Research interests

  • Hydrology
  • Floods
  • Hydrological modelling
  • Climate change impact assessments on hydrological extremes
  • Hydrological extremes in mountain regions
  • Flood forecasting

Academic positions

  • from 10/2026: Research associate, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF and ETH Zurich, Hydrology & Climate Impacts Group, Davos, Switzerland
  • 10/2023 - 09/2026: PostDoc, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF and ETH Zurich, Hydrology & Climate Impacts Group, Davos, Switzerland
  • 03/2023 - 09/2023: PostDoc, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment INRAE, Catchment Hydrology Group, Antony, France
  • 09/2019 - 12/2022: PhD student, Sorbonne University and INRAE, Catchment Hydrology Group, Paris, France

Education

  • 09/2019 - 12/2022: PhD in Hydrology, Sorbonne University and INRAE Antony, Catchment Hydrology Group
    PhD Thesis: Improving the generality and effectiveness of an operational flood forecasting model.  https://theses.hal.science/tel-04028903v1 
  • 09/2014 - 09/2019: Master of Engineering in Geosciences, Sorbonne University
    Master's Thesis: Comparison of hydrological modelling R packages. https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03266100v1 

Publications

Astagneau, P. C., Wood, R. R., Schmocker-Fackel, P., Hüsler, F., and Brunner, M. I.: Veränderungen von extremen Hochwassern mit der Klimaerwärmung in der Schweiz, Hydrosuisse Journal, 118, 15-24, https://www.dora.lib4ri.ch/wsl/item/wsl:44278, 2026

Gabbardo dos Reis, G., Astagneau, P. C., Bourgin, F., Andréassian, V., and Perrin, C.: Improving flood forecasts: the combined impact of data assimilation and machine learning post-processing, Journal of Hydrology, 680, 136402, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.136402, 2026.

Götte, J., Astagneau, P. C., and Brunner, M. I.: The influence of lakes and reservoirs on estimated flood peaks at hourly vs. daily timescale in the Alps, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 30, 6235–6248, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-6235-2026, 2026.

Anderson, B. J.*, Astagneau, P. C.*, Gnann S., and Brunner, M. I.: Reliance on daily mean streamflow data biases inferred flood seasonality, Environmental Research Letters, 21, 154020, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae8e90, 2026.

Bohl, J. P., Wood, R. R., Frank, C., Astagneau, P. C., Peters, J., and Brunner, M. I.: Hybrid models generalize better to warmer climate conditions than process-based and purely data-driven models, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 30, 4667–4698, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4667-2026, 2026.

Astagneau, P. C., Wood, R. R., and Brunner, M. I.: Rethinking future flood hazard: Hourly data challenges daily flood projections in Alpine catchments, Science Advances, 12, eaed6012, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aed6012, 2026.

Akbary, R., Dallan, E., Astagneau, P. C., Wood, R. R., Marra, F., Brunner, M. I., and Borga, M.: Scale-dependent biases in Alpine sub-daily areal precipitation extremes: added value of convection permitting models, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 30, 4117–4139 https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-4117-2026, 2026.

Muñoz-Castro, E., Anderson, B. J., Astagneau, P. C., Swain, D. L., Mendoza, P. A., and Brunner, M. I.: How well do hydrological models simulate streamflow extremes and drought-to-flood transitions? Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 30, 825–848, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-825-2026, 2026.

Astagneau, P. C., Peters, J., Pool, S., Muñoz-Castro, E., and Brunner, M. I.: RESIdual STability (RESIST) calibration for improved hydrological model time generalizability, Water Resources Research, 62, e2025WR041435, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR041435, 2026.

Clerc-Schwarzenbach, F., Astagneau, P. C., Muñoz Castro, E., van Meerveld, I., Seibert, J., and Andréassian, V.: Cheeky cheating or sensible strategy? ‘Sweep parameters’ in bucket-type hydrological models, Hydrological Processes, 40, e70375, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70375, 2026.

Astagneau, P. C., Wood, R. R., Vrac, M., Kotlarski, S., Vaittinada Ayar, P., François, B., and Brunner, M. I.: Impact of bias adjustment strategy on ensemble projections of hydrological extremes, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 29, 5695–5718, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5695-2025, 2025.

Astagneau, P. C., Bourgin, F., Andréassian, V., and Perrin, C.: Improving the structure of a hydrological model to forecast catchment response to intense rainfall, LHB, 110, https://doi.org/10.1080/27678490.2024.2341027, 2024b.

Astagneau, P. C., Bourgin, F., Andréassian, V., and Perrin, C.: Lead-time-dependent calibration of a flood forecasting model, Journal of Hydrology, 644, 132119, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.132119, 2024a.

Payrastre, O., Nicolle, P., Bonnifait, L., Brigode, P., Astagneau, P. C., Baise, A., Belleville, A., Bouamara, N., Bourgin, F., Breil, P., Brunet, P., Cerbelaud, A., Courapied, F., Devreux, L., Dreyfus, R., Gaume, E., Nomis, S., Poggio, J., Pons, F., Rabab, Y., and Sevrez, D.: The 2 October 2020 Alex storm in south-eastern France: a contribution of the scientific community to the flood peak discharges estimation, LHB, 108, https://doi.org/10.1080/27678490.2022.2082891, 2022.

Astagneau, P. C., Bourgin, F., Andréassian, V., and Perrin, C.: Catchment response to intense rainfall: Evaluating modelling hypotheses, Hydrological Processes, 36, e14676, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14676, 2022.

Astagneau, P. C., Thirel, G., Delaigue, O., Guillaume, J. H. A., Parajka, J., Brauer, C. C., Viglione, A., Buytaert, W., and Beven, K. J.: Technical note: Hydrology modelling R packages – a unified analysis of models and practicalities from a user perspective, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 25, 3937–3973, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3937-2021, 2021b.

Astagneau, P. C., Bourgin, F., Andréassian, V., and Perrin, C.: When does a parsimonious model fail to simulate floods? Learning from the seasonality of model bias, Hydrological Sciences Journal, 66, 1288–1305, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2021.1923720, 2021a.

Teaching and supervision

Lectures

  • Hydrological modelling (12/2024-2026, Mountain Hydrology lecture, ETH Zurich)
  • Operational hydrology (12/2024-2026, Mountain Hydrology lecture, ETH Zurich)
  • Floods (11/2026, Natural Hazard and Risk Management, ETH Zurich)
     

Supervision and co-supervision

  • Sereina Hinder (ETH Zurich), Master's thesis: Climate change impact on extreme streamflow in torrential catchments in the canton of Grisons (ongoing).
  • Silvan Rusch (ETH Zurich), Master's thesis: Flood Generation Process Variations in Time and Space, 2026.
  • Beda Bauer (ETH Zurich), Master's thesis: Evaluating hydrological models simulating drought-to-flood transitions at hourly timestep, 2025.
  • Carole Sattler (ETH Zurich), Master's project: Representation of precipitation extremes in convection- vs. non- convection permitting model simulations, 2024.
  • Maria Grundmann (ETH Zurich), PhD thesis: Drivers and spatio-temporal patterns of riverine heatwaves in Europe, (ongoing)

Invited presentations

  • 11-11-2026: De nouvelles perspectives sur l'évolution des crues extrêmes en Suisse sous l'effet du réchauffement climatique. BlueArk conference, Verbier.
  • 15-06-2026: A hydrological single model initial-condition large ensemble (SMILE) for studying changes in severe hydrological extremes in Switzerland. Bundesamt für Umwelt BAFU, Bern.
  • 20-05-2026: Future extreme floods in Switzerland. Kolloquium Universität Bern.
  • 04-05-2026: Time resolution changes perspective on flood responses to climate warming. Invited talk EGU2026 NH1.1, Vienna.
  • 23-04-2026: Les scénarios climatiques appliqués aux extrêmes hydrologiques. Association romande pour la protection de l'environnement, Université de Lausanne.
  • 20-03-2026: Hourly data challenges daily flood projections in Alpine catchments. Young Scientists' Lunch, ETH Zurich.
  • 02-02-2026: Challenges in using CPC hourly amounts in the Eastern part of Switzerland; comparison with the Austrian INCA data set. MeteoSwiss, Locarno.
  • 21-10-2025: Time resolution changes perspective on how floods change in a warming climate. Forum 2to3, Universität Zurich.

Media engagements

  • 22-07-2026: RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera
  • 22-07-2026: TV Südostschweiz
  • 17-07-2026: SRF Ostschweiz

Projekte