All Posts By

Andrea

ICWRGC and BfG scientists at the EGU General Assembly 2023

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is the largest congregation of geoscientists from all over the world in Europe. Several scientists of ICWRGC and BfG were actively involved in the EGU General Assembly meeting held between 23rd and 28th of April 2023 in Vienna, Austria.

ISMN

Four scientists from the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN): Fay Boehmer, Matthias Zink, Wolfgang Korres and Tunde Olarinoye attended the EGU on site while others joined online. The ISMN team organised the first ISMN splinter meeting at any EGU event, aiming at promoting connectivity within the soil moisture community to improve data sharing, knowledge sharing and scientific collaborations. The splinter meeting was well attended by different stakeholders: soil moisture sensor manufacturers, data providers, data users and soil moisture enthusiasts. Besides the splinter meeting, Fay Boehmer presented the ISMN at a session on the role of subsurface runoff, soil moisture and surface-subsurface feedback in hydrology. In her presentation, she emphasized the role of soil moisture as an essential agriculture, meteorology and hydrology variable. She concluded by highlighting the ISMN efforts towards ensuring access to open and fair in-situ soil moisture data and encouraged a community-wide participation in the ISMN project.

Data centres and GTN-H

The international data centres: ISMN represented by Tunde Olarinoye, Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) represented by Claudia Faerber, International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) represented by Claudia Ruz Vargas and Arnaud Sterckx, Global Environment Monitoring System for Freshwater (GEMS/Water) represented by Dmytro Lisniak and Global Terrestrial Network – Hydrology (GTN-H) represented by Stephan Dietrich jointly convened a session titled “From observations to action: role of data services in hydrological research and management”. The session, co-sponsored by WMO, aimed at showcasing ideas, concepts, efforts and challenges in developing data products as well as demonstrating the benefit of setting up, maintaining networks, and sharing data to support the data acquisition ambitions of data centres. The new PICO session attracted 12 abstracts covering a wide range of hydro-meteorological data topics. Presenters gave a 2-minutes pitch talk which was followed by an extensive interactive discussion.

Stephan gave an introduction on Systematic water and climate observations through Global Water Data Centres and Networks  in the GTN-H data centers session.

Tunde also co-convened the session “Large-sample hydrology: characterizing and understanding hydrological diversity and catchment organization”. It featured presentations on methods, data and advances in the understanding and modelling of hydrological diversity.

 

Science-practice Nexus and FRIEND-Water

In addition, Stephan co-convened the session “Elevating practice in the science-policy-practice nexus: highlights from operationalization of hydrological research and interdisciplinary collaborations” co-sponsored by WMO and UNESCO-IHP. The session highlighted contributions on interdisciplinary collaborations and existing hydrology initiatives, organizations, and networks that offer modalities and frameworks aimed at connecting typically isolated stakeholders of research and improving hydrological research-services interface on various scales and directions. Luna Bharati from ICWRGC participated in the session and presented a successful case study from her research where transdisciplinary methods were used to identify climate change risks and potential future land use scenarios. The research results including the hydrological models developed in the project were incorporated in the national irrigation master plan that was developed by the Department of Irrigation, Government of Nepal.

Stephan also co-convened the EURO-FRIEND splinter meeting on Large Scale Variations in Hydrological Characteristics. Luna and Claudia Faerber from GRDC attended this meeting in person.

Research and Networking

Luna and her PhD Student also participated in the session on extreme meteorological and hydrological events induced by severe weather and climate change. In their presentation titled Understanding the role of climate change in disaster mortality, they showed that extreme  precipitation events caused by climate change has a significant impact in increasing mortality rates.

EGU presents an excellent opportunity for updating knowledge, networking, developing research ideas and establishing new collaborations.

Trends in climate disaster impacts in a least developed country

Dr. Luna Bharati co-authored a paper that assesses the spatiotemporal trends of multiple types of climatic disasters with respect to the related mortality and vulnerability and their attribution to climatic and socioeconomic factors in a least developed country, Nepal. The impacts of climatic disasters, such as human mortality, have been rising globally, but the causes of the rise remain unclear. In this study, the authors found that the disaster frequency and mortality have increased, but the vulnerability has decreased. The findings imply that the strong increase in disaster frequency, potentially due to climate change, has overpowered the effect of reduced vulnerability and caused an increase in disaster mortality.

Chapagain, D., Bharati, L., & Borgemeister, C. (2022). Declining vulnerability but rising impacts: the trends of climatic disasters in Nepal. Regional Environmental Change, 22(2), 55.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-022-01903-5

The role of academia in communicating environmental conflicts

The world is witnessing an increase in environmental conflicts (ECs) caused by the overexploitation and pollution of natural resources. In this paper, a multidisciplinary group of researchers (including dr. Luna Bharati) critically explored the role of academia in co-producing knowledge on the complexities of environmental conflicts. The publication highlights why inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to understanding multifaceted environmental conflicts are important and which day-to-day challenges academic researchers face when applying them.

Aviles, D., Mora Motta, A., Pereira, A., Bharati, L., Biber-Freundenberger, L., Ptersheim, C. Quispe-Zuniga, MR., Schmitt, CB., Youkhana, E. (2022) Integrating scientific and local knowledge to address environmental conflicts: the role of academia. Human Ecology 50(4). DOI: 10.1007/s10745-022-00344-2

Case study on the implementation of Sustainable Drainage Systems

Dr. Luna Bharati is co-author to a paper that discusses the factors that hinder and promote implementation of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SUDS) in Bogotá, considering the perspectives of the public sector, private sector, urban developers, and community members living in a flood-prone area. After identifying and categorizing 39 barriers, the authors found that technical barriers continue to have a significant impact on SUDS adoption. The evaluation of benefits yielded 34 results, demonstrating the broad scope of SUDS at a social, economic, and environmental level.

Ortega, A. D., Rodríguez, J. P., & Bharati, L. (2023). Building flood-resilient cities by promoting SUDS adoption: A multi-sector analysis of barriers and benefits in Bogotá, Colombia. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 88 (February), 103621.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103621

Dr. Layla Hashweh

Coordinator of SASSCAL Graduate Studies Programme in Integrated Water Resources Management (SGSP-IWRM)

Contact:
Federal Institute of Hydrology
P.O. Box 200253
56002 Koblenz, Deutschland

Telefon: +49 (0) 261 1306 5421
Email:

Dr. Layla Hashweh, a Palestinian raised in Jerusalem, has worked with different international organizations, and has several years of experience in the private, public, and NGO water sector in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Europe, East Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia and South Africa.

Layla has a strong interdisciplinary background as she received her BSc in Agricultural Economics & Management with a minor in Environmental Studies from the Hebrew University in Israel. She then pursued her master’s degree in Hydrology and Water Quality working on the rehabilitation of a transboundary polluted stream at Ben Gurion University. Layla did her PhD in Hydrogeology with the Center for Development Research in Bonn, Germany, as part of the global food security initiative GlobE project ‘wetlands in East Africa’, focusing on the modelling of the endangered Ewaso Narok floodplain in Kenya. Layla spent the last two years working as a proposal manager for an engineering team, ensuring suitable country-specific design of water and wastewater systems. Layla is fluent in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, and has a high command of German.

Research interest

  • Water quality management
  • Food security and wetlands
  • Food-Water-Ecosystem Nexus
  • Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)
  • Water policy and gender

Education

  • Dr. rer. nat. (Promotion in Hydrogeology and Geosciences), Bonn University, Germany – 2022.
    Doctoral Thesis: Modeling of Ewaso Narok floodplain: A study of the hydrochemistry and hydrogeology in a data-scarce environment
  • Master of Science in Hydrology & Water Quality, Ben-Gurion University, Israel – 2015.
    Master’s Thesis: The eco-hydrology of the cross-border As Samen-Hebron Basin: The chemical transformation of pollutants along the As Samen-Hebron stream and aquifer system in Israel and Palestine
  • Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics and Management & Environmental Studies, Hebrew University, Israel – 2011.

Publications

Back to "Team"

Find us at EGU 2023

ICWRGC researchers will be participating at the next European Geoscience Union (EGU) General Assembly between 23 and 28 April 2023 in Vienna, Austria. Our researchers will convene multiple sessions, organise splinter meetings, and give presentations on a wide-range of water and climate related topics. Check the programme below to follow our EGU 2023 activities.

Tuesday, 25 April 2023

16:15 – 18:00

Olarinoye, Faerber et al.: From observations to action: role of data services in hydrological research and management | PICO. [Pico spot 3b]
Dietrich et al.: Systematic water and climate observations through Global Water Data Centres and Networks. [PICO spot 3b]

17:00 – 18:10

Chapagain & Bharati: Understanding the role of climate change in disaster mortality: Empirical evidence from Nepal. [Room C]

Thursday, 27 April 2023

10:45 – 12:30

Coxon, Olarinoye et al.: Large-sample hydrology: characterizing and understanding hydrological diversity and catchment organization. [PICO spot 3b]

16:15 – 18:00

Zink & Korres: SPM30 – Introduction to the International Soil Moisture Network – a global reference data center for in-situ soil moisture observations. [Room 2.61]

16:15 – 18:00

Dieppois, Dietrich, et al.: SPM27 – EURO-FRIEND Project 3 – Large Scale Variations in Hydrological Characteristics. [Room 2.42]

Friday, 28 April 2023

15:25 – 15:35

Boehmer et al.: The International Soil Moisture Network – a global interoperable data center for in situ soil moisture observations. [Room B]

16:15 – 18:00

Dogulu, Dietrich, et al.: Elevating practice in the science-policy-practice nexus: highlights from operationalization of hydrological research and interdisciplinary collaborations. [Pico spot 3b]

16:50 – 16:55

Bharati & Chapagain: Policy and practice relevant climate change impact assessments: Case study, Western Nepal. [PICO spot 3b]

Hydrology Day 2023 at RUB Bochum

Hydrology Day is the annual meeting of the German hydrologists community, under the auspices of the German Hydrological Society (DHG), the German Association for Water Management, Wastewater and Waste (DWA) and the Technical Community for Hydrological Sciences in the DWA (FgHW). This year‘s Hydrology Day, held from 21 to 23 March at Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Hochschule Bochum, focused on “Sustainable Water Management – Regional and Global Strategies”. Five sessions centred on the topics:

  • Monitoring and analysis of hydrological extremes
  • Water quality under global change
  • AI in hydrology
  • Future challenges in water governance
  • Urban hydrology
DSC03472
DSC03512
DSC03548

ICWRGC was present with a booth and two posters, well connected with the booth of the Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), where ICWRGC is located. Dr. Tunde Olarinoye introduced the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN), which was successfully transferred for permanent operation from TU Vienna to ICWRGC and BfG last year and went fully operational this year (https://ismn.earth/en/). On the second poster, Dr. Moritz Heinle showed results of the two previous data runs for UN SDG Indicator 6.3.2 and highlighted the third assessment, to be carried out this year and supported by the GEMS/Water Data Centre (http://portal.gemstat.org/) at ICWRGC and BfG. At the booth, attendees could learn more about the work and the services provided by ICWRGC and inspect the two global water databases, GEMStat, a global water quality database, and ISMN. In particular, this opportunity for a practical test of the databases was very well received. Together with BfG´s Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) and the Global Precipitation and Climatology Centre (GPCC) at the German Weather Service (DWD), Germany has a leading role in operational hydrology at the UN level.

Jointly with Prof. Dr. Mariele Evers (UNESCO water chair Univ. Bonn), Harald Köthe (Director ICWRGC) presented an impulse lecture on the just started UNESCO IHP IX Programme and made the case for increasing the visibility of the multifarious international research activities of the German hydrological community in the UNESCO IHPIX programme. There, the activities and results would receive more visibility and recognition for the water-related goals of the UN Agenda 2030. ICWRGC will inform the German water chairs and call for contributions regarding the outcome of the UN2023 Water Conference held parallel to the Hydrology Day.

Accelerating Change: World Water Day 2023 and the UN 2023 Water Conference

The world is not on track to achieve the ambitious targets of SDG 6 to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Meeting drinking water, sanitation and hygiene targets by 2030 requires four times increase in the pace of progress. This year’s World Water Day1 is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis.

Today, on World Water Day, the United Nations launched the 2nd UN Water Conference2, which will focus on the critical role of water in ensuring sustainable water management and addressing global water challenges. The Conference will take place at UN Headquarters in New York from 22 to 24 March and is co-hosted by Tajikistan and the Netherlands.

Water is a dealmaker for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and for the health and prosperity of people and the planet. Water is thus central to addressing the triple planetary crisis (climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution). Yet progress on water-related SDGs and targets remains alarmingly off track, putting the entire sustainable development agenda at risk.

The conference, which brings together water experts, policymakers and representatives from different sectors, aims to find inclusive, action-oriented and cross-sectoral voluntary commitments by governments and stakeholders to get back on track with regard to the SDG process and SDG6 and other water-related goals and targets, in particular with a new Water Action Agenda as a mandated outcome of the UN Water Conference in 2023.

In his invitation, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasised the need for greater engagement by governments, industry and other stakeholders, calling it a crucial step towards achieving the water-related Sustainable Development Goals.

“The UN Water Conference in March 2023 must result in a bold water action agenda that gives our world’s lifeblood the commitment it deserves,” he said.

The ICWRGC will contribute to the conference as part of the German delegation and to support the activities of the UN agencies, in particular

  1. Science-Based Global Water Assessment (UNESCO)3
  2. Realizing Early Warning Systems for All (WMO)4
  3. Acceleration for ambient water quality action – A UN Systems Approach (UNEP/WMO/UNESCO, #SDGAction49536)5

The core of our engagement is to highlight the importance of of in-situ water observation data for decision making and to promote evidence-based policies that address water-related issues. By operating global water data centres, the ICWRGC and the Federal Institute of Hydrology primarily aim to improve the global exchange of hydrological observations as a contribution to the SDG6 accelerator “Data and Information”.

Stephan Dietrich (Deputy Director ICWRGC) added that observations are key to decision making, but in particular the in situ water observation network is not often visible to high-level policy makers worldwide. “We cannot manage what we do not measure and understand. It would be important to connect the water agenda with the agendas on climate change and biodiversity loss, also to ensure sustainable funding of observational networks” he said. In addition, observational data have great value beyond national borders, for example to develop or improve early warning systems, so commitments to improved open exchange of observation data would be another key to achieving the SDGs.

The ICWRGC also addresses defragmentation of water observations in the complex UN system. UNEP and partners have come up with a game-changing idea to reorganise global water quality monitoring. “Bringing together the leading activities of UNEP (Global Environmental Monitoring System for Water Quality), UNESCO’s International Initiative for Water Quality, and WMO’s long-term ambition ‘Water Quality is Known’ would have great potential to accelerate the implementation of SDG6.3 on ambient water quality,” says Philipp Saile, head of the GEMS/Water Data Centre.

In this role, the ICWRGC also strongly supports the #OpenWaterData campaign for governments and organizations led by our partner centre IGRAC, which also has the support of WMO and UNESCO. Join the commitment that IGRAC will submit to the Water Action Agenda (by 31 March). Read the pledge here6 and join by filling out this form.7

The UN Water Conference 2023 comes at a critical time as the world faces increasing challenges of water scarcity and pollution. The conference aims to provide a platform for sharing knowledge and best practices, and accelerate change towards a more sustainable water future.

1https://www.worldwaterday.org/

2https://sdgs.un.org/conferences/water2023

3https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-proposing-global-assessment-could-be-game-changer-reaching-worlds-water-goals

4https://public.wmo.int/en/earlywarningsforall

5https://sdgs.un.org/partnerships/acceleration-ambient-water-quality-action-un-systems-approach

6https://un-igrac.org/news/join-openwaterdata-commitment-and-campaign

7https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe7rfnbXUKULHLcZaCPmOdf2YGHRfShFqn_u5HOQi5TKS1vyQ/viewform

New EURO-FRIEND workshop/training series from 03/2023 until 12/2023

For a second time, Dr. Bastien Dieppois, Assistant Professor in Water and Climate Change at Coventry University, Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, and Coordinator of UNESCO EURO FRIEND-Water Project-3 on Large Scale Variations in Hydrological Characteristics, has announced a EURO-FRIEND workshop/training series to be held between March and December 2023.

Once a month, either a seminar or training course on the use of new datasets, methodologies, or new results in the field will be organized. These seminars/training workshops will be open to everyone and free of charge.

This initiative is intended to encourage more early-career scientists to join the EURO-FRIEND initiative and enhance collaboration between the FRIEND-water community across the world.

More information on the workshop series and registration is available here:

www.researchgate.net

The sessions will be available at the EURO-FRIEND YouTube channel:

YouTube

Dr. Renee van Dongen-Köster

Project coordinator of the TG02-Project URSACHEN

Contact:
Federal Institute of Hydrology
P.O. Box 200253
56002 Koblenz, Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 261 1306 5881
Email:

Research

  • Fluvial geomorphology
  • Sediment transport in rivers
  • River incision modelling
  • Quantifying erosion rates using Cosmogenic Nuclides.

Tasks

  • Project coordination of the URSACHEN-project: Uncertainties in the quantification of spatially and temporally varying particulate matter transport in rivers.
  • Quantification of global matter transport based on the GEMstat database.
  • Development of data products and analysis tools for the calculation of particulate matter transport.

Community contributions

  • 2019 – 2021: Board member of the German Young Geomorphologists
  • 2019 & current: Co-convening a session at the EGU in Wien titled “Crowd-solving Problems in Earth Sciences”
  • 2019 & 2020: Co-convening a session at the EGU in Wien titled “Novel Approaches in Geochronology: Quantifying Geomorphological Processes and Landscape Dynamics”

Research Experience

2016-2021: Doctoral student at the German Research Centre for Geosciences, Department of Earth Surface Geochemistry – Potsdam, Germany

2015: Research Intern at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy – Potsdam, Germany

Teaching Experience

2016-2018: Student Assistant “Isotopic quantification of dates and rates in geomorphology” – Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Education

2009-2013 Master of Science, Soil Geography and Earth Surface Dynamics – Wageningen University, The Netherlands

2013-2015 Bachelor of Science, Soil, Water and Atmosphere – Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Publications in scientific journals

Van Dongen, R. Discharge variability and river incision along a climate gradient in central Chile. PhD thesis, http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-32011, 2021.

van Dongen, R., Scherler, D., Wittmann, H. and von Blanckenburg, F.: Cosmogenic 10Be in river sediment: where grain size matters and why, Earth Surf. Dynam., 7, 393–410, doi:10.5194/esurf-7-393-2019, 2019

Germer, S., van Dongen, R. and Kern, J.: Decomposition of cherry tree prunings and their short-term impact on soil quality, Appl. Soil Ecol., 117–118(January), 156–164, doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2017.05.003, 2017.

 

 

Conference contributions

van Dongen, R., Scherler, D., Wendi, D., Deal, E., Meier, C., Marwan, N., Mao, L. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) controls on mean streamflow and streamflow variability in Central Chile. EGU 2022 (PICO).

van Dongen, R., Scherler, D., Deal, E., Meier, C., Mao, L., Lisac, I.  Discharge variability along a climate gradient in Chile: seasonality and (eco-)hydrological modulation by catchment attributes. EGU 2019 (PICO).

van Dongen, R., Scherler, D., Deal, E., Meier, C., Mao, L., Lisac, I.  Which catchment characteristics control the magnitude-frequency distribution of river discharge? AGU 2018 (poster).

van Dongen, R., Scherler, D., Wittmann, H., von Blanckenburg, F. Grain size-dependent 10Be concentrations in river sediment: Why they matter in high mountain landscapes. Central European Conference on Geomorphology and Quaternary Sciences, 2018 (talk).

van Dongen, R., Scherler, D., Wittmann, H., von Blanckenburg, F. Where do 10Be-derived denudation rates depend on grain size? EGU 2018 (poster).

van Dongen, R., Germer, S., Kern, J., Stoorvogel, J. Visual versus chemical evaluation: Effects of pruning wood decomposition on soil quality in a cherry orchard (Northeast Germany). EGU 2016 (PICO).

Back to "Team"