Main research directions

Our research is situated mostly in Central Europe, High mountains (Andes, Tian-Shan, Western Carpathians), High latitude and polar regions (Svalbard, Antarctic peninsula, Scandinavia, Canada):

  • Natural hazards: Floods, droughts, storms, mass movements, glacial lake outbursts and their impacts on the landscape and society
  • Glacial and periglacial geomorphology, Quaternary science: Deglaciation and its impact on landscape evolution, climate system and biotic migrations
  • Hydrology: Landscape changes and rainfall-runoff processes, snow accumulation and snowmelt, water quality
  • Climatology: Large-scale circulation patterns, statistical climatology, extreme events
  • Landform evolution and palaeoenvironment: Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, soil erosion and accumulation events, tectonics and landscape evolution
  • Advanced technology in geographical research: Applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), advanced geophysical methods in geomorphology and soil science
  • Biogeography and landscape ecology: Response of forest ecosystems to climate change, landscape structure and animal migrations

Research groups

Four research groups realize the research in the Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology:

Research facilities

  • Laboratory of physical geography (equipment for sediment and soil analysis)
  • Dendrochronological laboratory (fully equipped lab for standard and wood-anatomical methods)
  • EcoHydro Lab (basic hydrochemical analyses)
  • Monitoring networks of rainfall-runoff and climatologic processes (several catchments in Czechia, Peruvian Andes, Tian-Shan)
  • UAV with multiple sensors
  • Ground penetrating radar and other geophysical devices

    Ongoing research projects

    The list of institutional and research projects, which are currently investigated in the Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology.

    Institutional projects

    • Cooperatio Geography

    Research projects (Czech Science Foundation, Technology Agency of the Czech Republic), research projects supported by Czech ministries

    • Natural and Anthropogenic Georisks (Programme Johannes Amos Comenius, CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004605, Vojtěch Ettler, Jan Tumajer, 2024-2028)
    • Importance, Change and Practical Protection of Peatlands, Intereg Czech-Poland, CZ.11.01.02/00/23_011/0000161, 2025-2029 (main investigator: KRNAP, investigator for KFGG: M. Matoušková)
    • Quaternary glaciation of the central European uplands and its palaeoclimate implications (GAČR 25-17976S, Martin Margold, 2025-2027)
    • Mountain snowmelt and its importance for catchment storage and runoff (MountSnow) (GAČR and SNSF, GAČR 23-06859K, Michal Jeníček, 2023-2026)
    • Prediction, Evaluation and Research for Understanding National sensitivity and impacts of drought and climate change for Czechia (PERUN) (TAČR Prostředí pro život, SS02030040, Radim Tolasz, Bohumír Janský, 2020-2026)
    • DivLand: Landscape and Biodiversity Research Center (TAČR SS02030018, Prostředí pro život, Dušan Romportl, Jan Frouz, Václav Treml, 2021-2026)
    • Hydrological and hydrochemical responses of montane peat bogs to climate change (GAČR 22-12837S, Jakub Langhammer, 2022-2024)
    • Establishing the Chronology of the First Great Eurasian Ice Sheets (GAČR, GA22-13190S, John Jansen, Martin Margold, 2022-2024)
    • Insect induced tree mortality under climate change – Impacts on hydrology and geochemistry across scales (GAČR, GAČR 22-20422O, Ye Su, 2022-2025)
    • Using forward modelling to unravel the complex climatic control on intra-annual tree growth at cold distribution margins (GAČR 22-26519S, Jelena Lange, 2022-2024)
    • Tree-ring database as a tool for evidence and prediction of response of main forest species to climate change (TAČR SS0310134, Prostředí pro život, Václav Treml)

    Ph.D. research projects (The Charles University Grant Agency)

    • Modelling of Snowmelt Water Distribution in the Critical Zone: A Multi-Catchment Analysis (GAUK 156125, Johnmark Nyame Acheampong, 2025-2027)
    • Chronology of early Laurentide Ice Sheet advances to the south (GAUK 96125, Ruben Bertels, 2025-2027)
    • Estimating pantropical peatland conditions under current and future anthropogenic change (GAUK 448325, Yarin Tatiana Puerta Quintana, 2025-2027)
    • Glacier dynamics of Caucasus mountains (GAUK 208223, Pragya Mehrishi, 2023-2025)
    • A novel approach to estimate vadose zone mass-fluxes and integrate pre-existing surface- and ground-water models for climate change assessment and mitigation studies (GAUK 246623, Veethahavya Kootanoor Sheshadrivasan, 2023-2025)
    • Impacts of a changing climate on past and future tree growth at the treeline (GAUK 217023, Francesco Marotta, 2023-2025)
    • Reconstructing the subglacial erosional history of the first Eurasian Ice Sheets (GAUK 152423, Kaleb Wagner, 2023-2025)
    • Universal methodology for GLOF hazard evaluation and its application for the temporal model (GAUK 258522, Jan Baťka, 2022-2024)
    • Snowmelt and its importance for catchment storage and runoff in mountain areas of central Europe (GAUK 354522, Dominik Míka, 2022-2024)
    • Inverse modelling of cosmogenic nuclides in geochronology (GAUK 310222, Lotta Kristiina Ylä-Mella, 2022-2024)