/wunder-project/

€ 1.5 million for UT research to mitigate drought damage

https://www.utoday.nl/news/71099/-15-million-for-ut-research-to-mitigate-drought-damage

NWO-KIC grant to UT research on water use during droughts

https://www.itc.nl/news/2022/3/479520/nwo-kic-grant-to-ut-research-on-water-use-during-droughts

Climate Change and Precipitation - monitoring and prediction

ITC algorithm detects rainfall in rural Africa

https://www.itc.nl/news/2022/10/196298/itc-algorithm-detects-rainfall-in-rural-africa

Researcher from UT developed an algorithm to predict rainfall in rural Africa

https://innovationorigins.com/en/selected/researcher-from-ut-developed-an-algorithm-to-predict-rainfall-in-rural-africa/