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WaterHub Highlights

Here we list important news and research highlights by members of the WaterHub, that are featured on the homepage of the University of Potsdam. This page is updated approximately every three months.


2025

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/nachrichten/detail/2025-04-29-hochwasserschaeden-reduzieren-plinius-medaille-der-egu-fuer-potsdamer-umweltwissenschaft

Reducing flood damage - Plinius Medal of the EGU for Annegret Thieken

For their outstanding contributions to the understanding and mitigation of flood risks and the development of municipal adaptation strategies ...

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/nachrichten/detail/2025-03-12-die-ausnahme-erkennen-gefahren-von-gletscherseeausbruechen
Desolation lake Alaska
Photo: Georg Veh

Recognising the exception - the dangers of glacial lake outbursts

Most ice-dammed lakes are shrinking due to glacier melt, but Desolation Lake in Alaska has grown considerably. Why?


2024

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2024-04-16-prof-van-der-beek-becomes-president-of-the-european-geosciences-union

Prof. van der Beek becomes President of the European Geosciences Union

Peter van der Beek, Professor of General Geology at the University of Potsdam, was elected to serve as EGU President for the term 2025–2027.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2025-02-11-downhill-environmental-scientists-investigate-how-natural-disasters-become-more-likely
Blick auf den Naini Lake
Photo: Ugur Öztürk

Environmental scientists research landslides in urban areas

The aim is to gain knowledge that can be used for risk assessment in urban regions worldwide.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2024-10-07-extrapolating-from-the-core-leibniz-prize-winner-ulrike-herzschuh-conducts-research
Ulrike Herzschuh im Bohrkernlager
Photo: Thomas Roese

Extrapolating from the Core

Leibniz Prize winner Ulrike Herzschuh conducts research on climate history for the future of the planet

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2024-03-19-extremwetter-verstehen-neuberufener-prof-haerter-erforscht-wie-gewitter-kommunizieren
Prof. Jan Härter
Photo: Kevin Ryl

Understanding extreme weather

The newly appointed physics professor Jan Härter is researching how thunderstorms ‘communicate’ with each other.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2024-01-26-the-telltale-sound-of-volcanoes
Ein eruptierender Vulkan auf Island
Photo: Eva Eibl

The telltale sound of volcanoes

Recognising characteristic features in earthquake signals is an important step on the way to predicting potential eruptions and providing early warning.


2023

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/nachrichten/detail/2023-12-07-ueber-klimaveraenderungen-in-der-erdgeschichte-wichtigster-forschungsfoerderpreis
U.Herzschuh vor einem Eisblock
Photo: AWI/Stefan Kruse

Leibniz Award for Ulrike Herzschuh

Prof. Dr Ulrike Herzschuh receives the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2024 for her outstanding work in the field of geoecology.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/pressreleases/detail/2023-11-29-triple-winner-one-state-teaching-award-and-two-postdoc-awards-go-to-the-uni-potsdam

Dr. Ugur Öztürk has been awarded the 2023 Postdoc Award of the State of Brandenburg

... for his Nature paper on "How climate change and un-planned urban sprawl bring more landslides".

Energy for the nation – Potsdam researchers study geothermal areas in the East African Rift Valley

Kenya's geothermal energy potential is estimated at 10,000 MW, making it the leader in Africa and the eighth largest in the world.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/medieninformationen/detail/2023-11-17-mikroplastik-im-ackerboden-tomographie-mit-neutronen-und-roentgen-zeigt-wo-sich-partikel-e

Microplastics in arable soil: tomography with neutrons and X-rays

Members of WaterHub have developed a method to precisely localise microplastics in the soil.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2023-04-17-natural-flood-prevention-higher-trust-through-better-communication
Luftbild einer Flut
Photo: André Künzelmann / UFZ

Natural flood prevention – higher trust through better communication

In many places today, dykes are being relocated and floodplain landscapes revitalised to give the river more room to spread out during floods.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/nachrichten/detail/2023-09-05-schmale-taeler-steile-flussprofile-wie-big-data-analysen-helfen-den-himalaya-zu-verstehen
Deeply incised riverbed of the Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, India
Photo: Jürgen Mey

Narrow Valleys, steep rivers - Himalayan valley-floor widths controlled by tectonics

Based on 1000+ measurements of uplift rates in the Himalayas, a team with participation of the UP were able to show that greater uplift rates and steeper rivers are associated with narrower valleys.


2022

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2022-08-05-risk-management-of-floods-and-droughts-depends-on-event-magnitude
Ein augetrocknetes Flussbett neben einer überschwemmten Stadt
Image: Jürgen Mey

Risk management of floods and droughts depends on event magnitude

How effective and sustainable is risk management of flood and drought events worldwide? Empirical data show that this obviously depends on the event ...

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/nachrichten/detail/2022-11-15-wir-muessen-den-fluessen-mehr-raum-geben-stephanie-natho-erforscht-nutzen-von-auen
Stephanie Natho
Photo: Thomas Roese

“We need to give rivers more space” - Stephanie Natho researches the benefits of floodplains

The scientist works on the basis of flood hazard maps of the 79 major rivers in Germany, which are listed in the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation's floodplain status report from 2021.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/nachrichten/detail/2022-11-02-wenn-es-waermer-wird-artensterben-in-der-arktis-vor-9000-jahren-und-heute

When it gets warmer - species extinction in the Arctic - 9,000 years ago and today

Ulrike Herzschuh and her team use drill cores from sediments of Arctic lakes, from which they can read the vegetation history of tens of thousands of years.


2021

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories/detail/2021-11-08-climate-change-increases-sediment-flux-in-asian-high-mountain-regions
Fluss im westlichen Himalaya im indischen Bundestaat Uttarakhand
Photo: Bodo Bookhagen

Climate change boosts sediment flux in High Mountain Asia

In recent decades, runoff or sediment input to rivers in the high mountains of Asia has increased sharply and will more than double by 2050.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/pressreleases/detail/2021-06-11-anatomy-of-a-catastrophe-international-study-to-february-2021-uttarakhand-disaster
Zerstörtes Wasserkraftwerk Tapovan Vishnugad nach dem verheerenden Schuttstrom am 7. Februar 2021
Photo: Irfan Rashid, Department of Geoinformatics, University of Kashmir.

Anatomy of a catastrophe - International study to February 2021 Uttarakhand disaster

The 2021 Chamoli disaster in the Indian Himalaya was triggered by an extraordinary rock and ice avalanche and debris flow, that destroyed infrastructure and left more then 200 people dead or missing.

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/pressreleases/detail/2021-06-16-clews-international-masters-program-on-climate-earth-water-and-sustainability-launche
Natur und Klima schützen: Im internationalen Masterstudium CLEWS werden Expertinnen und Experten auf dem Feld der klimawissenschaftlichen Forschung ausgebildet, um in der Forschung, der Politik und der Öffentlichkeit die Folgen der globalen Erwärmung wissenschaftlich fundiert anzugehen.
Photo: Vera Öztürk

New master's degree program "Climate, Earth, Water and Sustainability"

Graduates of our international master's degree program CLEWS will be trained to become experts in the field of climate science research in order to address the consequences of global warming.