ENAC Seminar Series by Dr J. von Freyberg
Event details
| Date | 25.05.2021 |
| Hour | 08:45 › 09:30 |
| Speaker | Dr Jana von Freyberg |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
08:45 – 09:30 – Dr J. von Freyberg
Senior Scientist (SNSF PRIMA group leader) at EPFL, Switzerland
Going with the flow - Understanding visible and invisible water flow processes in Swiss
catchments
Imagining water flow in mountain catchments makes most of us think about visible water, such as in streams, wetlands and ponds; however, most of the water remains invisible to us as it flows through the soil and bedrock in the subsurface. Climate change and water extraction is likely to negatively impact the quantity and quality of both visible and invisible water, with potentially severe impacts on ecosystems and human societies that depend on these mountain freshwater resources. To anticipate and assess these impacts it is crucial to develop a mechanistic understanding of how water and solute transport processes in mountain catchments are controlled by meteorological conditions and landscape properties.
In this lecture I will highlight some of my previous and current research in which I have used stable water isotopes as environmental tracers to study these processes across different spatial and temporal scales. Together, we will follow the flow of water to explore how rainfall becomes runoff, why some Swiss catchments store more water than others and why many headwater streams flow only temporarily. Lastly, I will outline future activities of my research group, such as quantifying the susceptibility of Europe’s mountain catchments to changes in snow cover, and incorporating our new process understanding into hydrologic catchment models to more robustly predict the effects of climate change on water availability.
Short bio:
Jana von Freyberg has studied Geoengineering with a major in Hydrogeology at Technical University Berlin (Germany) in 2010. She moved to Switzerland in the same year to start her PhD project on «Groundwater dynamics and streamflow generation in a mountainous headwater catchment -
Process understanding from field experiments and modelling studies» at Eawag and Université de Neuchâtel, with collaborators at Purdue University and Pennsylvania State University (USA). As a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, Jana von Freyberg implemented a first-of-its kind field laboratory in the Swiss Alptal research catchment to study highly dynamic hydro-chemical rainfall-runoff responses. In addition, Jana von Freyberg supervised several MSc and PhD student projects focusing on snow accumulation and -melt processes and on novel hydrological measurement techniques. In 2018, she received an ETHZ Career Seed Grant to conduct experimental research on in-situ isotope measurements in plants and soils at UC Berkeley (USA). In addition, Jana von Freyberg was awarded a SNF Prima fellowship to establish her own research group at EPFL in 2020. Her group currently investigates the streamflow generating mechanisms of temporary headwater streams in Swiss catchments with the ultimate goal to better predict the timing and locations of hydrologic shifts under a changing climate.
Senior Scientist (SNSF PRIMA group leader) at EPFL, Switzerland
Going with the flow - Understanding visible and invisible water flow processes in Swiss
catchments
Imagining water flow in mountain catchments makes most of us think about visible water, such as in streams, wetlands and ponds; however, most of the water remains invisible to us as it flows through the soil and bedrock in the subsurface. Climate change and water extraction is likely to negatively impact the quantity and quality of both visible and invisible water, with potentially severe impacts on ecosystems and human societies that depend on these mountain freshwater resources. To anticipate and assess these impacts it is crucial to develop a mechanistic understanding of how water and solute transport processes in mountain catchments are controlled by meteorological conditions and landscape properties.
In this lecture I will highlight some of my previous and current research in which I have used stable water isotopes as environmental tracers to study these processes across different spatial and temporal scales. Together, we will follow the flow of water to explore how rainfall becomes runoff, why some Swiss catchments store more water than others and why many headwater streams flow only temporarily. Lastly, I will outline future activities of my research group, such as quantifying the susceptibility of Europe’s mountain catchments to changes in snow cover, and incorporating our new process understanding into hydrologic catchment models to more robustly predict the effects of climate change on water availability.
Short bio:
Jana von Freyberg has studied Geoengineering with a major in Hydrogeology at Technical University Berlin (Germany) in 2010. She moved to Switzerland in the same year to start her PhD project on «Groundwater dynamics and streamflow generation in a mountainous headwater catchment -
Process understanding from field experiments and modelling studies» at Eawag and Université de Neuchâtel, with collaborators at Purdue University and Pennsylvania State University (USA). As a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, Jana von Freyberg implemented a first-of-its kind field laboratory in the Swiss Alptal research catchment to study highly dynamic hydro-chemical rainfall-runoff responses. In addition, Jana von Freyberg supervised several MSc and PhD student projects focusing on snow accumulation and -melt processes and on novel hydrological measurement techniques. In 2018, she received an ETHZ Career Seed Grant to conduct experimental research on in-situ isotope measurements in plants and soils at UC Berkeley (USA). In addition, Jana von Freyberg was awarded a SNF Prima fellowship to establish her own research group at EPFL in 2020. Her group currently investigates the streamflow generating mechanisms of temporary headwater streams in Swiss catchments with the ultimate goal to better predict the timing and locations of hydrologic shifts under a changing climate.
Practical information
- General public
- Invitation required
- This event is internal
Organizer
- ENAC
Contact
- Cristina Perez