BIOWATER use catchments of differing sizes and compare catchment information across regions and countries. Our three scales of research comprise:

Small catchment scale
Selected representative, data-rich, long-term nationally monitored catchments are used to improve our understanding of catchment processes and the hydro-biogeochemical cycles, and for calibration and validation of catchment models. We use catchments that are either semi-natural, dominated by agriculture or by forestry practices.

River basin scale
Larger rivers repesent a useful scale to study ecosystem services and related social sciences, as well as energy production and large-scale hydrological impacts.

Models that have been calibrated to smaller catchments can be upscaled to larger river basins.

Nordic scale
Nordic data-sets are used for comparative analyses of data across countries/regions, in order to increase our knowledge on hydro-biogeochemical processes and societal impacts.

BIOWATER will work in three different scales to assess the impacts on water quality and quantity of the green shift. Photo: Eva Skarbøvik.