GFZ German research centre for geo sciences

Interview | Water balance in Central Asia „Many hydrological questions are unsolved“

From 2009 to 2016, Dr. Doris Düthmann worked as a scientist at the GFZ in the section Hydrology. During her PhD study, she focused on the hydrological modeling of water catchments in Central Asia. She has now moved to the Technical University of Vienna, Austria, where her research work will concentrate on the performance of hydrological models under climatic changes.

 

From 2009 to 2016, Dr. Doris Düthmann worked as a scientist at the GFZ in the section Hydrology. During her PhD study, she focused on the hydrological modeling of water catchments in Central Asia. She has now moved to the Technical University of Vienna, Austria, where her research work will concentrate on the performance of hydrological models under climatic changes.

Ms Düthmann, at the GFZ you worked on the topic of hydrological modeling of snow and glacier melt in Central Asia. How did you actually become interested in this topic?

I have been working on the topic of water balance in Central Asia since my time at the GFZ. In this region snow and glacier melt are of great importance. From a modeling perspective, I was especially interested in the question of how we could improve the simulation of these processes within hydrological models by using additional data. Here, I benefited from the fact that our project partner at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany, worked on remote sensing data of the snow cover and glacier volume and I was able to use this data.

How come that, within your PhD project, you were involved in no less than three projects?

I did not start on a typical PhD position but was working as a research associate, funded by different third party projects. Like this I was engaged in several topics and in very different regions at the same time: climate change and floods in selected catchments in Germany within a project of the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology <link sektion erdbeben-und-vulkanphysik projekte cedim>CEDIM, and water balance in high mountain areas in Central Asia within the regional research network “Water in Central Asia” <link sektion hydrologie projekte cawa>CAWa and the <link sektion hydrologie projekte abgeschlossene-projekte sumario>SuMaRiO project. The latter project deals with the sustainable management of river oases along the Tarim River in China. How to integrate these different topics for a PhD project and where to put a focus was not clear at all at the beginning. The ideas for a PhD project developed only after some time.

Did you have to carry out on-site measurements for your work?

Since I needed long time series for my part of the project, I worked with already existing data from the hydro-meteorological services. I have also been involved in fieldwork, but only for short time periods. In the Ala-Archa valley in Kyrgyzstan we aim at estimating the glacier mass balance. We measure how strong the glacier melts at the bottom section and how much new snow accumulates in the upper parts of the glacier. This allows us to estimate the volume changes of the glacier. These measurements are performed every year by the GFZ together with the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and the <link medien-kommunikation meldungen detailansicht article zehn-jahre-deutsch-kirgisische-kooperation-zentralasiatisches-institut-fuer-angewandte-geowissensch>CAIAG, the Central Asian Institute for Applied Geosciences. Furthermore, I was also interested in the discharge gauges and meteorological stations in Kyrgyzstan, from which I used data for my research. I therefore visited a number of these stations.

In Central Asia you worked in a mountain region with very little data already available. Did it particularly appeal to you to carry out research with a - so to speak - „exploratory spirit“?

Definitively! In Central Asia many hydrological questions are still unanswered. There are, for example, only few studies on the potential impact of climate change on the water balance. Changes in the water balance are however especially relevant as water is an important economic factor, for example for irrigation and for the generation of hydropower. This, of course, is a huge motivation to work in this area. It is also great to get to know this region through working there. The landscape and culture are truly fascinating!

What does your modeling work look like exactly?

I work with hydrological models to simulate the water balance. As input data for these models we use maps of elevation data, land cover, and soil information as well as time series on climate variables, such as precipitation, air temperature, relative humidity, and radiation. We then calculate, for example, how much of the precipitation evaporates, infiltrates into the soil, runs off as surface water or is stored as snow. This helps us to better understand and to quantify the water balance,  which is especially important for regions such as Central Asia where only little data is available.

You are combining hydrologic modeling with climate scenarios. Which information do you get by doing this?

The aim is to estimate how future climate change will influence glaciers and water resources. Global climate models provide projections on potential future precipitation and temperature changes. We then use this data as input data for our hydrologic model.

You are a qualified geoecologist. How did you come to modeling? Is being good at math a prerequisite?

I already put a focus on environmental modeling during my diploma studies. – And yes, this also involves maths. – With my diploma thesis, I got involved more intensively with hydrological modeling. Based on this I applied hydrologic models for a range of different topics, for water balance, water quality and nutrient emissions from agriculture, floods, and, during my PhD especially for the hydrology in high mountain areas.

What advice would you give to future scientists that aim for a career in geosciences?

During your university studies you can easily gain insights into various fields by doing internships. It is certainly a good idea to make use of this opportunity!

What is going to happen next? What are you going to do in Vienna?

I just came back from parental leave and I am now working at the Vienna Technical University since mid-July. In the two coming years, I would like to investigate how successfully the currently used hydrological models are able to simulate changes in the water balance resulting from climate change. To investigate this question, I will use data from the past, which means the last decades. Temperature and precipitation have already changed significantly over this period. Using the available discharge data it is then possible to test if the changes in the water balance are simulated correctly by the hydrological model or where the model simplifies too much. I changed my study region to Austria since Austria is an alpine region with an excellent database. Working with the research group at the Vienna Technical University I have access to a broad spectrum of experience on my research topic

Do you plan to eventually come back to the GFZ in the future?

Indeed I plan to come back in about two years via the GFZ mobility program*. The aim is then to investigate regional hydrologic changes in Central Asia during the past decades based on the new findings from my time in Vienna.

18.08.2016

The interview was led by Ariane Kujau

*[German only!] Das GFZ will die Mobilität von Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern unterstützen. Dieses Programm richtet sich deshalb an exzellente junge GFZ-Postdocs (bis 3 Jahre nach Abschluss der Promotion), die für ihre wissenschaftliche Karriere eine Forschungstätigkeit im Ausland aufnehmen wollen. Diese ist meist mit einer erhöhten Unsicherheit bezüglich der Rückkehroptionen verbunden, so dass junge Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler diesen Schritt oft mit Blick auf die persönliche/familiäre Situation scheuen. Um für die Zeit nach der Beendigung der Auslandstätigkeit eine Perspektive zu schaffen, sagt das GFZ auf Antrag eine Anschlusseinstellung von bis zu 2 Jahren zu.

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