From 9th to 11th August, 2010 Latvia will host the XXVI Nordic Hydrological Conference „Hydrology: From research to water management”. The Conference is jointly organized by the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology centre (LEGMC) on behalf of the Nordic Association for Hydrology (NHF) in co-operation with University of Latvia (LU) and the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO (UNESCO LNC).

This is the second time when Latvia will host such an important international conference of hydrology. The first conference was held in Riga in 1926 and had participants from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland thus starting the tradition of Nordic hydrology conferences. Many Nordic hydrologists still remember the hydrological conferences of 1920’s and 1930’s which furtherone were also organised in Sweden and Finland in 1928, Denmark in 1930 and Norway in 1936. The 7th hydrological conference of Baltic Sea States was to be arranged in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1941. For well-known reasons, the conference could not be take place, and the tradition was discontinued.

Since 1996 all three Baltic States have joined the Nordic Hydrological Association as associated members and since 2000 as full-members. In 2010 the Nordic Hydrological Conference (NHC) takes place in the Baltic States for the second time (it was organised by Estonia in 2004). Thus being outside the traditional region of the Nordic countries, the organization of the XXVI NHC in Latvia marks the return to the traditions of the first Baltic hydrological conferences.

The Conference will last three days with the aim to promote the exchange of experiences from hydrological research and practice conducted in different fields in order to compare research priorities, methods, data, knowledge and results, achieved by different scientists, who are working for a better understanding of hydrological processes and improvement of water resources management. Altogether, more than 110 participants from 15 countries have registered for the Conference.

Conference will focus on the following key themes - Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies; Water Management within the Context of European Directives; Hydrological Information System and Developments in Modelling; Measurements and Monitoring; Extremes and Uncertainties; Groundwater and Surface Water Interactions; Cold Climate Hydrology.

As keynote speakers and highlights of the conference next to others the following persons will share their views:

• Siegfried Demuth, Chief of the Hydrological Processes and Climate Section at the Division of Water Sciences at UNESCO (UNESCO International Hydrological Programme)
• Lothar Schüller, Scientific coordinator for its Satellite Application Facility (SAF), EUMESTAT (EUMETSAT and its activities related to Hydrology and Water Management)
• Rolf Johnsen, Coordinator of the Interreg IVB project “CLIWAT”, Region of Midtjylland, Denmark (The climate change challenge in coastal zones and upstream with special emphasis on groundwater. Collaboration and innovation in society, science and industry is needed.)
• Esko Kuusisto, Hydrologist, Finnish Environment Institute, Finland

For more information about the conference, please consult the official Conference webpage: www.nordicwater-2010.com