University of Freiburg

Homepage: https://uni-freiburg.de/unr-hydro/

The Chair of Hydrology at the University of Freiburg is offering a doctoral researcher position on the topic of “Groundwater Discharge into Mountain Streams" (short: GAUGE), starting 01/03/2026.

Mountain streams supply water to both mountain regions and downstream areas and are therefore an important freshwater resource for ecosystems and humans (“water towers”). However, the role of groundwater in maintaining streamflow in mountain streams (baseflow) has been relatively little researched to date and is the focus of a new project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). In this project, we plan to establish an innovative streamflow measurement network in many, partly nested catchments in the Swiss Alps. These measurements, in combination with an existing dataset covering several hundred catchments, will be analysed in detail and integrated into models.

The project aims to improve our understanding of groundwater storage and discharge in mountain regions and identify the most important landscape features that influence these processes. The results will improve our understanding of the role of groundwater in the alpine water cycle—a prerequisite for the sustainable management of water resources in the future.

Please visit https://uni-freiburg.de/en/job/00004633/ for details.