New IAHS Working Group on the History of Hydrology
In the Centenary year of IAHS it seems appropriate to consider a new international initiative on the History of Hydrology. Through the enthusiasm of some individuals, there have been past efforts to record some of the history of the science and its institutions (including the IAHS itself in Dan Rosbjerg and John Rodda’s 2019 paper in Hist. Geo Space. Sci., 10, 109–118) and the history-of-hydrology.net wiki site, but these have been somewhat fragmented. Thus, a new Working Group on the History of Hydrology has been formed with the aim of making contributions in the following areas:
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- To provide a central repository for information on the History of Hydrology with liaison, links and metadata on the existing initiatives and copies or links to important historical papers from multiple countries. (Lead: Keith Beven)
- To encourage more international contributions from countries that are not currently well represented in the existing resources, including the identification of important historical papers from those countries. (Lead: Changchun Chen, Pradeep Mujumdar)
- To encourage the recording of the contributions of female hydrologists (including interviews with late career female hydrologists). (Lead: Chantal Gascuel, Stacey Archfield, Lucy Marshall)
- To encourage the recording of the histories of experimental catchments where important advances in understanding of hydrological processes have been made (Lead Jeff McDonnell)
- To encourage the recording of the histories of hydrological models and the people who worked with them (Lead: Fabrizio Fenicia, Cristina Prieto)
- To provide a mechanism for the recording of the history of projects representing good practice in sustainable hydrology for societies under change, building on the Case Studies in Panta Rhei (Lead: Mario Mendiondo)
How to get involved
The initial development of the Working Group has been by means of personal contacts but if you would like to be involved in contributing to the Working Group then please send an email to [email protected]. A special session on the History of Hydrology was held at the IUGG/IAHS meeting in Berlin in 2023.