At the beginning of the 20th century, the influence of forests on the water cycle (especially floods) became a major scientific issue at the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL. In that context the first measuring stations for continuous monitoring of runoff and rainfall were installed in the Sperbelgraben catchment. Since then, the hydrological research at WSL has developed towards mountain hydrology and today also includes water quality, snow hydrology and sediment transport.

Celebrating one century of hydrological research at WSL, we would like to invite national and international partners to discuss the actual state of scientific knowledge and give an outlook to future research in the field of mountain hydrology.

The workshop will be held at the Dorfzentrum in Einsiedeln, 40 km south-east of Zürich, a charming village at the entrance to the sub-alpine region of central Switzerland. Einsiedeln is accessible by train or car within 1.5 h from Zürich-airport or 1 h from Zürich city. A full range of hotels will be available there.

In close vicinity of Einsiedeln is one of the WSL-long term hydro-meteorological research site (Alptal) to which a field excursion during the workshop is planned. A post-workshop tour to the 100-year old research site ‘Sperbelgraben’ in the picturesque Emmental region will be organized for interested workshop participants on Saturday, April 5.

The workshop addresses the following key-topics in the field of mountain hydrology:

- Runoff from mountain catchments: measurements and modeling.
- Influence of forest and land use on runoff formation, erosion and sediment transport
- Snow hydrology
- Chemistry of mountain streams
- Past lessons and future challenges in mountain hydrology