Benjamin Fischer – Svenska hydrologiska rådet (SHR)

🔊 Hydrologidagarna program

It’s soon time for our annual Hydrologidagarna (HD) with this year’s topic theme,” Freshwater: from source to sea.”

The program is now set where experts covering the broad spectrum of water from bio(eco)logical, physical and chemical, and society present their view on the HD theme (program see below).

This year’s HD format will be in person to actively participate by sharing thoughts and ideas with stimulating discussion and networking. The HD will take place at SLU Uppsala on 7 December from 9:00 to 16:00 and will be followed by a meeting of the SHR members (16:00-17.00 on the same day).

There is still a limited number of places left to attend the day. Registering is still possible if you haven’t signed up yet (click here).

We are looking forward to an exciting day and learning more about Freshwater: from source to sea!

Program HD 22

8:45 Registration

9:10 Welcome

Solute transport processes/contaminant transport

9:20 Anna-Karin Dahlberg (SLU) – Dispersal of persistentorganic pollutants (POPs) from wood fiber-contaminated sediments of industrial origin in Sweden

9:40 Emma Lannergård (SLU) – Hysteresis in the flow-turbidity relationship to better understand particle mobilization under current and future conditions

10:00 Jacopo Cantoni (SU) – Data-driven attribution of legacycontributions to diffuse nutrient and carbon loading to streams: Cross-scale multi-catchment comparisons

10:05 Poster session with coffee ☕

Water resources

10:45 Anders Wörman (KTH) – Groundwater discharge phenomena

11:05 Claudia Teutschbein (UU) – Streamflow droughts in Sweden: Spatiotemporal patterns emerging from six decades of observations

11:25 Ida Westerberg (IVL) – Monitoring rivers with drones

11:45 Lunch 🥗🥕📸

Land-use effects / water and society

12:50       Katrin Jones Hammarlund (SLU) – Swedish network of awesome people communicating the value of water
13:10       Alizée Lehoux (UU) – Emissions of greenhouse gasses from contaminated fibrous sediments: characterisation and implications
13:30       Pia Geranmayeh (Kynkäänniemi) (SLU) – Optimising wetland size and placement
13:50       Leg stretch
13:55       Johan Kjellin (Tyréns AB) – The coupling between the shape of the hyetograph and urban flooding consequences – modelling study using swedish empirical rainstorms and city characteristics
14:15       Fredrik Schück (SMHI) – Impact based flood warnings in sweden development and first experiences

14:20 Poster session with fika ☕ 🍪

Hydrology meets ecology

15:00 Isolde Puts (UMU) – Effects of terrestrial inputson resource quality in lakes and coasts in boreal-Arctic Europe

15:20 Jose Lopez (SLU) – Does high temperatures influence tree growth in boreal forests?

15:40 Maria Myrstener (SLU) – Downstream propagation of clearcut effects

16:00 End of HD22

Posters

Shirin Karimi (SLU) | How different landscape characteristics respond to extreme rainfall events in boreal landscapes
Elise Jonsson (UU) | Our Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem Nexus and its Response to Hydrological Extremes
Disa Ekholm, Fredrik Schück (SMHI) | Impact based flood warnings in Sweden development and first experiences
Elin Stenfors (UU) | Droughts in forested ecoregions in cold and continental climates: A review of vulnerability concepts and factors in socio-hydrological systems
Imenne Åhlén (SU) | Wetlandscape hydrology and ecosystem services Jacopo Cantoni (SU) | Data-driven attribution of legacy contributions to diffuse nutrient and carbon loading to streams: Cross-scale multi-catchment comparisons
Marcus Wallin (SLU) | SITES water – a national infrastructure for ecosystem science
Lenka Kuglerová (SLU) | Fluvial experimental facility in the Krycklan Catchment
Karin Eklöf (SLU) | Restoring wetlands or cleaning ditches: Effects on methylmercury in water
Meredith Blackburn (SLU) | Reataration of wetland – point sources for methane production and mercury methylation?
Alberto Zannella (SLU) | Carbon dioxide dynamics in a boreal forest ditch affected by clearcut forestry
Ruben Baan Hofman (SLU) | Forest vegetation along boreal headwaters
Yaoyi Liu (SU) | Challenge of rainwater harvesting in Shanghai, China
Maria Elenius (SMHI) | Hydrological indicators for biodiversity

Skrivet av: Benjamin Fischer

COVID19 caused disruptions in the way we live as society. We were interested to understand how the education of hydrology and water related sciences in Sweden got affected by Covid19 (period March to October 2020). To get an overview we sent a questionnaire to the SHR members and the wider network, all part of the main universities in Sweden.

We received a snapshot overview from nine participants representing the main Universities in water education at bachelor or master level (figure 1).

**Figure 1 Map of Sweden where the water droplet indicates a University with at least one response to the questionnaire.**

All universities reported, that they had to change abruptly from in class teaching to teaching remotely in March 2020. In addition, it was reported that to comply with social distance field trips and some courses were cancelled. Next to teaching in a virtual class room environment, teachers used mixed learning (e.g. pre-recorded lectures and remote question hours), feedback seminars or individual-based field activities, online video material, virtual laboratory or field excursions, reading and discussion exercises, up to do-it-yourself low-tech field experiments.

During the first part of the autumn term distance teaching was continued but to some extend some class room teaching with reduced number of students and more local field trips were held.

The teachers experience and by teachers reported students experience was diverse from positive up to negative (figure 2). From teachers’ point of view, the main challenge reported was the physical distance and loss of contact with students which made it difficult to monitor the student’s performance and build professional relations. Also, the change to novel teaching methods and software was perceived not always easy. Teachers who have not yet made the switch to distance education were uneasy with concerns.

Instead from student feedback it seems that they understood the situation and challenges with current teaching and were largely neutral.

**Figure 2 Teachers experience (left) and by teachers reported students experience (right) in respect of changed teaching due to COVID19 measures.**

To overcome negative experience of education during COVID19, some teachers purposed larger rooms to be able to keep distance during on campus classes, mixed physical/ distance lectures and shorter distance lectures with more brakes.

Open feedback concerning teaching during COVID19 were:

Positive in terms of resources mobilized by University to facilitate distance teaching and minimize students delay
However, it seems unclear if extra working time of teachers will be compensated for
Understanding from students about the challenges in teaching in this situation
Teachers should support each other as much as possible with available resources

Despite only nine responses, the held questionnaire gives only a first indication on how COVID19 affected water education at the different Universities in Sweden. COVID19 caused not only a disruption in society but also water education in Sweden. A large effort and creativity made it possible to keep up the core of water education. However, also important elements in water education such as field excursion were cancelled and contact between teacher student got lost affecting the knowledge transfer. The long-term effect on water education in Sweden and the effect on teachers and students should be investigated more systematically. Next to these negative aspects of COVID19 the abrupt changes in water education provides also opportunities to explore novel forms of teaching to prepare water education in Sweden for the future.

For now, most important is to keep distance and stay healthy!!

Your, SHR-team

Participants and background information

(The author did not contribute to the questionnaire. )

The courses thought by the responders were general hydrology, hydrological modelling, forest management, ecology, biogeochemistry, forestry, sustainability and environmental science, geography, statistics, sustainable development, fluvial geomorphology, GIS, soil science and geology. Class room lectures were the most frequent lecture style, followed by computer labs, field courses and some laboratory exercises (figure 3). Per course the average number of students ranges from 10 up to more than 40 students in which class room teaching (figure 4).

Figure 3 The different responders to the questionnaire indicated which styles of lecture they teach at the Universities of the different responders

Figure 4 the average amount group size per class

Questions asked

At which University do you teach?
What is your background or do you see yourself (e.g. hydrologist, ecology, water manager, sociology …)?
What is your role in teaching? (one option possible)
Which level of courses do you teach? (multiple options possible)
Which courses do you teach (hydrology, ecology …)?
How many students do you on average have in your courses? (one options possible)
With which format do you generally teach? (multiple options possible)
Describe shortly which measures your University took during Covid19
Describe shortly how teaching got affected due to Covid19
Which methods in teaching did you use to continue teaching?
If teaching changed, was this a positive or negative development from a teacher’s point of view?
If teaching changed, was student feedback positive or negative?
In case teachers or students had negative experiences, what could be done to overcome these limitations?
Open feedback (you can write here additional information you want to share concerning teaching during Covid19)