Rafael Schmitt
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View article: Lost Opportunities in Sustainable Hydropower: The Overlooked Role of Sediment Management and Coordinated Dam Operations
Lost Opportunities in Sustainable Hydropower: The Overlooked Role of Sediment Management and Coordinated Dam Operations Open
Balancing hydropower development with river sediment connectivity is essential for meeting energy demands while mitigating impacts on river ecosystems and delta communities. Here, we introduce an integrated modeling framework to jointly ex…
View article: Leveraging hillslope connectivity for improved large-scale assessments of landslide risk
Leveraging hillslope connectivity for improved large-scale assessments of landslide risk Open
Landslides hinder sustainable development in mountain regions, threatening livelihoods and impacting linear and water infrastructure. Susceptibility maps are a common tool for estimating and managing landslide hazards, exposure, and risks.…
View article: Strategizing renewable energy transitions to preserve sediment transport integrity
Strategizing renewable energy transitions to preserve sediment transport integrity Open
Hydropower is vital for climate mitigation by enabling low-carbon energy systems, but hydropower dams also trap sediment, a crucial resource for ecosystems and climate adaptation along downstream coastlines. Here we present a multisectoral…
View article: Joint strategic energy and river basin planning to reduce dam impacts on rivers in Myanmar
Joint strategic energy and river basin planning to reduce dam impacts on rivers in Myanmar Open
Tackling climate change and human development challenges will require major global investments in renewable energy systems, including possibly into large hydropower. Despite well-known impacts of hydropower dams, most renewable energy asse…
View article: The competing controls of glaciers, precipitation, and vegetation on high-mountain fluvial sediment yields
The competing controls of glaciers, precipitation, and vegetation on high-mountain fluvial sediment yields Open
Investigating erosion and river sediment yield in high-mountain areas is crucial for understanding landscape and biogeochemical responses to environmental change. We compile data on contemporary fluvial suspended sediment yield (SSY) and 1…
View article: Sustainable land and irrigation management to limit loss of hydropower in the Andes-Amazon headwaters
Sustainable land and irrigation management to limit loss of hydropower in the Andes-Amazon headwaters Open
Water plays a critical role in adapting food and energy systems to climate change in the Andes. However, robust climate solutions that work across sectors have not been explored for these working landscapes. Here we develop a framework con…
View article: Robust Hydropower Planning Balances Energy Generation, Carbon Emissions and Sediment Connectivity in the Mekong River Basin
Robust Hydropower Planning Balances Energy Generation, Carbon Emissions and Sediment Connectivity in the Mekong River Basin Open
We present a framework for strategic dam planning under uncertainty, which includes GHG emissions mitigation as a novel objective. We focus on the Mekong River Basin, a fast‐developing region heavily relying on river‐derived ecosystem serv…
View article: Strategic restoration-development mitigates tradeoffs between hydropower and fish habitat fragmentation in the Mekong
Strategic restoration-development mitigates tradeoffs between hydropower and fish habitat fragmentation in the Mekong Open
Hydropower can play an important role in decarbonizing energy systems, but opportunities for future low-impact hydropower are limited by existing dams, which are driving declines in freshwater fish worldwide. How to mitigate past developme…
View article: Dams for hydropower and irrigation: Trends, challenges, and alternatives
Dams for hydropower and irrigation: Trends, challenges, and alternatives Open
Hydropower and irrigation are essential for achieving human development objectives and for climate mitigation and adaptation. These sectors depend on the same grey infrastructure, such as dammed reservoirs, which has created negative socio…
View article: Scaling Up Pareto Optimization for Tree Structures with Affine Transformations: Evaluating Hybrid Floating Solar-Hydropower Systems in the Amazon
Scaling Up Pareto Optimization for Tree Structures with Affine Transformations: Evaluating Hybrid Floating Solar-Hydropower Systems in the Amazon Open
Sustainability challenges inherently involve the consideration of multiple competing objectives. The Pareto frontier – the set of all optimal solutions that cannot be improved with respect to one objective without negatively affecting anot…
View article: Data and code in support of "Rethinking energy planning to mitigate environmental and climatic impacts of future African hydropower"
Data and code in support of "Rethinking energy planning to mitigate environmental and climatic impacts of future African hydropower" Open
This dataset contains all the data and processing needed to produce results and figures reported in the manuscript "Rethinking energy planning to mitigate environmental and climatic impacts of future African hydropower". The README file gu…
View article: Towards system scale understanding of the complex interaction of hydrologic, geomorphic and ecologic processes controlling ecosystem functioning in river corridors: Using satellite time series to assess the river network in the Aral Sea Basin
Towards system scale understanding of the complex interaction of hydrologic, geomorphic and ecologic processes controlling ecosystem functioning in river corridors: Using satellite time series to assess the river network in the Aral Sea Basin Open
River corridors, i.e. channel and adjacent floodplains, are hotspots of biodiversity and provide manifold ecosystem services. Their functioning and thus their ability to maintain biodiversity and to provide ecosystem services is controlled…
View article: Influences of Satellite Sensor and Scale on Derivation of Ecosystem Functional Types and Diversity
Influences of Satellite Sensor and Scale on Derivation of Ecosystem Functional Types and Diversity Open
Satellite-derived Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs) are increasingly used in ecology and conservation to characterize ecosystem heterogeneity. The diversity of EFTs, also known as Ecosystem Functional Diversity (EFD), has been suggested bo…
View article: Move up or move over: mapping opportunities for climate adaptation in Pakistan’s Indus plains
Move up or move over: mapping opportunities for climate adaptation in Pakistan’s Indus plains Open
The 2022 Indus floods in Pakistan underscore the urgency of adapting to more frequent and severe natural disasters in a warming world. Post-disaster reconstruction offers a chance to built-in adaptation measures, but identifying feasible a…
View article: Data and code in support of "Rethinking energy planning to mitigate environmental and climatic impacts of future African hydropower"
Data and code in support of "Rethinking energy planning to mitigate environmental and climatic impacts of future African hydropower" Open
This dataset contains all the data and processing needed to produce results and figures reported in the manuscript "Rethinking energy planning to mitigate environmental and climatic impacts of future African hydropower". The README file gu…
View article: Data repository for "Navigating trade-offs and sustainable development pathways in the Andean water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus"
Data repository for "Navigating trade-offs and sustainable development pathways in the Andean water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus" Open
Data and code supporting the research article: Navigating trade-offs and sustainable development pathways in the Andean water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus.
View article: Data repository for "Navigating trade-offs and sustainable development pathways in the Andean water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus"
Data repository for "Navigating trade-offs and sustainable development pathways in the Andean water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus" Open
Data and code supporting the research article: Navigating trade-offs and sustainable development pathways in the Andean water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus.
View article: Strategic siting and design of dams minimizes impacts on seasonal floodplain inundation
Strategic siting and design of dams minimizes impacts on seasonal floodplain inundation Open
Dams and reservoirs aid economic development but also create significant negative impacts. Dams fragment rivers and reduce longitudinal connectivity on a network scale. However, dams may also alter discharge regimes and flood peaks, conseq…
View article: Balancing Sediment Connectivity and Energy Production via Optimized Reservoir Sediment Management Strategies
Balancing Sediment Connectivity and Energy Production via Optimized Reservoir Sediment Management Strategies Open
Sediment connectivity plays a fundamental role in sustaining ecosystem goods and services in fluvial systems, including hydropower production. Dams alter the natural processes of sediment transport by trapping sediment and reshaping downst…
View article: Centring justice in conceptualizing and improving access to urban nature
Centring justice in conceptualizing and improving access to urban nature Open
As humanity has become increasingly urban, a growing number of people have been deprived of access to nature and the benefits it provides. This is especially true for marginalized groups, who often live in neighbourhoods where nature has b…
View article: Quantifying flood exposure for Pakistan's 2022 floods from remotely sensed data
Quantifying flood exposure for Pakistan's 2022 floods from remotely sensed data Open
Workflow for a rapid assessment of flood depth from remotely sensed data for Pakistan's 2022 floods. This workflow is designed to inform strategic and trans-sectoral reconstruction and adaptation to flood hazards.
View article: Quantifying flood exposure for Pakistan's 2022 floods from remotely sensed data
Quantifying flood exposure for Pakistan's 2022 floods from remotely sensed data Open
Workflow for a rapid assessment of flood depth from remotely sensed data for Pakistan's 2022 floods. This workflow is designed to inform strategic and trans-sectoral reconstruction and adaptation to flood hazards.
View article: Data, knowledge and modeling challenges for science-informed management of river deltas
Data, knowledge and modeling challenges for science-informed management of river deltas Open
450 million people live on river deltas and thus on land that is precariously low above the sea level and sinking because of human activities and natural processes. Although global debates around coastal risk typically focus on sea level r…
View article: First Assessment of the Connectivity of the River Network in the Aral Sea Basin in Central Asia: Challenges of Large Scale Connectivity Modeling in Data-Scarce Regions
First Assessment of the Connectivity of the River Network in the Aral Sea Basin in Central Asia: Challenges of Large Scale Connectivity Modeling in Data-Scarce Regions Open
Connectivity is crucial for the functioning of river corridors as it determines the natural flow and sediment regime as well as the ability of species to migrate. Thus, it is a property highly relevant for the development of riverine lands…
View article: Balancing renewable energy and river resources by moving from individual assessments of hydropower projects to energy system planning
Balancing renewable energy and river resources by moving from individual assessments of hydropower projects to energy system planning Open
As governments and non-state actors strive to minimize global warming, a primary strategy is the decarbonization of power systems which will require a massive increase in renewable electricity generation. Leading energy agencies forecast a…