Summary
This paper presents the outcome of an international community initiative to identify and prioritise 23 unsolved problems in hydrology. Through online consultation and two workshops involving 230 scientists, the authors synthesised major research gaps, revealing that the hydrological science community prioritises process-based understanding of variability and causality, with growing emphasis on understanding how environmental change propagates across hydrological system interfaces and on human–water interactions in complex water management contexts. The work aims to guide research directions for the coming decade by reflecting community consensus on the field's most pressing unresolved questions.
UK applicability
The identified research priorities are internationally relevant and directly applicable to UK hydrology and water resource management challenges, particularly regarding understanding how environmental change affects water systems and managing complex water demands across competing uses in a densely populated landscape.
Key measures
Community-identified and prioritised research questions in hydrology; synthesis of scientific challenges across spatial and temporal scales
Outcomes reported
The study synthesised 23 major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology through a community consultation process involving 230 scientists. It identified research priorities focused on process-based understanding of hydrological variability, environmental change propagation, and human–water interactions.
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