EESS talk on "Challenges and opportunities in catchment hydrology"
Event details
Date | 08.05.2018 |
Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
Speaker | Dr Paolo Benettin, ECHO (Laboratory of Ecohydrology), IIE, EPF Lausanne |
Location | |
Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Abstract:
Catchment hydrology deals with the study of flow and transport at the scale of whole watersheds. It is a broad discipline that ranges from the study of precipitation to land as rainfall or snowfall, to its infiltration into the soil and its (long) groundwater journey up to a main stream outlet. Catchments are the place where water interacts with soil and where it supports terrestrial life, including human’s. They are sometimes seen as large and heterogeneous biogeochemical reactors, or as fundamental organizing structures for landforms and ecosystems. From a water management point of view, catchments are an ideal domain to formulate (and close) the water balance. The main challenge with catchment hydrologic processes is the intrinsic and wide heterogeneity of the natural environment. Although technological development provides continuously improved ways to observe and sense the landscape, our ability to aggregate heterogeneous processes, especially in the subsurface, is still inadequate. Catchments are also fertile land for new development and discoveries. Some critical research questions, bearing directly on some of the most pressing societal problems, include how runoff is generated, how long water (and solutes) are retained within a catchment, what water plants have access to and how hydrologic systems react to change.
Short biography:
Paolo Benettin is a research scientist at the Laboratory of Ecohydrology at EPFL since 2015. He owns a master and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from University of Padova, Italy. His main research field is catchment hydrology, with special interest in hydrologic transport and travel time distributions. His work aims at bridging and implementing theories of transport at catchment scale with empirical evidence from field measurements.
Catchment hydrology deals with the study of flow and transport at the scale of whole watersheds. It is a broad discipline that ranges from the study of precipitation to land as rainfall or snowfall, to its infiltration into the soil and its (long) groundwater journey up to a main stream outlet. Catchments are the place where water interacts with soil and where it supports terrestrial life, including human’s. They are sometimes seen as large and heterogeneous biogeochemical reactors, or as fundamental organizing structures for landforms and ecosystems. From a water management point of view, catchments are an ideal domain to formulate (and close) the water balance. The main challenge with catchment hydrologic processes is the intrinsic and wide heterogeneity of the natural environment. Although technological development provides continuously improved ways to observe and sense the landscape, our ability to aggregate heterogeneous processes, especially in the subsurface, is still inadequate. Catchments are also fertile land for new development and discoveries. Some critical research questions, bearing directly on some of the most pressing societal problems, include how runoff is generated, how long water (and solutes) are retained within a catchment, what water plants have access to and how hydrologic systems react to change.
Short biography:
Paolo Benettin is a research scientist at the Laboratory of Ecohydrology at EPFL since 2015. He owns a master and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from University of Padova, Italy. His main research field is catchment hydrology, with special interest in hydrologic transport and travel time distributions. His work aims at bridging and implementing theories of transport at catchment scale with empirical evidence from field measurements.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- EESS - IIE
Contact
- Prof. Andrea Rinaldo, ECHO