Fed. Res. & Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards & Landscape (BFW), Austria
Competencies and facilities
As an Alpine country with large mountainous area, Austria is mostly affected by landslides and debris flows. Our department at BFW plays a central role in the research, training and management of such geohazards and has acquired enormous competence. Our research activities cover both modelling, monitoring, mitigation and management of geohazards. In the past decades numerous landslides and debris flows have been documented, which may be used to validate the numerical models in MUMOLADE. Our department has long-term cooperation with universities and is engaged in teaching at BOKU and the University of Innsbruck. Our department has excellent facilities and know-how of GIS-techniques, soil physics and hydrological modelling, e.g. the hydrological model ZEMOKOST – developed at the department has become the standard tool in Austria. Moreover, a well-equipped soil laboratory is available. ESRs will be trained in catchment hydrology, hydrological modelling, GIS use in hydrology and investigation of natural hazards, applied soil physics and soil analysis, near natural methods for runoff prevention and slope stabilization, impact of land-use on natural hazards (torrential events, soil erosion, mass movements and others).
Key person
Dr. Gerhard MARKART is Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Hazards and Alpine Timberline and head of the Unit of Water Balance in Alpine Catchments at Federal Forestry Authority. His experiences cover hydrology, natural hazards and hydrological modelling. He is a panel expert for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management, the Province Government of Tyrol and is member of the Austrian-Norm Institute. At the moment he is engaged in an INTERREG project funded by the EC. In addition he is heading the project “Shallow Interflow” funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
