WRF-Hydro® Community Spotlight | Dr. Harald Kunstmann

Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann (pictured here at the Upper Atbara Dam Complex in Sudan) and his research group investigate climate- and land use change impacts on water availability and relevant feedback mechanisms between the atmosphere and the land surface. Particular interest is in observing, modeling and predicting water- and energy fluxes in the joint atmospheric – terrestrial regional water cycle. Harald is affiliated both with the Campus Alpin lab of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and the University of Augsburg. Currently he is also honorary research associate at University of Oxford. Harald and his team use the WRF-Hydro modeling system for research applications in a variety of climate zones: from Alpine regions of humid Germany, via the Mediterranean, the Middle East, East- and West Africa, till China. Harald has a longterm cooperation with NCAR-RAL, that originally started with an invited WRF-Hydro course of Dr. David Gochis at KIT Campus Alpin. Current research and development comprise the role of lateral terrestrial hydrological flows for precipitation, the implementation of a 2-dimensional groundwater model for WRF-Hydro, the technical realization and application of moisture tagging algorithms, and first climate scale long term simulations.

Harald has co-organised the first European WRF-Hydro Workshop at University of Calabria and convenes sessions at EGU and IAHS on coupled atmosphere-hydrology modeling, where WRF-Hydro studies usually find great response. He also networks intensively with research teams in Italy, Middle East- and African countries to further promote the WRF-Hydro modeling system in Europe and Africa. In parallel he is committed to establishing and operating hydrometeorological observatories in Germany (TERENO preAlpine) and Ghana and Burkina Faso (WASCAL) allowing to validate, for example, energy flux partitioning in WRF-Hydro by analysis of Eddy-Covariance derived flux measurements. For inquiries regarding Harald's research activities contact harald.kunstmann@kit.edu. 

*To nominate a person or a project to be showcased on the WRF-Hydro Community Spotlight please email mollymca@ucar.edu.*