"Water is life"
Water is essential for life. Beyond the physical - we need water to survive - ecosystems and most societal functions also need access to water. Water connects different habitats and acts as a bloodstream, allowing substances and energy to flow from one part of the landscape to another.
Most communities are located on rivers, lakes or coasts, and sometimes water makes things difficult for us, for example during heavy rainfall and droughts. Hydrological research is looking for answers to how we can use freshwater more efficiently in the landscape so that everyone has adequate access, especially now in a changing climate.
"Water is life, it is the basis of all life as we know it. And of all the water on the planet, very little of it is freshwater, so we have to be careful with it," says Berit Arheimer, Professor of Hydrology at SMHI.
Berit Arheimer, SMHI's Professor in Hydrology.
The water should be enough for many things
From the moment water leaves the clouds as rain and finds its way to the sea via land, lakes and rivers, it is used for many things and is meant to serve many people. It becomes drinking water, is used in hydroelectric power plants, irrigates crops, provides habitat for fish and other species below the surface. All plants depend on it and firefighters use it to put out fires.
"Those who need the water should be able to use it, but also consider how they affect others downstream. Therefore, we need to understand the water cycle and the factors that regulate water flows and water quality."
National and international projects
SMHI has a long tradition of applied hydrological research and is involved in many national and international projects. Examples include water scarcity and drought, fire risk, dam design, flood risk, transport of pollutants and effects of climate change.
"We work with research projects and assignments to increase the level of knowledge in society and to improve SMHI's production chains for forecasts, analyses and investigations. The focus is on hydrological understanding and calculation models to estimate water quantity in snow, soil and lakes, flows in the landscape and connection to the atmosphere. We deliver open data and open source code from our model systems and develop web services for Sweden and the world, which are highly appreciated. We are also exploring how we can use new technologies for environmental monitoring."
Our flagship model HYPE (HYdrological Predictions for the Environment), is used worldwide for forecasting but also for calculating climate indicators and scenarios related to future water resources and water quality.
Working together for success
"There is a lot of combined expertise at SMHI; meteorologists, IT people, climate modelers, observers, statisticians, oceanographers... and access to supercomputers. This has enabled us to carry out major projects that other hydrological institutes have not been able to do. SMHI is a good breeding ground for research and development that has made us hydrologists successful internationally."
