We are the Hydrology group at the Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics. We do research in catchment ecohydrology. We build models and do field work. Our research includes:
- Water age and transit time distributions
- Solute transport in catchments
- Isotope ecohydrology
- Soil column experiments
News
- First trip to Mt. Lozère
The new SNSF-NSF project “DrySpell” will include substantial fieldwork activities at the Mt. Lozère area where multiple experimental catchments have been monitored for years. Mt. Lozère is hydrologically very interesting because it has a mediterranean climate with dry summers and very wet autumns.
The hydrology lab visited the site for the first time in August 2026, when most streams were dry or barely trickling.
The grassland around the meteo station in Vialasse 
Dry streambed in Sapine 
Group picture (Paolo, Jenny, Fosco, Julien) - Water demography at the UNIL 7×7 de la Recherche
Paolo Benettin represented the Faculty of Geoscience and the Environment at a new type of event made to communicate academic research to a broad audience: the 7×7! That is, 7 researchers presenting their research for 7 minutes each (in French).
The whole event is available here, while Paolo’s specific presentation, featuring the link between water age and veterinary pharmaceuticals (based on recent work by Rakonjac et al, 2025*) is available here.
Putting together a presentation of 7 minutes for a general audience takes much longer than preparing a 1-hour scientific presentation. But from time to time it is useful and also fun!
The whole team of presenters at the 7×7 UNIL 
Paolo Benettin inviting the audience to imagine an impermeable soil at the back of the room *Reference: Rakonjac*, N., Miazza, R., Rinaldo, A., Ritsema, C. J., & Benettin, P. (2025). Short water transit times determine the fate of veterinary pharmaceuticals in lowland catchments. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology.
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