Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Fields of Research

Research Themes

1. Water Security and Critical Zone Resilience Using Geophysics

We use geophysical methods to understand how water is stored, partitioned, and transported through soils, weathered rock, vadose zones, aquifers, and carbonate landscapes. By combining low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), spectral induced polarization (SIP), electrical methods, hydrological observations, laboratory experiments, and modeling, we make hidden subsurface structure, water distribution, pore connectivity, and fluid mobility observable across scales. This work supports better prediction of groundwater recharge, drought response, contaminant transport, and ecosystem resilience under changing climate and land use.

2. Pore-Scale Physics for Carbon, Contaminants, and Environmental Solutions

Climate and environmental solutions often depend on processes that begin inside pores: how fluids occupy connected spaces, how minerals react with water, how contaminants bind or migrate, and how carbon can be stored more securely in geological and engineered materials. We combine NMR, SIP, micro-CT imaging, digital rock physics, and numerical simulations to link pore geometry, mineral surfaces, fractures, and fluid-rock interactions to larger-scale transport and reaction behavior. This work supports applications in CO₂ mineralization and storage, enhanced weathering, pollutant immobilization, hazardous-waste stabilization, heavy-metal and hydrocarbon remediation, and long-term monitoring of engineered subsurface systems.

3. Physics-Informed AI for Subsurface Prediction

We develop interpretable, physics-constrained AI models that integrate geophysical, hydrological, geochemical, and imaging data. These approaches help predict groundwater dynamics, fluid mobility, pore structure, reservoir quality, and environmental risk while keeping model outputs tied to measurable physical processes.

Ongoing Student Projects

  • Nidhal AGA (MSc.)

    PhD Topic: PEAT-FLUX: Linking pore architecture, hydrology and N2O emissions in peatland using geophysics and biogeochemistry (co-supervised by Prof. Stephan Glatzel).

    Methods: micro-CT, Low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), Off-Axis Integrated Cavity Output Spectroscopy (OA-ICOS) for nitrogen isotropy. 

    Study Site: Enns Valley, Austria. 

    Portrait of Nidhal Aga.
    Nidhal Aga

  • Tengjiao DU (MSc.)

    PhD Topic: Hydrogeophysical Integration through an AI Agent-Assisted Workflow for Vadose-Zone Water Monitoring.

    Methods: Laboratory-, borehole-, and surface-NMR, time-lapse seismic monitoring, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and ambient-noise interferometry, joint inversion, and AI agent-assisted data processing and interpretation.

    Study System: Vadose-zone soils, sediments, and rocks across laboratory and field scales.

    Portrait of Tengjiao Du.
    Tengjiao Du

  • Zixuan HUO (MA.Eng.)

    PhD Topic: Investigating freeze-thaw-induced deterioration mechanisms in geological media using joint geophysical methods.

    Methods: Low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Spectral Induced Polarization (SIP), micro-CT imaging, numerical modeling.

    Study System: Alpine rocks and Loess soil samples. 

    Published Papers:

    Portrait of Zixuan Huo.
    Zixuan Huo

  • Wen LIU (MA.Eng.)

    PhD Topic: Quantifying how water‑rock reactions progressively weaken rock mechanical properties, aiming to link geophysical signatures to mechanical degradation and provide non‑destructive tools for assessing rock stability under fluid‑rock interaction.

    Methods: Low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Spectral Induced Polarization (SIP), numerical modeling.

    Study System: limestones and dolomites samples.

    Portrait of Wen Liu.
    Wen Liu

  • Victor MMADUABUCHI (BSc.)

    Master Thesis Topic: Characterization of freeze-thaw cycles in Alpine rocks: Insight from Low-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).

    Methods: Low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). 

    Study System: Main dolomite rock samples (Northern Calcerous Alps of Lower Austria).

    Portrait of Victor Mmaduabuchi.
    Victor Mmaduabuchi

  • Bin WANG (BSc.)

    Visiting PhD Student.

    PhD Topic: Using NMR signals to characterize reactive transport processes, specifically examining how these signals reflect dynamics within the dissolution process.

    Link to Bin's personal website.

    Portrait of Bin Wang.
    Bin Wang

  • Zheng WANG (MSc.)

    PhD Topic: Revealing hydrothermal-induced mechanical deformation in natural porous media.

    Methods: Numerical simulation methods: Finite Element Method (FEM), Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM); Experimental methods: Low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Macroscopic visualization analysis under thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) conditions.

    Study System: Graded silica samples & Loess soil samples.

    Published Papers:

    Portrait of Zheng Wang.
    Zheng Wang

  • Yu ZHANG (MSc.)

    PhD Topic: Understanding the impact of key porous media characteristics (pore structure, pore
    coupling, and the presence of multiphase fluids) on NMR relaxation within the vadose zone (FWF project UNSAT-NMR) 

    Methods: pore-scale numerical simulation (Finite Element Method), Low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).

    Study System: glass beads, natural sandstone and sediment samples.

    Portrait of Yu Zhang.
    Yu Zhang

  • Junwen ZHOU (MSc.)

    PhD Topic: The application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in investigating unsaturated, near-surface hydrological processes.

    Methods: pore-scale numerical simulation, pore network modeling: random-walk (MATLAB) and Finite Element Method (COMSOL), micro-CT, Low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).

    Study System: simple, regular pore models.

    Published Papers: 

    Portrait of Junwen Zhou.
    Junwen Zhou