MSc thesis topics without descriptions

Did the morphology of the Waal river change as a result of the
construction of longitudinal dams? Analysing a multi-year data set from
multibeam echosounders.
Contact: Timo de Ruijsscher.

How do tides propagate in a delta where channels bifurcate? Timeseries analysis of discharge and water levels in the Kapuas channel
network.
Contact: Ton Hoitink and Karl Kästner.

How does river discharge split over distributary channels? Development
of a flexible mesh Delft3D model of flow in the Kapuas channel network.
Contact: Ton Hoitink and Karl Kästner.

How does suspended sediment distribute over channels at a channel
junction influenced by tides? Analysis of acoustic profiles of flow and
suspended sediment from repeat-transect data.
Contact: Ton Hoitink and Karl Kästner.

How can hydrologists estimate high-resolution rainfall variability over
urban areas, where rainfall data from national meteorological services
are notoriously sparse? Statistical analysis of rainfall data from nonconventional sources, such as gauges from hobby meteorologists in
Amsterdam, a high-resolution rain radar in Rotterdam, or microwave
links from cellular communication networks in major Dutch cities.
Contact: Remko Uijlenhoet (Manuel Rios Gaona, Tommy van Leth, Lotte
de Vos).

How does the discrete nature of rainfall affect hydrological processes?
Unraveling the microstructure of rainfall to improve our understanding
of rainfall interception by vegetation canopies, soil erosion through
raindrop impact, or the propagation of radar and microwave link signals
through rain. Time series analysis of disdrometer measurements from
Wageningen to Hawaii.
Contact: Remko Uijlenhoet (Tommy van Leth).

How does rainfall spatial and/or temporal variability affect the
catchment hydrological response (in particular flash floods)? Space-time
analysis of rainfall data from gauges, radar or microwave links, and
application in lumped or distributed hydrological models of catchments
small and large in The Netherlands, Belgium and way beyond.
Contact: Remko Uijlenhoet, Claudia Brauer.

How do groundwater level fluctuations vary across a complex
landscape? Time series analysis and modeling of a large number of
groundwater well in the province of Gelderland, The Netherlands.
Contact: Ryan Teuling.

What does potential evaporation actually say about actual evaporation?
Insights from a large number of eddy-covariance flux towers around the
world.
Contact: Ryan Teuling.

How to make robust predictions of hydrology in a changing climate? The
importance of model structure and optimization in hydrological model
simulations.
Contact: Ryan Teuling.

Do forests make more clouds? Analysis of 10 years of MSG satellite data
over western Europe.
Contact: Ryan Teuling.

Can high-resolution digital elevation models be used to downscale
hydrological processes? Analysis of soil moisture and/or snow
distribution in complex landscapes.
Contact: Ryan Teuling.

How is evaporation reduction related to soil moisture and groundwater
depth worldwide? Analysing data from sites with shallow groundwater in
different climate zones.
Contact: Claudia Brauer.

What happened during the extreme rainfall and floods in June 2016?
Detailed analysis of rainfall events (together with KNMI) and resulting
floods (together with water boards Aa & Maas and De Dommel).
Contact: Claudia Brauer

How can river routing be implemented in the semi-distributed version of
WALRUS? Programming and performing scenario analyses to analyse
the effect of changing stage-discharge relations (via backwater effects)
on rainfall-runoff processes.
Contact: Claudia Brauer, Paul Torfs.

The effect of initial conditions and precipitation sum on hydrologic
extremes. Running WALRUS for a 100-year period (adding climate
scenarios possible) and analysing flood and/or drought characteristics.
Contact: Claudia Brauer, Remko Uijlenhoet.

How can discharge and groundwater observations be used for dataassimilation to improve discharge forecasts in WALRUS? Relating
measurements to model variables and investigating different dataassimilation techniques.
Contact: Claudia Brauer.

How do freezing conditions affect rainfall-runoff processes in lowland
catchments? Analysing time series of discharge and temperature in
different climate zones (temperate regions with freezing channels and
drainpipes or permafrost areas with active top layers during summer).
If possible, the findings can be schematised into a module for WALRUS.
Contact: Claudia Brauer.

2D flood modelling using finite volumes.
Contact: Paul Torfs.

How can the sensitivity of WALRUS’ state variables to parameter
changes be derived analytically?
Contact: Paul Torfs.

Is the model complexity of WALRUS warranted by the data? Using
Taken's embedding theory to analyse time series.
Contact: Paul Torfs.

Verification of global hydrologic flood forecasts. A global hydrologic
flood forecasting system has been set up and is running at Deltares.
Current skill of the system is unknown, although some real-time eye
ball verification shows promising results. This MSc thesis will investigate
what the skill is of the flood forecast system (What is the skill? How to
quantify the skill?) and which verification metrics should be used using
available observed data. Furthermore, the MSc will investigate how the
results depend on the different hydrologic and meteorological (forecast)
data used for making the ensemble flood forecasts. It expected that the
MSc will make recommendations on possible improvements to increase
the measured skill.
Contact: Albrecht Weerts.

Impact of groundwater flow, climate and land-use on subsurface
temperatures. Groundwater flow will impact subsurface temperatures.
In areas of seepage temperatures can be expected to be relatively high
whereas areas of infiltration will be cooler. However, ground surface
temperature will also be an important controlling factor. Piezometers
allow for the measurement of temperature with depth (upto several
100s of m). Temperature-depth data obtained in this way can be
quantitatively interpreted for the aforementioned controlling
parameters.
Contact: Victor Bense.

Relation between groundwater and surface water levels and ecological
values in the Noor catchment, South Limburg. Is it possible to prevent
further incision of the Noor? Combination of fieldwork and data
analyses.
Contact: Roel Dijksma.

Why did brackish water reach drinking water pumping station Garyp in
Friesland so fast? Scenario study by using GMS-MODFLOW in close
cooperation with Vitens.
Contact: Roel Dijksma.

Can we predict the movement of water in the direct surroundings of the
ultra-sensitive gravimeter at Moxa, Germany. Local groundwater flow
modelling by using GMS-MODFLOW.
Contact: Roel Dijksma.

Impact of wildfires in eucalyptus forests on hydrological response in
North-Central Portugal. Field research and modelling of catchments of
various sizes.
Contact: Roel Dijksma (and Saskia Keesstra).

What are the physical properties of basalt on Iceland? What is the size
of a representative elementary volume in basalt. Can we close the
water balance in a basalt aquifer? Can we scale this knowledge up to
other basalt dominated areas?
Contact: Roel Dijksma.

Finding recharge pathways in basaltic aquifers by determining residence
times through isotope dating. Location: Moscow, Idaho.
Contact: Roel Dijksma.

What is the relation between runoff and erosion on the Cultuurvlakte of
St. Eustatius? Combination of fieldwork and modelling.
Contact: Roel Dijksma (and Saskia Keesstra).

Is it possible to improve the satellite products of TRMM and GPM in the
Paute river basin in Ecuador?
Contact: Roel Dijksma.

For the food security project in Akon North in South Susan students are
needed to perform a water management study to improve water
storage and water discharge in the region.
Contact: Roel Dijksma