Innovation in Hydrometry – from ideas to operation

                       


The workshop will be held in Geneva at WMO headquarters on December 4th and 5th 2017.

Sensing the hydrological cycle is key to understand natural processes. However, the monitoring systems currently operated by National Hydrological Services are very expensive to install and maintain. Too expensive for some applications, such as capacity development efforts in low-income countries. Limited budgets in developing countries but also shrinking budgets in developed countries put pressure on manufacturers and customers of hydrometry equipment to find more cost-effective solutions. MOXXI and HydroHub jointly address the need for increased data quality, spatial/temporal resolution and availability of hydrological observations by resorting to innovation and multidisciplinary.

Further information is available on the IAHS website at http://iahs.info/Commissions--W-Groups/Working-Groups/MOXXI/Information/MOXXI-2017.do

The 4th IAHR-WMO-IAHS Training Course on Stream gauging will be held as part of the RiverFlow 2018 conference, with separate registration.

Three days will be dedicated to Hydrometry basics, field and classroom exercises and recent advances (technology and uncertainty analysis), by internationally recognized lecturers. The audience will be students and professional field hydrologists. The three first courses were held in Brescia (Italy, 2011), Andong (Korea, 2013) and Hanoi (Vietnam, 2014).
 
Schedule:
Sunday September 2nd, 2018 – Hydrometry basics
Monday September 3rd, 2018 – Field gauging exercises
Tuesday September 4th, 2018 – Modern gauging technologies and uncertainty analysis

Contact: for sponsoring the course, proposing exhibition or for any information, please contact Jérôme Le Coz .

English will be the official language of the course.

International lecturers:  
Dominique Bérod, WMO, Geneva, Switzerland
Alexandre Hauet, EDF, Grenoble, France
Prof. Ichiro Fujita, Kobe University, Japan
Boosik Kang (Chair of the course), Dankook University, Korea
Dongsu Kim, Dankook University, Korea
Jérôme Le Coz (Vice-Chair of the course), Irstea, Lyon, France
Marian Muste, University of Iowa, USA
Prof. Roberto Ranzi, University of Brescia, Italy

More information is available through the course website.

Beijing IAHS - 13-15 June 2018

Innovative Water Resources Management under Changing Environment - Understanding Interactions and Making Balance between Humankind and Nature

The eighth in the series of IWRM conferences organized by IAHS-ICWRS will be held in Beijing (China) in the 13th-15th June 2018.

I would like to remind you that the deadline for abstract submission is 15th September 2017.

Conference themes:

• Assessment of available water resources at regional and basin scales
• Ecological baseflow /Environmental flow to maintain the health of rivers and lakes
• Spatiotemporal distribution of water resources availability
• Water needs for a healthy society
• Impact of climate change and human activities on water resources
• Water resources allocation and management models
• Interactions between water resources and ecosystem
• Socio-hydrology as the basis of water resources management
• Risk analysis for water resources systems, and
• Related issues

For further information about registration, accommodation, abstract and paper submission, conference fees and programme, please visit the conference website: http://iwrm2018.bnu.edu.cn/ 

I would be most grateful, if you distributed this enews among people potentially interested in the conference.

See you soon in Beijing.

Yours faithfully
Alberto Viglione
Secretary of ICWRS

IAHS are pleased to be a partner in the upcoming 18th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWP-SA Symposium.

The 18th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWP-SA Symposium will be held in Swakopmund, Namibia from 25th – 27th October 2017 under the theme Integrated Water Resources Development and Management: Innovative Technological Advances for Water Security in Eastern and Southern Africa. The Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry is the lead host of the 18th Symposium.

The Symposia have been held annually in the Eastern and Southern African regions for the past 17 years to promote interaction among policymakers, academics, practitioners from water and related sectors, and cooperating partners. Together, they identify regional issues, gaps and priorities that require further research and support. Great emphasis will be placed on integration of knowledge, particularly involving scholars form the natural and social sciences.

This year, the sub-themes of the symposium have been aligned to those of the SADC Research Agenda under the Regional Strategic Action Plan on the Integrated Water Resources development and Management Phase IV. It is intended that researchers identify themes under which their projects fit within the SADC Research agenda, and thereby contribute to its main objective which is:

Promoting evidence-based implementation of SADC water programmes and projects through multi- and inter-disciplinary research, and synthesis of existing and new information, which will lead to a realisation of SADC developmental goals.

For more information read the Second Call

It is with great sadness that we report the sudden and untimely death of Professor Wayne Erskine who passed away in Darwin in late July 2017. 

Wayne graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in Fluvial Geomorphology (1987) from the University of New South Wales, Australia.  He held academic positions at the University of New South Wales, University of Newcastle – Ourimbah Campus and Charles Darwin University and, also, research scientist positions with New South Wales Department of Water Resources, New South Wales State Forest, Office of the Supervising Scientist (OSS), and the Environmental Institute of the Supervising Scientist (ERISS). He had recently been appointed as the sub-editor of Geographical Research. Wayne was a keen fisherman and spoke often of his obsession for everything related to freshwater science.

Wayne was an exceptionally productive and influential fluvial geomorphologist publishing over 230 peer reviewed international and national journal manuscripts, conference papers and book chapters.  He supervised 35 post graduate students. Wayne had been a strong supporter of, and contributor to, ICCE activities since the mid-1980s and will be warmly remembered for his in depth and wide readership of the scientific literature which permitted him to engage in detail with all scientists on their work, his ability to produce high quality papers for the Red Book series, his extremely engaging and word perfect presentations on diverse subjects and increasingly on work bridging pure and applied science, and his capacity to ask incisive questions at conferences backed up by his broad, but in-depth, knowledge and understanding. He had recently been discussing the possibility of hosting a future ICCE meeting with the current committee. Wayne will be greatly missed and is survived by three children - Vanessa, Aaron, Jessica and his Mother Judith.

Professor Adrian Collins, President ICCE

Water System Knowledge Innovation and its Practices in Developing Countries

November 20-22, 2017  Gorgan, Iran

This international conference aims to bring together scientists (in particular from developing countries) and various disciplines that share a common interest in addressing the challenges of understanding and managing water systems.

A special session will be held on the Caspian Sea water-related management challenges to provide a forum for more detailed discussion on an important water system and its dynamics. A one-day field trip will be organized to the southern coastal areas of the Caspian Sea and the nearby Hyrcanian forests.

The broad aims are to enhance the contribution of strategic scientific and technical research and innovation to the sustainable management of water systems, including rivers, groundwater and wetlands.

There are four main objectives for this conference:

(1)  To understand major water system problems and their root causes particularly in developing countries in coupled nature-human systems;

(2)  To demonstrate current hydrological knowledge of models, tools and case studies to deal with water system problems e.g. water scarcity, water-related disasters, groundwater depletion, water-related poverty and conflicts;

(3)  To identify demand for hydrological innovation to meet the grand water system challenges particularly IWM under the severe climate change conditions as well as under unstable policy and management conditions; and

(4)  To develop a multi-national and multi-disciplinary cooperation framework with a concrete working plan in order to provide capacity building, monitoring equipments, and free software packages and decision support systems for developing countries, and to expand Panta Rhei as well as IAHS through establishing national committees and regional networks and increasing members in these counties.

Registration fees and logistics

No registration fees will be charged, but participants are responsible for their own international flights. Conference organizers will arrange for accommodation and travelling within Iran.

Key deadlines

June 9, 2017                   First announcement of the conference
August 14, 2017              Second announcement of the conference
September 8, 2017         Deadline for collecting submissions
October 31, 2017            Last announcement with detailed conference information
November 20-22, 2017    Conference and excursion

Further information is available in the Second Announcement

Congratulations to the recipients of the International Hydrology Prize (Dooge medal and Volker medal) for 2017!

THE 2017 INTERNATIONAL HYDROLOGY PRIZE MEDALISTS:
Dooge medal: Zbigniew Kundzewicz (Poland)

Left to right: Dominique Bérod (Chief WMO), Hubert Savenije (President IAHS), Zbigniew Kundzewicz (Dooge Medal Recipient), Abou Amani (Chief of Section HSS, UNESCO)

For the full citation and response see the IAHS webpage http://iahs.info/About-IAHS/Competition--Events/International-Hydrology-Prize/International-Hydrology-Prize-Winners/Z-Kundzewicz.do

Volker medal:  Dan Rosbjerg (Denmark)

Left to right: Dominique Bérod (Chief WMO), Hubert Savenije (President IAHS), Dan Rosbjerg (Volker Medal Recipient), Abou Amani (Chief of Section HSS, UNESCO)

For the full citation and response see the IAHS webpage http://iahs.info/About-IAHS/Competition--Events/International-Hydrology-Prize/International-Hydrology-Prize-Winners/D-Rosbjerg.do

Awarded during the IAHS2017 Scientific Assembly in Port Elizabeth, South Africa (13th July 2017).

The International Hydrology Prize is awarded annually by IAHS, with UNESCO and WMO, to two people who have made an outstanding contribution to hydrological science.

Nominations for the 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.

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.

The 2017 Tison award was presented to Mohammad Merheb during the IAHS 2017 Scientific Assembly in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

For the paper:
Mohammad Merheb, Roger Moussa, Chadi Abdallah, François Colin, Charles Perrin & Nicolas Baghdadi (2016) Hydrological response characteristics of Mediterranean catchments at different time scales: a meta-analysis, Hydrological Sciences Journal, 61:14,2520-2539, DOI: 10.1080/02626667.2016.1140174

Left to right: Christophe Cudennec (Secretary General IAHS), Mohammad Merheb (NCSR Lebanon, Tison Award Recipient), Demetris Koutsoyiannis (HSJ Co-Editor).

The paper is available open access: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02626667.2016.1140174

The IAHS Tison Award, established in 1982, aims to promote excellence in research by young hydrologists. The Award is granted for an outstanding paper published by IAHS in a period of two years previous to the deadline for nominations.

For the full citation and response see the IAHS web page: http://iahs.info/About-IAHS/Competition--Events/Tison-Award/Tison-Award-winners/Mohammad-Merheb.do

This year the traditional IAHS Frisbee game was held on a sandy Port Elizabeth beach. The game opposed the stationary ungauged hydrologists (SUHs) to the nonstationary gauged hydrologists (SGHs), being a perfect mix of the two PUB (SUHs team) and Panta Rhei (SGHs team) decades’ researchers.

The first ten minutes of the game were heavily disputed between the two teams. Some time was indeed necessary to adapt to the unusual sandy and windy terrain conditions, as well as to the salty water. The SGHs team fast developed a stochastic model that could adapt to the wind gusts, as well as to the drop of wind, to dry and wet sandy land use, and to the rising Indian Ocean tide and even to waves. They consequently scored first, taking advantage of the changing conditions, which they are used to. This resulted into a fast growing score, up to 6-0 for SGHs.

Over confident with their score advantage, the Panta Rhei SHGs team decided that they had to also take advantage of their moto: “Everything flows”, which in that case was adapted to “Everything floats”. For this reason, they decided to throw the Frisbee into the ocean. To their surprise, Frisbees do not float very well and the one they threw disappeared, so the players had to use a new one.

The SUHs team, oppositely to the over-calibrated SGHs team, did not need calibration for this new Frisbee, so they began to score their first points: 6-2. However, the original Frisbee reappeared from the water and with this well-known Frisbee, the score went fast to 11-2 for the SGHs team.

It was time for the golden Frisbee, i.e. the last point that would decide upon the winners of the game. Again, the SUHs did not need calibration for this new rule and they scored fast, putting an end to this pleasant game, with a score of 11-3.

We are all waiting forward for a new game in Montréal in 2019.
   

Thanks to all of the players of the Frisbee game (not all of them are on the picture): Samuel Monhard, Berny Bisselink, Giuliano di Baldassare, Alberto Viglione, Gil Mahé, Giuseppe Formetta, Shuya Liu, Tao Chen, Weifei Zheng, Wenpeng Wang, Valérie Borrell-Estumina, Sandra van Exter, David Milan, Corinna Abesser, Johan Strömqvist, Omen, Remko Nijzink and Guillaume Thirel.

More photos are available on the IAHS facebook page.