2022

In preparation of the next Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature published a short report entitled “World heritage glaciers: sentinels of climate change”. VAW-Glaciology was one of the main contributors to the report, providing the majority of the presented resutls.

Step-pool sequences represent a promising, nature-based bed stabilization measure imitating the typical step-pool morphology of steep mountain streams.

A new VAW report, published by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, allows not only to determine the potential water level rise at an existing dam due to large wood accumulation at the overflow spillway, but also to design the required protrusion of the weir piers as a possible measure to safely retain large wood. For the first time, various porosities of the accumulation were also included.

Innovative smart-sensors and Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry allow for novel insights into transport and depositional processes of wood in rivers. In the course of the SmartWood_3D project, these two methods were further developed and applied, for the very first time, at field scale to quantify large wood (LW) dynamics (rolling, rotation, impacts) and to assess LW accumulation characteristics (volume, porosity, structural alignment). The gained data are currently being analysed.

HyPeak is a new interdisciplinary network that promotes international research and supports hydropower planning and policy. The network links scientists from several countries where hydropeaking has been widespread for decades, as in Switzerland. HyPeak aims to integrate members from other countries where hydropower production plays a relevant role, and to become a reference group to support policy-makers, as well as researchers, stakeholders, and practitioners in the field of hydropeaking.