A flood causes stress for organisms living in a watercourse. Their survival depends on factors such as whether there are refuge habitats to which they can retreat. Researchers from the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology and Eawag studied how river widening as part of restoration measures improves potential refugia availability. They showed that refugia provision and thereby the protection of biodiversity depends crucially on the supply of bedload.chevron_right

Despite comparatively favorable weather conditions, Swiss glaciers have lost about 400 million tons of ice during the past 12 months – almost 1% of the remaining glacier volume. This was recently reported by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring network GLAMOS. "There was considerable precipitation in summer, but hardly any fresh snow in the Alps. All this shows the impact of climate change," states D-BAUG glaciologist Matthias Huss, who heads GLAMOS.chevron_right

For the first time, researchers at D-BAUG have measured air-water flows with velocities exceeding 40 m/s. To this end, two challenging measurement campaigns were carried out in the tunnel spillway of a 225-meter high dam, for which special probes first had to be developed. With the new data, existing design guidelines can be validated, and so-called scale effects can be assessed more accurately. This is relevant for the safe operation of hydraulic structures.chevron_right

No energy transition without hydropower: This is demonstrated by the final report of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research – Supply of Electricity published today. D-BAUG Professor Robert Boes led the research group on the hydropower sector.chevron_right