Sammendrag
This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in
hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved
a public consultation through online media, followed by two workshops through which a large number
of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the
participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the
state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or
redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focused on the process-based understanding
of hydrological variability and causality at all space and time scales. Increased attention to
environmental change drives a new emphasis on understanding how change propagates across
interfaces within the hydrological system and across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, the expansion
of the human footprint raises a new set of questions related to human interactions with nature and
water cycle feedbacks in the context of complex water management problems. We hope that this
reflection and synthesis of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology will help guide research efforts for
some years to come.
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