Groundwater processes in alpine watersheds and their effects on river flow regulation

Professor Masaki Hayashi

Department of Geoscience
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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Fellowship Period:  05.2019-12.2019

Research interests and main activities

I am a professor in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Calgary. My main research interests are in the connection among groundwater, surface water, and atmospheric moisture in various environments ranging from the prairies to the mountains. My current research projects include: alpine hydrology focussing on surface water – groundwater interaction, hydrology of wetlands in the Canadian Prairies, frozen soil processes, groundwater recharge and its response to climate change, and citizen-science approaches to hydrological monitoring.

 

Activities within WSL Fellowship

I am planning to engage in a comparative study of alpine groundwater to understand similarities and differences in hydrological processes between the Swiss Alps and the Canadian Rockies in connection with bedrock geology, glacial history, and climate. This will be achieved by analyzing archived river discharge data in unregulated river basins in Switzerland, visiting field study sites, and simulating the baseflow of Canadian rivers using Swiss hydrological models. I am also hoping to broaden my knowledge of mountain processes by interacting with WSL researchers working on different aspects of mountain environments such as mass movement, sediment transport, soil processes, and alpine ecology. I taught a five-day course (i.e. summer school) on surface water – groundwater interaction at University of Zurich in June, which was attended by a PhD student and a postdoctoral researcher from WSL. I would like to interact more with PhD students and share my knowledge and ideas wherever I can.

Cooperation within WSL

Cooperation outside of WSL

Mario Schirmer, Eawag, Department of Water Resources and Drinking Water

Rolf Kipfer, Eawag, Department of Water Resources and Drinking Water

Jan Seibert, University of Zurich, Department of Geography

Ilja van Meerveld, University of Zurich, Department of Geography

Christoph Merz, Leibnitz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Germany