On the Tibetan Plateau, there are gigantic lakes that, for unclear reasons, change extremely rapidly in size and volume. Many of these lakes are isolated and do not drain into a river, making them perfect indicators of climate change. The changes occurring in the lakes can only be explained by hydrological shifts in the lakes watersheds. In this study, we use the latest satellite images and models to investigate whether the changes are caused by melting glaciers, changes in precipitation and evaporation, and/or the thawing of permafrost.

The growing population and booming economy in deltas, often occurring in mega-cities, will increasingly tax existing groundwater reserves, notably through excessive groundwater abstraction and urbanization that results in the sealing of aquifers to groundwater recharge. As deltas are already under threat by climate change and sea-level rise, the confounding effects of these stressors will most likely lead to enhanced depletion and salinization of fresh groundwater resources. At the same time, groundwater reserves are key to solving the problem of future water scarcity in deltas under a growing climate- and socio-economic change. Until our technologies are advanced enough to increase supply (using water of lesser quality) or reduce demand, fresh groundwater will be of vital importance to economic (agricultural and industrial) development in many countries. In this project, we will apply a state-of-the-art variable-density groundwater flow model to estimate the current fresh groundwater reserves and distributions in 40 major deltas around the world as well as their projected trends under climate- and socio-economic change. This novel approach includes the detailed 3D paleo- hydrogeological modeling of a delta in combination with assessing the main factors explaining the fresh-salt groundwater distribution in deltas and mapping these factors worldwide. Using this setup, we will greatly increase understanding of salinization processes in deltas and contribute to better coastal groundwater management. We will also analyze the effectiveness of possible mitigating measures (such as reducing groundwater abstraction, implementing aquifer storage and recovery) to safeguard or even increase fresh groundwater reserves in the near future.

Himalaya literally means ?the abode of snow? in Sanskrit, yet we know very little about snow, ice and the hydrological cycle at high altitudes. The water cycle in the Himalaya is poorly understood because of its extreme topography that results in complex interactions between climate and water stored in snow and glaciers. Hydrological extremes in the greater Himalayas regularly cause great damage, e.g. the Pakistan floods in 2010, while the Himalayas also supply water to over 25% of the global population. So, the stakes are high and an accurate understanding of the Himalayan water cycle is imperative. In Hi-Cycle I aim to to elucidate and quantify the timing and magnitude of poorly understood components of the Himalayan water cycle with a particular focus on high altitude precipitation, glacier dynamics and snow processes. I aim to elucidate the high altitude water cycle at an unprecedented level of detail by collecting high-altitude in-situ meteorological observations, by employing drones to monitor glacier and snow dynamics, and by using state-of-the-art atmospheric and hydrological models. The resulting data will be used to parameterize key processes in high-altitude glacio-hydrology, such as glacier dynamics, melt of debris covered glaciers, sublimation, snow maturation and redistribution, snow water storage, refreezing and lateral flow. The results will be integrated into atmospheric and glacio-hydrological models for two representative Himalayan catchments with the systematic inclusion of the newly developed process descriptions. Hi-Cycle will unambiguously reveal spatial differences in Himalayan glacio-hydrology necessary to project future changes in water availability and extreme events. As such, Hi-Cycle may provide the scientific base for climate change adaptation policies in this vulnerable region.

With projected increase in floods and drought it is apparent that the Dutch water system needs to change. In WaterScape we explore large scale spatial transitions in the physical and governance water system. In this project we explore, opportunities, challenges and conflicting interest between different land use and stakeholder groups. With the full consortium we will study three living labs in: Brabant, Utrechtse Heuvelrug and Groningen with the potential to expand our findings to regional and national scale to create a more climate robust water landscape for the future