Last May, the Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group organized a tour along several European hydrological institutes in an attempt to compensate for the negative impact of the covid pandemic on networking and scientific exchange. During the tour, discussions were held to discuss the future of hydrology from the perspective of early-career hydrologists.
The International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) Scientific Decades (SDs) aim to formulate science programmes and engage the scientific community to advance the hydrological sciences. The first International Hydrological Decade was formulated in 1965 by UNESCO to highlight the field of hydrology as an independent scientific discipline, but SDs have sincegrown to boost thematic advances in the field of hydrology. It is now a global movement initiated and coordinated by the IAHS. The past SDs have provided the foundation for scientific collaborations and have been vital in shaping hydrological research around specific themes. Especially the last two SDs have shown that well-organized community efforts can shape the field of hydrology. Based on the observation that early career scientists had little input to the themes of previous SDs, the Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group initiated a discussion among early career scientists on possible topics for the upcoming SD. A preprint summarizing the outcome of the discussions is now published on Eartharxiv. The opinion paper synthesizes six discussion sessions in western Europe identifying three themes that all offer a different perspective on the hydrological threats the world faces and could serve to direct the broader hydrological community: “Tipping points and thresholds in hydrology”, “Intensification of the water cycle”, and “Water services under pressure”. Additionally, four trends were distinguished concerning the way in which hydrological research is conducted: big data, bridging science and practice, open science, and inter-and multidisciplinarity. These themes and trends will provide valuable input for future discussions on the theme for the next IAHS SD.
Further reading
van Hateren, T. C.; H. J. Jongen and 47 co-authors (2022), Where should hydrology go? An early-career perspective on the next IAHS Scientific Decade: 2023–2032, doi:10.31223/X5DW7R (preprint).