Soil Water Balance and Hydrological Extremes at Landscape Scale: Monitoring and Modelling Flood and Drought Dynamics in Czech Landscapes

The doctoral research will focus on assessing the soil water balance and its relation to hydrological extremes—namely floods and droughts—in a representative Central European agricultural landscape. The study will be based primarily on long-term monitoring data from the Nučice experimental catchment, where detailed observations of meteorological variables, soil moisture, and runoff are available.

The research will combine experimental data with numerical modelling at multiple scales. Soil profile models (e.g. HYDRUS) will be used to simulate water dynamics in the unsaturated zone, while distributed catchment-scale models such as MIKE SHE or HEC-HMS will be applied to evaluate spatially variable water balance components. Particular attention will be given to the system’s response to extreme rainfall events and prolonged dry periods, as well as to the spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture in agricultural soils.

The outcomes will contribute to understanding how soil and land use characteristics influence water retention, runoff generation, and vulnerability to hydrological extremes under current and changing climate conditions.
The topic can be carried out in either English or Czech.