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Andrea

GTN-H status report on monitoring and data exchange concerning global terrestrial water cycle and water resources published

Today, the most recent report of the Global Terrestrial Network’s Panel for Hydrology has been published as a GCOS publication.

Data and information provided by the GTN-H global data centres continue to be essential sources of information for the UN, regional and national programmes, and projects in support of development and science. This was particularly evident in June 2019, when the 18th WMO Congress recognised GTN-H and its federated data centres as a major WMO hydrological initiative supporting the GCOS implementation plan and improving data interoperability. GTN-H operates under the auspices of GCOS and WMO and is engaged in the consistent monitoring of the terrestrial part of the global water cycle and global water resources, in particular focussing on in situ observations.

The report looks at the status of GTN-H member networks and data centres and summarises the work plan for 2019-21. The latter has a clear focus on further supporting the exchange of global water data together with the partner organisations, and in particular the federated data centres.

The exchange of water data is currently also the subject of the WMO Data Conference, where GTN-H is actively contributing by demonstrating its facilities and infrastructure.

It can be found in the WMO library:

GTN-H status report

14th International German Summer School on Hydrology (IGSH 2020) – Groundwater and Energy

Bochum, 09–22 September 2020

As in previous years, the “International German Summer School on Hydrology (IGSH)” was held at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) from 09–22 September 2020. This year’s focus was on “groundwater and energy”.

The Summer School is intended for international students and junior scientists (primarily from developing countries) from the water and environmental sectors, engineering sciences as well as geography, hydrology, and chemistry. Courses are held solely in English and cover various topics in the hydrogeology and hydrology sector. The participants are awarded credit points for their degree programme in the event of a successful completion of the course.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer School was held as an online event for the first time. Thus, the focus was on scientific lectures and corresponding tutorials as well as virtual teamwork based on real data. On top of that, cultural and social aspects were transmitted i.a. as self-produced videos. Although the participants came from all continents and therefore different time zones, a continuous presence of all attendees was assured.

As in previous years, the Summer School was supported by ICWRGC as a successful German contribution in the field of training and capacity development for the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) of UNESCO.

IGSH Uni Bochum

Paving the Way for WMO’s Future Hydrology Strategy

Jan Danhelka, Deputy Director and Head of the Division of Hydrology of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute as well as Chairperson of WMO`s first Hydrological Assembly and Hydrological Coordination Panel (HCP), explains in his current video the latest draft of the WMO Vision and Strategy for Operational Hydrology and Action Plan to cope with future water challenges. Pending the extraordinary Congress of WMO (31 May – 04 June 2021), this draft will be further developed and agreed by the member states. Thus, the Hydrological Programme (HWRP) of WMO will be continued.

Vision and Strategy for Hydrology and associated Plan of Action (Draft)

EC-72 - 3.4 - Operational hydrology in addressing global water challenges from WMO - OMM on Vimeo.

Is there enough water in the world for everyone?

On the occasion of the World Water Week, Dr. Robert Reinecke, Deputy Director of ICWRGC, gave an interview on the German radio station radioeins dealing with the question “Is there enough water in the world for everyone?”. The World Water Week is the most influential conference of this kind. For the first time, the entire conference will be held online.

radioeins Podcast in German language (MP3, 5MB, 160 Kbit/s, 4:32 Min)www.worldwaterweek.org

ICWRGC and SASSCAL sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

ICWRGC and SASSCAL (The Southern African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management) based in Windhoek, Namibia, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on 23.07.2020. SASSCAL is a joint intergovernmental initiative of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Germany in response to the challenges of global change. The main objective of this MoU is to support education and research in Africa within the scope of the SASSCAL Graduate Studies PhD Programme in the field of Integrated Water Resources Management. In future, institutions of the scientific advisory board and the German Hydrological Network („University Day“, DHG – German Hydrological Society) may contribute topics for doctoral theses and co-supervise these via the ICWRGC, as partner of SASSCAL. The academic training of the doctoral candidates will take place at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). The cooperation of ICWRGC and SASSCAL is intended to promote training and education of a new generation of African hydrologists as well as the development of internationally relevant science in the field of water.

More information: http://www.sasscal.org/

IHP Danube: Publication of New Monograph on Flood Regime of Rivers in Danube River Basin

The IHP Danube has recently published a Monograph of the Flood Regime of River Danube and its catchment. Below please find a brief summary of its content.

Hochwasser in Linz (Österreich) – Flood in Linz (Austria)

It is perceived that extreme climatic and hydrological events have become more frequent in recent years. There are suggestions that this phenomenon may be caused by man-induced global warming. This perception is in some cases supported by scientific evidence, but still not widely recognised. Trends in fluvial flooding are rather difficult to detect, as changes in factors such as land use, reservoirs, drainage or flood alleviation schemes will impact on the flood regime in addition to climate-related changes.

Against this background, a new study has appeared, focusing on flood characteristics and analysing the evidence of changes in flood regimes of rivers in the Danube River basin. The authors have assessed the flood phenomena in the Danube River Basin from a long-term point of view using hydrological information from gauging stations in the whole river basin under different aspects. In addition to the documentation and investigation of historical floods, an analysis of the spatio-temporal behaviour of floods in this major catchment area has been implemented In addition, suitable evaluation procedures for the underlying extensive database have been developed, adapted and applied.

With its length of about 2826 km, River Danube is the second largest river in Europe. As many as 19 countries share its catchment area of app. 817000 km². The follow-up volume of the Danube Hydrological Monograph is a result of 10 years of collaboration of a large team of hydrologists from 11 member countries of the Danube cooperation within the scope of the International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO (IHP UNESCO).

The product can be downloaded under: https://doi.org/10.31577/2019.9788089139460

Abou Amani New Interim-Director of UNESCO-IHP Secretariat

Previously, Mr. Amani worked as Office Manager in the Chief Executive Office of Ms. Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences at UNESCO.

www.unesco.org (Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences)

The position as Chief of Section (Hydrological Systems and Water Scarcity) in the IHP-Secretariat continues to be posted in UNESCO’s international job pool.

www.careers.unesco.org (Chief of Section Hydrological Systems and Water Scarcity)

Currently, UNESCO and its member states are preparing Phase nine (2022–2029) of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP IX). As a second step, it will submit the 2nd Order Draft of IHP IX to the member states for discussion in the IHP-Council in October 2020.

URSACHEN Project

Ursachen-project Flyer

Uncertainties of an often unknown magnitude are often inherent in data on water quality and suspended matter concentrations.,This is due to the spatiotemporal variability of the dissolved and suspended matter in combination with the representativity of the sampling process (duration, spatial distribution, measurement interval). The consequences are major uncertainties in the calculation of yearly loads, posing a considerable challenge to the monitoring of river systems. The URSACHEN project investigates the spatiotemporal variability of dissolved and suspended substances in rivers and derives methodological implications for the uncertainty determination of global substance loads.

URSACHEN Flyer

Download: PDF, 2 p., 2,4 MB

Diesen Beitrag drucken

75th anniversary of the United Nations

75 years ago, after the end of WW2, the United Nations were founded in Washington/USA in October 1945, with their charter already having been signed in June ’45. UN organisations were gradually installed, e.g. the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in October 1945, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November ‘45, the World Health Organization WHO in 1948, the World Meteorological Organization WMO in May 1950 and the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP in June 1972. After its foundation in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany has contributed i.a. by establishing the German Secretariat to the UNESCO (IHP) and WMO (HWRP) water programmes since 1974/1975. These activities, along with further mandates (e.g. by UNEP), have been combined under the auspices of the International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC) at the Federal Institute of Hydrology in Koblenz since 2014. At present, the UN activities in the water sector are distributed among 32 institutions with a coordinated mechanism under the aegis of UN Water. UN Water was founded in 2003, but its origins date back as far as 1977, when the “UN Intersecretariat Group for Water Resources” took up its work in New York. Against this international background, ICWRGC is guided by an interministerial group (National Committee) chaired by the Foreign Office.

Since 2011, 193 countries, and thus almost all states of the world, are members of the United Nations.

www.un.org (United Nations 75th anniversary)www.unwater.orgwww.unesco.org (UNESCO-IHP)www.wmo.int (WMO-HWRP)www.unenvironment.org (GEMS/Water Programme of UNEP)

ISI – Training Workshop “River Basin Sediment Monitoring and Management”

Date: September 7 – 11 September 2020
Venue: Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany

The workshop under the umbrella of UNESCO’s International Sediment Initiative (ISI) aims at providing knowledge on:

  • sediment measurement and monitoring
  • transferring measurement and monitoring results to management solutions
  • improving current sediment management strategies to find sustainable solutions
  • evolving from local river management to integrated landscape management.

Although its focus will be on suspended sediments in inland waters, the course also intends to highlight possible impacts on downstream areas, including estuaries and coastal zones. The workshop’s emphasis is on training and capacity development. It is co-organized by BfG, ICWRGC and the International Research and Training Centre for Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES, Beijing, China).

Contact: Renee van Dongen, ICWRGC; Dr. Thomas Hoffmann, BfG