First round of applications: The deadline is Wednesday, 22nd May. IIASA will review all applications by 24th May 2024 and provide feedback to be incorporated by the candidates by Thursday, 30th May. Candidates will be notified of the outcome of their applications by Tuesday, 4th June 2024.
We encourage light research but expect a commitment of around two hours for the application. For this purpose, a more experienced answer is equal to one from someone just discovering the subject. Applicants will receive feedback and, in successful cases, have a week to update their submission.
Course Description:
CWatM simulates the water cycle over land by applying daily climate variables like rain and temperature onto a pixelated earth. Water flows as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, soil moisture, groundwater, snow, and glaciers. Water flows downstream, infiltrates into soil moisture, percolates into groundwater, is moved through canals, evapotranspires over forests, agriculture, and grasslands, and is abstracted and delivered for domestic, industrial, and agricultural purposes. CWatM is an open-source hydrological model that simulates the terrestrial water cycle with human influence, namely, the spatiotemporal distribution of water flows and stocks (rivers, lakes, etc.) on a daily basis, from 1 km to 50 km resolutions, from sub-basin to global scales. During the summer school, participants, i.e., “modellers,” will simulate a large drainage basin/watershed (larger than 50,000 km2) at 50 km resolution, compare with observations, including from satellite imagery with Google Earth Engine (GRACE and Evapotranspiration products), and calibrate the model. Outputs will be visualized, and comparisons will be facilitated with CWatM Tools and Notebooks. Modellers will create a presentation describing the water cycle for their chosen region using model outputs. The course will award CWatM Level A1 certification upon successful evaluation of the assignments.
Self-guided learning
Summer school modelers practice CWatM through five modules, applying the video lessons to model a basin of their choice. The course is completed in about five days. There are meetings with the instructor after Modules 2 and 4. Open office hours are twice daily to cover all time zones, Monday through Friday, June 24 to July 10. Module 2 is to be finished any day before July 5, and Module 4 before July 10. The assignment is to be submitted any day before July 13.
