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Dr Klaus Joehnk

Team Leader (Modelling Water Ecosystems)

https://people.csiro.au/J/K/Klaus-Joehnk

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Contact details:

GPO BOX 1700
CANBERRA ACT 2601 AUSTRALIA

Biography

Dr. Klaus Joehnk is a Principal Research Scientist in CSIRO Land and Water leading the Modelling Water Ecosystems team. He has over 20 years of experience in research and consultancy on hydrodynamic and water quality modelling of lakes and rivers in Europe and Australia. During the last years he has been leading projects on combining hydrodynamic and water quality modelling with satellite remote sensing of inland waters with a goal of operational short-term forecasting of harmful algal blooms. Further areas of research are modelling of low dissolved oxygen - blackwater - events in river systems for risk reduction of hypoxia and fish kills, large scale modelling of hydrological and thermal conditions in river systems to support a release strategy of carp herpesvirus for pest reduction, and in general utilizing modelling tools in combination with remote sensing to better manage water dependent ecosystems. During and after the bushfires in Australia 2020 he led a research group to investigate the effects of bushfires on water quality. Klaus is also working as part of the AquaWatch Australia mission team to develop a satellite based monitoring and forecasting system for inland water quality on a continental scale.

Dr. Joehnk has over 60 publications in International Journals and Conference Proceedings. He serves on the editorial board for Ecological Informatics (Elsevier). Dr Joehnk is a committee member of the Australian Water Association/ACT branch.

Research areas:
Dr Klaus Joehnk's primary research area is environmental modelling of climate-driven aquatic systems. His special research interests include:
* Dynamics of cyanobacteria blooms
* Wildfires and water quality
* Remote sensing of water quality
* Continental scale modelling of aquatic systems
* Climate change impact on stratification of lakes
* Mine pit lakes

Project lead over the last 5 years:
* AquaWatch WP4.1: Inland Water Pilot (2022-)
* Water quality responses and mitigation options for post 2019/20 bushfire floods in the MDB (2020-2021)
* Development of improved cyanobacteria remote sensing capability and forecasting model for Melbourne Water Western Treatment Plant’s lagoon systems (2019-2023)
* Lake Hume blue green algae monitoring and forecasting (2019-2021)
* HIREMOT - High-resolution in-situ and surface measurements of optical and temperature lake characteristics – AQUACOSM H2020 (2019)
* Assessment and mitigation options of blackwater risk in the Murray River system (2018-2020)
* Development of hydrological, ecological and epidemiological modelling to inform a CyHV3 release strategy for the biocontrol of carp in the Murray Darling Basin (2017-2019)
* Development of bloom remote sensing capability and cyanobacteria forecasting model for Western Treatment Plant’s largest treatment lagoon systems (2017-2018)
* Lake Hume blue-green algae risk minimisation (2017-2018)
* A national framework for prediction of Harmful Algal Blooms (2015 - 2017)
* Murray River Decision Support System - blackwater, harmful algal blooms (2015-2017)

Professional Areas

Fields of Research

Current

Former

Current Roles

  • Activity Leader
    PrimeWater (Horizon 2020) - Delivering Advanced Predictive Tools from Medium to Seasonal Range for Water Dependent Industries Exploiting the Cross-Cutting Potential of EO and Hydro-Ecological Modeling

  • Project Leader
    Development of improved cyanobacteria remote sensing capability and forecasting model for Melbourne Water Western Treatment Plant’s lagoon systems

Academic Qualifications

  • 2001

    Habilitation
    Institute of Mechanics, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

  • 1991

    Dr. rer. nat.
    Institute of Mechanics, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

  • 1986

    Diploma
    Geophysical Institute, Technical University of Karlsruhe (KIT), Germany

Professional Experiences

  • 2017-current

    Team Leader (Modelling Water Ecosystems)
    CSIRO Land and Water, Water Security Program (Black Mountain, ACT)

  • 2010-current

    Senior Research Scientist
    CSIRO Land and Water, Water Security Program (Black Mountain, ACT)

  • 2007-2010

    Research Scientist
    Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries

  • 2003-2007

    Research Scientist
    Aquatic Microbiology, IBED, University of Amsterdam

  • 2001-2003

    Research Scientist
    Dept. of Freshwater Conservation, Brandenburg Technical University of Cottbus, Germany

  • 1997-2010

    Consultant
    Institute of Limnophysics

  • 1990-1997

    Research Scientist and Assistant Professor ('Hochschulassistent')
    TU Darmstadt, Institute of Mechanics

  • 1986-1990

    Research Scientist
    Geophysical Institute, University of Karlsruhe

Achievements and Awards

  • 2016-2020

    The CSIRO medal for impact from science – WIRADA
    CSIRO

  • 2020-2020

    CSIRO Collaboration Award for the Northern Australia Water Resources Assessment
    CSIRO

Community and Corporate Citizenship

  • 2016-2020

    Associate editor, Frontiers in Environmental Science - Interdisciplinary Climate Studies

  • 2017-present

    Editorial board, Ecological Informatics

Related links

Publications

We have publications by Dr Klaus Joehnk