NCR is the leading cooperative alliance between all major Dutch institutes for river studies. We integrate knowledge, facilitate discussion and promote excellent science.
The Physical Geography department of Utrecht University has many years of experience in river studies. Research themes focus on fluvial morphology and hydrological processes at different spatial and temporal scales.
Age of the Holocene Channel belts in the Rhine-Meuse delta, The Netherlands
At the scale of the river delta the focus is on the dynamics of sedimentation. Using a database containing detailed information from 200,000 boreholes, a reconstruction of the Holocene paleogeograohy of the Rhine-Meuse delta has been established. Research on contemporary processes includes sediment transport within the river channel, channel morphology, overbank sedimentation and the deposition of pollutants on the floodplain.
GIS-embedded models
At the river basin scale, the discharge of water, sediment, nutritients and pollutants, and the boundary conditions controlling these processes are studied using GIS-embedded models. The River Rhine functions as a laboratory river for research, but other rivers in Europe and in various other parts of the world are studied as well.
Related Projects
Duration
#Research
Name
Status
Details
View
2018 - 2023
4
Rivers2Morrow
Active
Rivers2Morrow
Duration
From 2018 to 2023
Research Positions
4
Domains
climate adaptation
Hydrodynamics
Hydrology
Interdisciplinary
Morphodynamics
sediment transport
Water Management
Description
River2Morrow is a research program which focusses on long term development of lowland rivers, with respect to morphology, hydraulics and ecology. The focus is on system knowledge. We want to know how lowland rivers respond to climate change, which obviously influences the downstream boundary (the sea level) and the upstream boundary (the river discharge). Also the sediment supply at the upstream boundary will most probably change, not only as a result of climate change, but also as a result of anthropogenic interference. Furthermore, in many river systems (and at least in the Dutch Rhine branches and the Meuse River), many measures to reduce flood risk have been constructed in the past 2-3 decades. Although every individual measure has been designed such that morphological changes are supposed to be minimized, the combined morphological effects in the next decades to century is still highly uncertain. Also the assessment of ecological changes (succession of vegetation) and the effects thereof on hydrology and morphology remains challenging. In Rivers2Morrow, we are interested in the long term responds of the river system. Therefore, Rivers2Morrow can be seen as the successor of the research program RiverCare which found its inspiration in the program Room for the River and which studied the (among other things) the morphological and ecological consequences of longitudinal dams, side channels and other restoration measures.
Developing a generic method to predict piping hazard in a range of natural substrates with realistic heterogeneity, at the site and delta scale, using combined 3D subsurface
All-Risk aims at supporting the ambitious Dutch Flood Protection Programme (HWBP) objectives when it comes to implementing new flood safety norms, which as of January 2017 are incorporated in the Water Law. The programme consists of 14 PhD research positions, and 4 postdoc research positions. It is set up as an interdisciplinary endeavour, bringing together researchers from engineering, geotechnical, spatial planning and social sciences disciplines. This will yield detailed, technical findings(e.g. 70% of time investment) and insights in integration and stakeholder collaboration (e.g. 30% of time investment). International collaboration with universities in Houston, Tokyo and Berlin will also take place.
RiverCare Knowledge Dissemination Days October 31 - November 2016
S.J.M.H. Hulscher, R. Schielen and D.C.M. Augustijn (Eds.)
RiverCare Knowledge Dissemination Days October 31 - November 2016
ID
40-2016
Year
2016
Authors
S.J.M.H. Hulscher, R. Schielen and D.C.M. Augustijn (Eds.)
Domains
Abstract
This document contains a brief summary (the so-called two-pagers) of all the subprojects in RiverCare and serves as background information for the knowledge dissemination days on October 31 and November 1, 2016 and the mid-term review on November 2, 2016. RiverCare is a 5.7 million-euro research programme, in which universities, government,
knowledge-institutes and high-end consultancy firms work together on the challenges in river research and river management. RiverCare was granted in 2013 by the Technology Foundation (STW) of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), started effectively in 2014 and will end in December 2019. There are 16 PhD-students, 3 postdocs and 2 junior researchers working in RiverCare at 5 different universities in The Netherlands.
