Stockholm Water Prize Laureate Günter Blöschl visits KTH
Professor Günter Blöschl, Vienna University of Technology and University of Bologna, held a seminar at KTH Campus on 28 August, the day after he received this year's Stockholm Water Prize from HM the King. He received the prize for his groundbreaking work, that has transformed how we understand, predict, and manage floods in a changing climate.
The seminar was organised by WaterCentre@KTH and KTH Climate Action Centre and was introduced by KTH’s President Anders Söderholm.
As a a hydrologist and engineer, Professor Blöschl has developed a 500-year database of European flood data, showing that the past three decades have been among the most flood-prone in half a millennium. He shows that the past, flood-rich periods were colder than usual, while the recent flood-rich period has been warmer than usual.
During the seminar, he spoke about how climate change does not increase flooding everywhere – it alters how and where floods occur, depending on the size of the catchments. He emphasised the need to combine a global scale analysis with local analysis and spoke about how land use change, hydraulic structures and climate change affects the occurrence of floods.
He also discussed so-called mega floods – events far larger than those we normally anticipate. These are notoriously difficult to predict, as they tend to occur only once in a lifetime, if at all. As examples, he pointed to the severe flooding in Bologna and Valencia last year. In the latter, 200 people lost their lives. If data from other regions with similar hydrological conditions is taken into account instead of just looking at local data, the "mega-floods" can actually be predicted.
“Professor Blöschl’sresearch has deepened our understanding of the complex dynamics of flood hazards, shaped by large-scale climate patterns, local hydrological processes, and human activities,” KTH scholar Luigia Brandimarte says.
Together with KTH scholar Francesco Fuso-Nerini, she joined professor Blöschl in a panel discussion after his seminar.
“His research has benefited many sectors by profoundly advancing our understanding of floods and their impacts on our societies. That knowledge is now improving how we plan and protect infrastructure and manage flood risks around the world,” Francesco Fuso-Nerini says.
The seminar was held at KTH Campus and was attended by the Ambassador of Austria and the Ambassador of Italy.
Text: Åsa Karsberg ( asakars@kth.se ) Photo: Jon Lindhe ( jlindhe@kth.se )