The final symposium for the scientific decade Panta Rhei – Change in Hydrology and Society brought together 150 hydrologists, engineers, social scientists and practitioners from 32 countries at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences from 10-11 July 2023. The community celebrated the progress made in the Panta Rhei Scientific Decade, identified remaining issues, and discussed further steps. During the symposium, the Panta Rhei synthesis book "Coevolution and Prediction of Coupled Human-Water Systems" was launched.

Programme with diverse perspectives

Keynote lectures by Johan Rockström (Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany), Fuqiang Tian (Professor at Tsinghua University, China), Manuela Brunner (Professor at ETH Zurich, Switzerland) and Joerg Niewoehner (Director of the Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys), Germany) highlighted the phenomena, problems and possible solutions associated with the changes in the water cycle due to global change from the perspectives of climate science, hydrology and anthropology. 

More than 40 young scientists had the opportunity to present their detailed results of case studies from around the world in flashlight talks and posters. A group of students from the socio-hydrology course at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin presented their interdisciplinary work on human-water relations along the Panke River in Berlin-Brandenburg. Two international panel discussions and the visionary outlook by Günter Blöschl (Professor at TU Wien and Past-President of IAHS) rounded off the programme.

Panel discussion on remaining gaps and future research (panellists from left to right: Alberto Montanari, Archana Sarkar, Valeriya Ovcharuk, Mariana de Brito, Pedro Chaffe and moderator Christophe Cudennec).

Among the important findings of the Panta Rhei decade are the following:

• • Long-term developments, including feedbacks between natural and socio-economic processes, need to be understood, as their failure to be taken into account can lead to unintended, negative consequences of human interventions
  • A participatory approach involving stakeholders adds relevant detail and legitimacy to the research design, modelling and outcomes
  • Justice and equity issues need to be considered in research design, modelling and implementation
  • Flood and drought risk management needs to adopt a longer-term complex system view rather than focusing on short-term risk reduction
  • There is even more potential for learning from similar water problems in different places of the world.

Heidi Kreibich, Panta Rhei chair for the period 2021-2023, adds: "We expect further progress through the interplay of broadening and synthesis: for example, we need to learn even more from other people and studies, empower local populations and build alliances with other scientific communities, for example from climate research. The Panta Rhei decade came to an end, but the vibrant, active community will continue to work together in the new International Commission on Human-Water Feedbacks (ICHWF) and will support the new scientific decade ‘Science for solutions: Hydrology Engaging Local People IN one Global world (HELPING)’.”

The results of the 2023 elections held during the IAHS Administrative Plenary on Wednesday 12 July. The Vice-President office will be held for the period 2023-2027. The President was elected in 2023, becoming President-Elect for two years, with a mandate of 2025-2029. In 2025 the President becomes Past-President and the President-Elect becomes President.

We are pleased to announce that the HELPING Working Groups are now live and ready for you to view at your convenience. The Working Groups have been built by the community by submitting a proposal. The list of suggested Working Groups, together with their proposal documents as well as a sign up form, are now available and we would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to sign up to a Working Group.

IAHS now offers a new tool for sharing scientific research across the world – the Digital Water Globe (DWG). This online application is a spinning globe that links to a zoomable map of the world, tagged with site-specific scientific case-studies (i.e. permanent digital poster exhibition linked to the IAHS website). Filtering is possible through key-words and the first version is filled with examples of case-studies from each continent, provided by the DWG Task Force, the Panta Rhei working group and some Bureau members.

The tool is now open for everybody and all IAHS members can ask for a log-in to contribute with content, such as case-studies, personal profiles, references to IAHS publications and links to data storage. Everything is tagged to key-words to be searchable and findable by anyone.

This new platform offers a quick global overview of on-going scientific activities and achievements in the hydrological community at different sites across the world. It provides an opportunity for outreach and sharing among scientists of new results that are not published yet, or to promote existing publications of thrilling results to be cited. It will also serve citizens, as the filtering function can highlight scientific messages and provide facts in the public debate.

The prototype was shown at the IAHS Scientific Assembly in Montpellier, France in 2022 and now the tool is operational in time for the 28th IUGG General Assembly next week in Berlin, Germany. Enjoy!

Share your hydrological science easily and find relevant studies here: https://dwg.smhi.se/dwg 

The International Conference on Mountain Hydrology and Cryosphere will be held in Kathmandu and Dhulikhel, Nepal, on 9 and 10 November 2023. 

The conference will cover a wide range of topics concerning mountain hydrology, cryosphere and related topics. The meeting will be dedicated to the following topics but not limited to:

• Mountain hydrology, hydrological modeling, glacio-hydrological modeling
• Groundwater hydrology, isotope hydrology, aquatic ecology, water quality and wastewater
• Transboundary issues of water resources, water resources management
• Hydro-meteorology in agriculture
• Cryosphere, climate change, cryospheric changes and their impacts on water resources  
• Glacier mass balance, glacier surface and energy balance modeling
• Debris-covered glacier and rock glacier, sedimentation
• Permafrost hydrology and mapping
• Water-induced disasters, snow and ice avalanches, glacial lake and glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), landslide and landslide damming outburst flood (LDOF)

The conference is organized by the Nepal Committee for the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), Himalayan Cryosphere, Climate and Disaster Research Center, Kathmandu University (HiCCDRC, KU) and The Small Earth Nepal (SEN). 

Abstract submission and online registration are now open https://www.iahs-nepal.org/icmhc-2023/registration-and-abstract-submission 

For additional information please visit the website: https://www.iahs-nepal.org/icmhc-2023 

HELPING Logo

This is a reminder that the logo of the HELPING decade will be found through an open competition. The winner will be selected through an open voting procedure at the IAHS meeting within the IUGG Assembly in Berlin. Your logo can be submitted as either .jpeg or .png or .pdf files and in a file size that is small enough to send via email. Please send your logo, together with a short description explaining your thoughts/ideas behind the design, to [email protected] before 30 June 2023.

The International Commission on Statistical Hydrology (ICSH) wish you to save the date for the 13th International Workshop on Statistical Hydrology (STAHY 2023), which will be hosted by the Northeastern University, Boston, USA during November 9-10 2023 with Early Career events on 8 November 2023.

The STAHY 2023 workshop aims to bridge the environmental statistics and artificial intelligence communities with vibrant scientific discussions and debates on advanced statistical methods to solve climate, water, and sustainability issues. 

With the advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are coming upon a renaissance in environmental statistics that STAHY 2023 wishes to capture in its theme. For example, machine learning, including the latest generative pretrained transformers, cannot work without probability theory, and nonlinear statistics can benefit from neural processing. 

Therefore, we welcome contributions on insights and approaches that use machine learning, artificial intelligence, and/or environmental statistics approaches topics that address climate, water, and sustainability issues.

Abstract submission will open in early July

Expression of Interest: If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please send an email to Stacey Archfield ([email protected]) under the subject “Expression of Interest for STAHY 2023”, including your name, surname and contact details (i.e. affiliation, email and preferred telephone number). We will be keeping you updated with the latest workshop news (dates, venue, deadlines, agenda, etc.)

This event is eligible for SYSTA travel awards. Full details and application form are available at https://iahs.info/About-IAHS/SYSTA-Grants/. The closing date for SYSTA applications is noon on 17th July 2023 (GMT).

IAHS are pleased to announce the award of the International Hydrology Prize (Dooge medal and Volker medal) for 2023 to:

Dooge medal - Aldo Fiori, Italy
                        - Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, Greece/USA 

Volker medal - Junguo Liu, China

Nominations for the annual Prize are made by National Committees to IAHS, National Committees to the UNESCO-IHP or National Hydrological Advisors to the WMO, and forwarded to the Secretary General of IAHS for consideration by the Nomination Committee. The Committee consists of the President and a Vice-President of IAHS and representatives of UNESCO and WMO.

As of 2014, two medals are awarded under the International Hydrology Prize: the Dooge medal and the Volker medal. Both medals are intended to distinguish outstanding achievements by hydrological scientists but with a different focus. The Dooge medal is aimed at fundamental contributions to the science of hydrology, whereas the Volker medal is aimed at outstanding applications of hydrological science for the benefit of society at large.

https://iahs.info/About-IAHS/Competition--Events/International-Hydrology-Prize   

Our warmest congratulations go to all recipients.

The International Hydrology Prize medals will be awarded on 15th July during the IUGG General Assembly in Berlin.

The countdown is over and we can finally unveil our new and modern website. Introducing the new iahs.info website - your new destination for all things IAHS. A brand new experience awaits.

Make your own contribution by engaging in an open competition for Best Graphical Logo for our Scientific Decade: HELPING Hydrology Engaging Local People IN one Global world. 

Come and see it for yourself.