The research focusses on determining plant evaporation and incoming and outgoing energy fluxes (light and heat). To measure evapotranspiration several lysimeters and soil moisture sensors are installed and to map the energy balance incoming sunlight, reflected light, surface temperatures, soil temperatures and air temperatures are measured. As an extra check, a digital infrared camera is installed to be able to compare and map surface temperature differences of all three research areas on the roof simultaneously. 

The research set-up consists of three variants differing in drainage system and soil depth. Reference data is collected on a black bituminous roof of an adjacent building (like the roof of building 002 was before Project Smartroof 2.0). The planting system uses a standard green roof substrate (Optigreen) and to create an instantaneously planted system standard mixed Sedum Mats have been installed. To create the desired biodiverse planting these Sedums have been seeded with the grasses and herbs dominated seed mix D2 by Cruydthoeck.

The Lysimeter under cunstruction in the research set-up. These highly accurate scale determine plant evaporation..