Thesis supervisor: Zsolt Kozma
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering Abbreviation of location of studies: EOVK
Description of the research topic:
The hydrological consequences of land use-land cover alterations and climate change have been well studied in recent decades. Observations and forecasts both indicate the increased frequency of extreme conditions in the water cycle in recent past as well as in the future. The two most defining extremities, flood and drought cause serious ecological, societical and economical impacts, both in developing and developed regions of the world. Conventional water management can partially cope with these problems. However, such methods offer mainly sectoral answers, which mean limited and/or expensive solutions for the unfolding water- and environmental crisis.
As promising alternatives, nature based solutions for water (NBS) and sustainable land management (SLM) gain increasing popularity, professional and public support. These diverse methods originate from the same paradigm: the effects of many small- and mid-scale, nature-mimicing, low impact interventions accumulate over the whole catchment and offer cost effective, multi-purpose and sustainable solution for water-related issues and climate change adaptation. As water movement is the main driving force of many environmental flows, water retention is a core idea for both NBS and SLM.
Even though of these promising features, NBS and SLM have a shorter history with less well-documented real world implementations, well-established design methods, commonly accepted and widely used analysis methods. Environmental/hydrological modelling can be a powerful tool to aid the application of NBS and SLM. In theory, many conceptual and process-based hydrological models have the capacity to calculate the effects of these methods. However, the actual model implementation greatly depends on measured data gained from real implementations, both for parametrization and for calibration-validation. According to recent review papers, there is still a general knowledge gap about how to carry out sound planning of NBS and SLM in general and more specifically, with environmental/hydrological modelling.
The PhD student should (i) perform a literature review about the mathematical model representation of various NBS and SLM methods, (ii) optionally gather data from realised water retention attemps (iii) set up a reliable, model-based analysis methodology, and (iv) carry out catchment scale simulations to investigate the hydrological effects of theses NBS-SLM methods. These investigations should be based on realistic climate change-water management-land use scenarios developed for selected watershed(s), and focus on various components of the catchment water budget (discharge dynamics, water availability, etc).
Many of the NBS are low tech and low budget, offering great opportunity for resource scarce, developing regions. This simplicity is also favourable from an environmental, sustainability point of view. Furthermore, this feature also propagates another important aspect: more enhanced societical involvement, stronger role for the local communities in the adaptation process. Therefore, the candidate optionally should also investigate ways to help local communities, municipalities of the selected watershed(s) to improve flood risk mitigation. E.g by implementing a flood resilience categorization framework that can be used for the development of realistic disaster management strategies and proactive risk mitigation measures.
Deadline for application: 2024-05-31
2024. IV. 17. ODT ülés Az ODT következő ülésére 2024. június 14-én, pénteken 10.00 órakor kerül sor a Semmelweis Egyetem Szenátusi termében (Bp. Üllői út 26. I. emelet).
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