We are once again looking for exceptional individuals to join our team for PhD (3 years) or postdoc (2 years) positions.
My reflections and notes about hydrology and being a hydrologist in academia. The daily evolution of my work. Especially for my students, but also for anyone with the patience to read them.
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Two possibile positions, if the right people show up
Monday, October 14, 2024
Let's start with Permafrost and Freezing soil ! A selection of readings for beginners compiled by John Mohd Wani
2. Permafrost distribution in the European Alps: calculation and evaluation of an index map and summary statistics
3. A statistical approach to modelling permafrost distribution in the European Alps or similar mountain ranges
4. GlobSim (v1.0): deriving meteorological time series for point locations from multiple global reanalyses
5. A robust and energy-conserving model of freezing variably-saturated soil
6. GEOtop 2.0: simulating the combined energy and water balance at and below the land surface accounting for soil freezing, snow cover and terrain effects
7. Statistical modelling of mountain permafrost distribution: local calibration and incorporation of remotely sensed data
8. Sensitivities and uncertainties of modeled ground temperatures in mountain environments
9. Mountain permafrost: development and challenges of a young research field
10. Permafrost and climate in Europe: Monitoring and modelling thermal, geomorphological and geotechnical responses
11. Transient thermal effects in Alpine permafrost
12. A method for solving heat transfer with phase change in ice or soil that allows for large time steps while guaranteeing energy conservation
13. Implementing the Water, HEat and Transport model in GEOframe (WHETGEO-1D v.1.0): algorithms, informatics, design patterns, open science features, and 1D deployment
14. Theoretical and numerical tools for studying the Critical Zone from plot to catchments
15. Theoretical progress freezing-thawing processes study
16. A sensitivity study of factors influencing warm/thin permafrost in the Swiss Alps
17. Application of Satellite Remote Sensing Techniques to Frozen Ground Studies
18. Derivation and analysis of a high-resolution estimate of global permafrost zonation
19. How Much of the Earth's Surface is Underlain by Permafrost?
20. Influence of snow cover on ground surface temperature in the zone of sporadic permafrost, Tatra Mountains, Poland and Slovakia
21. Influence of the seasonal snow cover on the ground thermal regime: An overview
22. Mapping and modelling the occurrence and distribution of mountain permafrost
23. Northern Hemisphere permafrost map based on TTOP modelling for 2000–2016 at 1 km2 scale
24. Numerical simulations of the influence of the seasonal snow cover on the occurrence of permafrost at high latitudes
25. Permafrost distribution modelling in the semi-arid Chilean Andes
27. Permafrost is warming at a global scale
28. The new database of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P)
Don't forget to keep an eye on the International Permafrost Association (IPA) website for events and other stuff related to permafrost. Also subscribe to the Permafrost Young Researcher's Network (PYRN), that promotes the future generation of permafrost researchers under the patronage of IPA.
Monday, September 30, 2024
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
The Rivers' Speech
Andrea Rinaldo is retiring. So young and strong I would say, he is only seventy now (seventy is the new forty, at least for him) and he will certainly continue to produce. Therefore the University of Padova is celebrating him on Friday, September 27 afternoon. He will talk about University and eventually some of his direct students, part of a family which now has grew wide and international, were asked to highlight for the general audience (in Italian) Andrea's research.
My topic was, quite obviously, geomorphology and river networks. Clicking below the figure you can find what I prepared in Italian (pre-recorded video here). Below The English version is here (pre-recorded video here). It is a short talk (8 minutes or so, but I hope that you like it)
A new way of discussing on the web with a distributed responsability
As many of you may know, recently, Jan Seibert issued an appeal to young hydrological researchers, advising caution when accepting invitations to become editors for review issues. In the past, these invitations were broadly distributed, but the results were often disappointing, leading to wasted time and effort. Demetris Koutsoyiannis, among others, raised opposing viewpoints, shifting the focus to the broader issues within scientific publishing and the influence large publishers can exert on the development of science.
This appeal was somewhat unusual for the AboutHydrology mailing list, which typically serves as an announcement platform, not a forum for discussion. Nevertheless, the topic quickly gained traction (considering the size of the community), with several prominent scientists contributing to the conversation. I eventually had to close the discussion within a day to prevent it from becoming overly repetitive. Despite its brevity, the conversation provided a good overview of the relevant perspectives.
### Key Takeaways:
1. Moderating a discussion list is surprisingly overwhelming.
2. A mailing list isn't the ideal platform for synthesizing differing opinions, but it can at least offer a quick overview of diverse perspectives on a given topic.
3. After a certain point, even well-informed and motivated contributions stop adding significant value.
4. Finding a suitable platform for discussion is essential.
5. A mailing list, despite its origins in fostering debate (like the old listserv model), is not the right tool for this anymore. Today, there are better alternatives.
Moderating such discussions is demanding, and moderators may not always have a vested interest in the topic. My proposed solution is a more distributed approach, where people can raise a question in a specialized application and share a link for feedback, allowing engagement without requiring users to join the application itself. The person who raises the question would be responsible for moderating that particular thread.
The ideal platform for AboutHydrology would be a tool designed for question pooling—something like an evolved version of *Klicker*, developed by the University of Zurich, where Jan works. *Klicker* allows questions to be posed and moderated, and users can respond via a shared link. This setup would allow the questioner to create a poll, share it on AboutHydrology, and gather feedback. At the end of the process, a report summarizing the responses could be distributed via the mailing list. While I have used the older version of *Klicker* with my students, I’m not yet proficient with the latest version.
Currently, one limitation of *Klicker* is that it doesn't seem to support direct interaction between users. However, here’s an example link to illustrate how it could work: [Jan’s opinion](https://pwa.klicker.uzh.ch/session/daf1a9ec-f26e-4ff4-ba79-30a8dd7b8cb6).
If anyone on the list knows of an alternative platform that might better suit this purpose, I’d appreciate recommendations and introductions to such tools.
Friday, September 13, 2024
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Multi-model hydrological reference dataset over continental Europe and an African basin
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
The implementation of the GEOframe system in the Po river district – analysis of water availability and scarcity
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
30-years (1991-2021) Snow Water Equivalent Dataset in the Po River District, Italy
Friday, August 30, 2024
Those who are engineers or policy makers deep in their heart but live in Academia - IV
It could be argued that a hydrologist is not merely a scientist but also a technologist or engineer who must manage water resources. This broader perspective expands the scope of our work to include the many aspects of life where water plays a crucial role—agriculture, urban planning, energy production, and more. Effective water management requires not only technical expertise but also the ability to address risks associated with floods, droughts, and the development of policies that consider the social dimensions of these challenges. Achieving long-term success in water management also demands the consensus and cooperation of the public, highlighting the importance of sociological considerations.
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Those who aim to apply - III
As a follow-up to my previous post, see also here and here, I'd like to share some additional reflections on the experience of doing hydrology in academia. I've attempted to classify different types of researchers, and below, you'll find the third part of this classification.
Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Those who aim to model - II
As a follow-up to my previous post, see also here, I'd like to share some additional reflections on the experience of doing hydrology in academia. I've attempted to classify different types of researchers, and below, you'll find the second part of this classification.
Monday, August 26, 2024
Those who aim to discover - I
As a follow-up to my previous post, I'd like to share some additional reflections on the experience of doing hydrology in academia. I've attempted to classify different types of researchers, and below, you'll find the first part of this classification.
Sunday, August 18, 2024
You want a tenure-track position ? (Sunday Thinking)
Monday, August 5, 2024
Mumbai GEOframe School !
We have just completed our effort with the GEOframe Mumbai Monsoon School, inserted in a larger initiative, of the GISE HUB which included one day long SCPP workshop on "Recent Advances in Hydrological Modelling" on 31st July. Besides being trained on GEOframe, hands on training on Dynamic Budyko model was provided by prof. Basudev Biswal (GS) and his postdoc Prashant Istalkar. Lectures on the 31st July covered a wide range of topics including flood inundation modelling, socio-hydrology, land-surface modeling, climate-change impact assessment, machine learning models, and complex networks.
Great thanks to Sumit Sen and Basudev Biswal for organizing the School. Hospitality was superb, discussions enriching and seeing the dedication and smartness of students an encouraging academic experience. We hope that the School will have follows up both at IIT and UniTrento and exchanges could continue in the future. For further information, see also the Linkedin post by Basudev here.
Thursday, July 4, 2024
A Ph.D. position on snow modelling and the related runoff production
APPLY TODAY ! There is an opening until July 10 (<---Here it is the link) for a Ph.D. position on the SpaceItUP and SUPER projects (Snow and glacier rUnoff Production in alpine RivER basins 1990-2050)
Thursday, June 27, 2024
How much snow is in the mountains and what is its fate? by Manuela Girotto
Water resources such as snow or groundwater can be estimated using satellite remote sensing observations and numerical models. Both models and observations have inherent uncertainties and limitations related to observation errors, model parameterization, and input uncertainties. A promising method to alleviate shortcomings in models and observations is data assimilation because it combines existing and emerging observations with model estimates, thus bridging scale and limitation gaps between observations and models.
Using these tools, we can address the following science questions: How much water is stored as seasonal snow? How much is in the groundwater aquifers? Can we quantify hydrological changes due to human induced processes (e.g., irrigation)? This presentation will focus on the estimation of snow seasonal amounts in mountainous regions, the water towers of the world. They supply a substantial part of both natural and anthropogenic water demands and they are also highly sensitive and prone to climate change. Slides of the talk can be found by clicking on the above figure.
Sunday, June 9, 2024
On catchment analysis (modeling)
In a series of papers (Abera et al., 2016, Abera et al. 2017a, Abera et al., 2017b, Azimi et al., 2023), we have outlined a methodology for studying basins, focusing on specific locations BUT looking especially to the methodologies. They are also summarized in slides that I typically use in my hydrological modeling classes. These slides summarize the analysis requirements in seven key steps, supported by various notebooks that implement the methodologies.
Monday, June 3, 2024
Roots (plants roots)
How deep go the roots of a plant ? Certainly it depends on the age of a plant but for having a static idea, nothing is better than the collection of roots drawing that can be found at the Wageningen University repository.
Friday, May 24, 2024
How to make an iPoster with usual paper media
Most researchers aim to present their work at conferences, often considering an oral presentation as the ideal outcome. Conversely, being assigned to present a poster can sometimes be seen as a second choice. However, I believe this perception overlooks the unique opportunities posters provide. Interacting with attendees at a poster session often leads to more in-depth conversations than those following an oral presentation.
Recognizing this potential, some conferences, such as the European Geosciences Union (EGU), have innovated with new formats like the PICO (Presenting Interactive COntent) sessions. These sessions enhance the traditional poster experience by allowing researchers to present their work on touch screens, making the interaction more dynamic and engaging than paper posters. This approach has gained popularity and expanded over time.
Unfortunately, smaller conferences may not have the resources to provide touch screens for such interactive experiences. As an alternative, I've experimented with a method that partially recreates the PICO experience. The idea is to make the poster more visual and less text-heavy while incorporating QR codes that link to short videos explaining different parts of the poster. These videos can cover the abstract, references, and explanations of figures.
Implementing this iPoster strategy involves some technical steps: recording the videos, uploading supplemental material for immediate access, and creating QR codes. Recording videos is now straightforward; you can use a virtual meeting platform to record yourself presenting the poster. For hosting the videos and additional materials, I prefer using the Open Science Framework (OSF), which allows for the visualization of PDFs, videos, and Jupyter notebooks without needing to download them first. Videos can also be uploaded to platforms like YouTube or Vimeo.
Once you have your materials uploaded, you can generate QR codes using one of the many available online tools. Embed these QR codes into your poster at relevant points. This way, visitors can access the supplementary material directly from their mobile devices while viewing your poster, even if you are not present.
This approach enhances the traditional poster session, making it more interactive and informative. While there is always room for improvement, this method can significantly enrich the experience for both presenters and attendees.
Clicking on the Figure above you can see and download the iPoster Example. This was actually derived from this poster. For a more generic/general post on how to do poster, please give a look to this blog post.
Everything is improvable !Thursday, May 16, 2024
GEOframe-New AGE material for beginners
Dear User or Dear Explorer,
Here we aim to summarize some of the material related to GEOframe-NewAGE. The main source is certainly the GEOframe blog:
However, for a logical introduction, it may be useful to start here:
The most recent material on GEOframe-NewAGE is from the latest school, accessible from this point:
Another useful resource is provided through hydrological modeling tutorials:
GEOframe's infrastructure is based on the Object Modelling System v3:
Various papers and applications related to GEOframe have been written and developed; you can find them here:
For any further assistance, the GEOframe crew can be reached at geoframe-schools@googlegroups.com.
Please feel free to reach out us if you have any questions. Next Winter School on GEOframe-NewAGE will be in January 2025 from 7 to11 in Trento University. Next Summer School (on Land-Atmosphere interactions will be June 2-6 2025. This Summer will be holding one Summer School on GEOframe-NewAGE in El Cairo and one in Mumbay (both the last weeks of July).
Sunday, May 12, 2024
And finally we talk about isotope concentration
If I understand correctly, colleagues arre measuring the concentration of an isotope in stream or some other catchment outlet. This is quite not a measure of the age of water but the latter has to be inferred from a hypothesis the system behavior, and possibly the knowledge of the distribution of water ages within the control volume, obtained iteratively from an initial data (derived from the isotopic data of precipitation).
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Large Language models in Earth Observation
If you've grasped the concepts discussed in the previous post, you're likely poised to explore how to effectively integrate them into your hydrological endeavors. However, you're not starting from scratch. Institutions like ESA and NASA have already outlined some of their applications through a series of posts and contributions. Machine Learning undoubtedly plays a significant role in Earth Observation and remote sensing analyses (see for instance here for an overview) or browse the activities of the RSLab for a perspective from the University of Trento.
Here they are a list of interesting links that I collected:
- NASA and IBM Openly Release Geospatial AI Foundation Model for NASA Earth Observation Data
- Integrating Earth Observation (EO) with Large Language Models (LLMs): Towards A Multimodal EO-Language Model
- Linking Large Language Models for Space Domain Awareness (The topic can look like quite different from our central one but the connection is the management of large amount of data that should be merged for decision making)
- Large language model agent to interact with Earth Observation Data
- Imagining the Future of Large Language Models and Open Science
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Can Large Language Models be useful in Hydrology ?
I've been thinking about the potential utility of Language Model ( LLM ) applications in the field of Hydrology. Understanding requires delving into relevant literature and gaining a deep knowledge of how the statistical principles behind LLM operate (because they are statstical tools). The Wikipedia link above, on serves as an initial source of information, offering some foundational understanding. But let's say that people working on the topics were rediscovering from a different point of view things already known and relabeling them according to a new jargoon.
For restablishing a little of reasonable context, I would delve into Cosma Shalizi's opinion to gain deeper insights. Careful reading and analysis ad zoom back to recover missing information is necessary to grasp the nuances. However, reading Percy Liang, lecture notes for CS324, Large Language Models (Stanford) [especially looking to "Introduction", "Modeling" and "Training"] is a definitive settlement of the matter.
Next, I turn to a valuable resource: a work in progress authored by Sebastian Raschka. This book promises practical exercises to fixing the knowledge, albeit still in development.
Monday, April 29, 2024
Exploring the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum: Advancements, Integrated Modeling and Ecohydrological Insights, a Ph.D. Thesis by C. D'Amato
This thesis aims to address the complex issue of SPA interactions by developing a comprehensive set of models capable of representing the intricate dynamics of this system. At the core of this research lies the integration of sophisticated descriptions of hydrological and plant biochemical processes into a novel ecohydrological model, GEOSPACE-1D (Soil Plant Atmosphere Continuum Estimator model in GEOframe).
Through a combination of theoretical exploration, engineering methodologies, and empirical experiments, this thesis aims to advance our understanding of SPA interactions. The development of adaptable models, represents a significant contribution to the field. The thesis emphasizes the practical implications of employing models to analyze experimental data, thereby enhancing our comprehension of various phenomena.
In conclusion, this thesis provides valuable insights into SPA interactions and lays the groundwork for future research and applications. By embracing the challenge of under- standing and modeling the SPA continuum, this work contributes to the ongoing efforts to address environmental challenges and promote sustainable practices. The thesis draft can be dowloaded by clicking on the figure.
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Elementary Mathematics sheds light on plant Transpiration
However, here you can find also the Jupyter Notebooks and the data that were used to produce the figures in the presentation. The presentation itself can be found by clicking on the figure above. The paper, submitted to Ecohydrology, can be found as an Authorea preprint here.By examining the derivation of Penn-Monteith-like equations for estimating evapotranspiration, one can uncover valuable insights into plant functionality. In essence, equations talk. For a more comprehensive and in-depth exploration of this topic, refer to this erlier post.
Friday, April 5, 2024
A series of talks and material on Transit (Travel) time, Residence time and Response Time
Here below we started a little series of lectures about a statistical way of seeing water movements in catchments that, while having a long history (e.g. Niemi, 1977, Rigon et al, 2016) has been largely renewed recently starting from Botter et al., 2010 and Botter et al., 2011. The material is the same prepared for the Hydrological Modelling class however grouped here separately for the readers convenience.
An alternative perspective is presented here regarding their concepts. While certain passages may pose some challenges, the enhanced comprehension of flux formation processes at the catchment scale is, in my opinion, immensely valuable and well worth the effort. The proposed approach involves the following line of thinking: a) the collective fluxes within catchments result from the cumulative movements of numerous small water volumes (water parcels); b) parcels can be understood through three key distributions: the travel time distribution, the residence time distribution, and the response time distribution; c) the interrelations among these distributions are elucidated; d) linking these distributions to catchment processes is achieved through the formulation of age-ranked distributions within ordinary differential equations; e) the theory developed here represents a generalization of the unit hydrograph theory.
- The view of the catchment as the statistics of elementary water volumes moving stochastically, a storyboard
- Travel Time, Residence Times (Vimeo2024)
- A summary (Vimeo 2022)
- A short note about past and future (Vimeo2022)
- The Python Notebook that created the Figure in slides
- Vimeo 2021-Ita, Vimeo 2021-Eng, Vimeo2022
- Some discussion (In English)
- Previous lesson recap - Blackboard2024
- StorAge Selection Functions (Vimeo2024)
- A summary on SAS, Blackboard2024,
- Some further considerations on our goals - Blackboard2024
- A Python notebook where the age-ranked tables are created within a simple example
- Response time and Life Expectancy (Vimeo2024)
- A post on travel (transit) time, residence time and response time definitions
- A Notebook Estimating the empirical response time probability from the age-ranked (He) table
- Niemi's identity (Vimeo2024)
- Multiple Reservoirs (Vimeo2024)
- Multiple Reservoirs treatment is not that complicate as it can be imagined from theformal mathematics - Blackboard2024
- Partitions (Vimeo2024)
- Pollutants and Tracers (Vimeo2024)
- Q&A - A student asks and I respond on travel times (in Italian)
- Q&A - Another session of explanations
- Klicker session on Travel times, Residence Time, etc. (List of questions and answers by students, Zoom2020)
- More material on travel time, residence time and response time on this blog.
- Old material on the same topic
- Response Times (Vimeo 2023)
- Vimeo2020
- Vimeo 2021-Eng, Vimeo 2021-It
- A little of discussion (in English)
- Pollutants, Tracers, Nutrients Transport (Vimeo2023)
- (Vimeo2022)
- Partitioning the outputs (Vimeo2023)
- (Vimeo2022)
- Benettin, P., Soulsby, C., Birkel, C., Tetzlaff, D., , G. and Rinaldo, A. (2017) Using sas functions and high resolution isotope data to unravel travel time distributions in headwater catchments. Water Resources Research, 53, 1864–1878. URL: http: //doi.org/10.1002/2016WR020117.
- Benettin, Paolo, and Enrico Bertuzzo. 2018. “Tran-SAS v1.0: A Numerical Model to Compute Catchment-Scale Hydrologic Transport Using StorAge Selection Functions.” Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, January, 1–19.
- Benettin, Paolo, Nicolas B. Rodriguez, Matthias Sprenger, Minseok Kim, Julian Klaus, Ciaran J. Harman, Ype van der Velde, et al. 2022. Transit Time Estimation in Catchments: Recent Developments and Future Directions.†Water Resources Research 58 (11). https://doi.org/10.1029/2022wr033096.
- Botter, Gianluca, Enrico Bertuzzo, and Andrea Rinaldo. 2010. “Transport in the Hydrologic Response: Travel Time Distributions, Soil Moisture Dynamics, and the Old Water Paradox.” Water Resources Research 46 (3). http://doi.wiley.com/10.1029/2009WR008371.
- Botter, Gianluca, Enrico Bertuzzo, and Andrea Rinaldo. 2011. “Catchment Residence and Travel Time Distributions: The Master Equation.” Geophysical Research Letters 38 (11). http://doi.wiley.com/10.1029/2011GL047666.
- Drever, Mark C., and Markus Hrachowitz. 2017. “Migration as Flow: Using Hydrological Concepts to Estimate the Residence Time of Migrating Birds from the Daily Counts.” Methods in Ecology and Evolution / British Ecological Society 8 (9): 1146–57.
- Harman, Ciaran J. 2015. “Time-Variable Transit Time Distributions and Transport: Theory and Application to Storage-Dependent Transport of Chloride in a Watershed.” Water Resources Research 51 (1): 1–30.
- Harman, Ciaran J., and Esther Xu Fei. 2024. Mesas.py v1.0: A Flexible Python Package for Modeling Solute Transport and Transit Times Using StorAge Selection Functions.†Geoscientific Model Development 17 (2): 477–95. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-477-2024.
- Hrachowitz, M., Benettin, P., van Breukelen, B. M., Fovet, O., Howden, N. J. K., Ruiz, L., van der Velde, Y. and Wade, A. (2016) Transit times-the link between hydrology and water quality at the catchment scale: Linking hydrology and transit times. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 3, 629–657.
- McDonnell, Jeffrey J. 2014. The Two Water Worlds Hypothesis: Ecohydrological Separation of Water between Streams and Trees? Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, April. http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/wat2.1027.
- Niemi, Antti J. 1977. “Residence Time Distributions of Variable Flow Processes.” The International Journal of Applied Radiation and Isotopes 28 (10): 855–60.
- Rigon, Riccardo, Marialaura Bancheri, and Timothy R. Green. 2016. “Age-Ranked Hydrological Budgets and a Travel Time Description of Catchment Hydrology.” Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 20 (12): 4929–47.
- Rigon, R., and M. Bancheri. “On the Relations between the Hydrological Dynamical Systems of Water Budget, Travel Time, Response Time and Tracer Concentrations.” http://abouthydrology.blogspot.com/2020/05/equivalences-and-differences-among.html.
- Sprenger, M., Stumpp, C., Weiler, M., Aeschbach, W., ST, A., Benettin, P., Dubbert, M., Hartmann, A., Hrachowitz, M., Kirchner, J., McDonnel, J., Orlowski, N., Penna, D., Pfahl, S., Rinderer, M., Rodriguez, N., Schmidt, M. and Werner, C. (2019) The demographics of water: A review of water ages in the critical zone. Rev. Geophys., 2018RG000633.
- Schwemmle, Robin, and Markus Weiler. 2024. Consistent Modeling of Transport Processes and Travel Times: coupling Soil Hydrologic Processes with StorAge Selection Functions. Water Resources Research 60 (1). https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr034441.
- Velde, Y. van der, P. J. J. F. Torfs, S. E. A. T. M. Van der Zee, and R. Uijlenhoet. 2012. “Quantifying Catchment-Scale Mixing and Its Effect on Time-Varying Travel Time Distributions.” Water Resources Research 48 (6): W06536–13.
- Velde, Ype van der, Ingo Heidbüchel, Steve W. Lyon, Lars Nyberg, Allan Rodhe, Kevin Bishop, and Peter A. Troch. 2014. “Consequences of Mixing Assumptions for Time-Variable Travel Time Distributions.” Hydrological Processes 29 (16): 3460–74.
- Wilusz, Daniel C., Ciaran J. Harman, and William P. Ball. 2017. “Sensitivity of Catchment Transit Times to Rainfall Variability Under Present and Future Climates.” Water Resources Research 53 (12): 10231–56.