The performance of Earth System Models in simulating droughts

This research evaluated the performance of Land Surface Models (LSMs) in simulating droughts, examining Land-Hist offline simulations from the Land, Surface, Snow and Soil Moisture Intercomparison Project (LS3MIP). It is well known that LSMs possess uncertainties and biases due to oversimplifications or the absence of certain physical processes ...

Sustainably scaling up the operations of Kelp Blue in Lüderitz, Namibia: A consultancy report

Kelp Blue is a company whose top priority is the well-being of the planet. Through the cultivation of giant kelp on offshore farms, they create several sustainable products, new job opportunities in regions where they are needed, enhance biodiversity in the water, and above all, sequester tons of CO2 from the air. The start-up is still in its...

Assessing the impact of climate change on streamflow in catchments across the United States, using an easily reproducible modeling approach

In this thesis, an easily reproducible modeling approach was developed for assessing the climate change impact on streamflow. This approach was tested by using it to assess the impact of climate change on streamflow in 5 different contrasting catchments across the United States. Many studies show that climate change is expected to influence...

Assessing the impact of deforestation on observed runoff and an analysis on simulated runoff by WFLOW in the Amazon

Recent reports show that deforestation in Latin-America has been severe over the last decades. Especially Brazil is subject to an alarming rate of forest loss, which will remain a factor in the coming decades. In addition to deforestation, there is an increasing amount of hazards like floods and mudslides. These hazards result in major damage to...

Are rain gauges in the right place?

Rain gauges are a powerful tool to measure rain entering a watershed. When water flow through a watershed is modeled, these rainfall measurements are used as inputs. Hydrological models have become increasingly complex as they more accurately represent the physical processes occurring. This is mostly done by increasing the spatial and temporal...

Matching streamflow river gauges with hydrologic models

Hydrologic model performance evaluation depends on streamflow observations that are accurately positioned in the landscape. For distributed hydrologic models, this means that the streamflow observation need to be mapped to a location along the model streamflow network that represents the location of the observation station in a hydrologic system...

Bed level changes in the shoaling zone and surf zone under the influence of cross-shore effects at a time scale of minutes

Development of a modular weather station

The TransAfrican Hydro Meteorological Observatory aims to create a dense weather station network in sub-Sahara Africa in order to obtain accurate climate data for a wide range of applications. Existing high-quality weather stations are very expensive and unaffordable for the African government or private parties. Therefore innovative sensors and...

Measuring weight fluctuations in trees based on natural frequency

Satellite-based soil moisture measurements indicate a diurnal variation in backscatter in west Africa. This diurnal variation is assumed to be caused by variation of moisture content in vegetation (Friesen, 2008). The obtained satellite soil moisture data can be improved, if ground measurements support this hypothesis. Especially at locations...