My research

Aquifers and rivers in mountainous headwater catchments are important freshwater resources that sustain downstream baseflow in the densely populated lowlands of Switzerland as well as in many other parts of the world. It is of great importance to protect and sustainably manage these fragile hydro(geo)logic systems - particularly in the face of future environmental changes (e.g., climate change, land use change). Adaption methods to these changes can, however, only be successful when underpinned by a holistic understanding of the links and feedbacks between the different variables of the water cycle.
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As a researcher at EPF Lausanne, I address fundamental research questions within the field of catchment science. My research integrates studies on both physical hydrogeology and hydrology at different spatio-temporal scales. I am particularly interested in
  • Improving our understanding of the relationships between catchments’ landscape properties (e.g., geomorphology, climate, soils, vegetation), water storage dynamics and biogeochemical processes;
  • Performing innovative field-based experiments to capture rapid changes in discharge and water quality during rainfall and snowmelt in order to study water flow and storage in catchment systems;
  • Applying numerical hydrological models to simulate these flow and transport mechanisms over a range of spatial and temporal scales and to investiagte the effects of climate change on groundwater recharge.
Most of my current research focusses on how forested, snow-dominated mountainous catchments store and release water and how this affects the hydro-chemical signature of the river water. 
TempAqua: Exploring catchment hydrology and water quality of temporary streams in Switzerland
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A "lab in the field" for on-site analysis of water quality parameters and stable water isotopes at high temporal resolution.
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Quantifying the contribution of seasonal snowmelt to groundwater recharge and river discharge to improve the hydrological predictions Read more
Using stable water isotopes in precipitation and streamwater to estimate water ages and to study the relationship between water storage dynamics and catchments’ landscape properties.
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Stable water isotopes are commonly used to identify the water sources of trees. However, tree roots may change the isotopic composition of soil water during water uptake. 
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News Last updated: 23 Sep 2020
Get involved!
My group is offering BSc and MSc thesis projects in research topics focusing on catchment hydrology and hydrogeology, as well as on isotope hydrology and water quality. Projects can be based on existing data sets or field-work for data generation at our experimental sites (Alptal near Zurich, Haute-Mentue near Lausanne).  Please contact me (jana.vonfreyberg@epfl.ch) if you are interested.