Stefano Basso
About
I hold expertise in the field of hydrology and environmental hazards which I developed at universities and research institutes across Europe and the USA.
I engage with varied research topics, such as the characterization and prediction of water resources and flood hazards, solute and sediment fluxes through river basins, the water-energy-ecosystems nexus (especially in small hydropower), and the influence of landscapes on hydrologic and water quality dynamics.
A common goal links all these research lines: understanding and quantifying how the intrinsic variability of hydrologic systems mediates impacts of global change on watersheds, the resulting risks for humans, and the effects of adaptation and mitigation measures.
I have experience in fund raising, research transfer and the supervision of early career researchers.
2024 - Now: Associate professor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway.
2022 - 2024: Senior scientist, Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Norway.
2017 - 2022: Scientist and Research group leader, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Germany.
2014 - 2015: Visiting Research Scholar, Duke University, USA.
2012 - 2016: Doctoral researcher, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Switzerland.
2009 - 2012: Research fellow, University of Padova, Italy.
Research
Inferring extreme floods from common hydrologic dynamics
I develop new process-based methods to infer extreme floods from ordinary hydrologic dynamics. These methods enable reliable assessment of the flood hazard from commonly available data.
Landscape - based climate adaptation
I investigate the hydrology of anthropogenic landscapes to clarify how climate adaptation measures such as landscape restoration affect biogeochemical fluxes from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems and the occurrence of extreme floods.
Water - energy - biodiversity nexus in small run-of-river hydropower
I work with scientists from the fields of ecology and evolution to understand regional effects of cascade small hydropower installations on intra- and inter-specific riverine biodiversity.
Solute and sediment fluxes through river basins
I study how hydrogic dynamics and land use patterns influence solute (especially organic carbon) and sediment fluxes to water bodies.
Publications
Nature Geoscience
The article "Extreme flooding controlled by stream network organization and flow regime" is published on Nature Geoscience.
The study is also featured in the New Scientist.
Blame the river not the rain
Nature Geoscience releases a News & Views commentary on the scientific relevance of the article "Extreme flooding controlled by stream network organization and flow regime".
Nine Reasons Why Extreme Floods may be Worse Than Expected
The article "Understanding heavy tails of flood peak distributions" is featured in Eos as an AGU Editors' Highlight.
Water Resources Research Editors’ Choice Award
The article "Understanding heavy tails of flood peak distributions" receives the Water Resources Research Editors’ Choice Award.
2025
-
Wang, Hsing-Jui;
Merz, Ralf;
Basso, Stefano.
(2025)
Constructing a geography of heavy-tailed flood distributions: Insights from common streamflow dynamics.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
Academic article
-
Gong, Yongmei;
Tomar, Sangita Singh;
Rogozhina, Irina;
Basso, Stefano.
(2025)
Quantifying the hydrological contribution of glaciers in southwestern Norway at the beginning of the 21st century.
Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies
Academic article
-
Furuseth, Ingvild Skumlien;
Barneveld, Robert;
Basso, Stefano;
Gragne, Ashenafi Seifu;
Barkved, Line Johanne;
Sundnes, Frode.
(2025)
Verktøy for å identifisere og prioritere områder for myrrestaurering: Vannkvantitet og -kvalitet i Haldenvassdraget.
NIVA-rapport (8075-2025)
Report
2024
-
Pesce, Matteo;
Viglione, Alberto;
von Hardenberg, Jost;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Merz, Ralf.
(2024)
Regional multi-objective calibration for distributed hydrological modelling: a decision tree based approach.
Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (PIAHS)
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Musolff, Andreas;
de Wit, Heleen.
(2024)
More Frequent Runoff and Connected Sources in Headwaters Promote Browning of Northern Freshwaters.
Environmental Science and Technology Letters (ES&T Letters)
Academic article
2023
-
Wang, Hsing-Jui;
Merz, Ralf;
Yang, Soohyun;
Basso, Stefano.
(2023)
Inferring heavy tails of flood distributions through hydrograph recession analysis.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
Academic article
-
Wang, Hsing-Jui;
Merz, Ralf;
Yang, Soohyun;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano.
(2023)
Emergence of heavy tails in streamflow distributions: the role of spatial rainfall variability.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Merz, Ralf;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Miniussi, Arianna.
(2023)
Extreme flooding controlled by stream network organization and flow regime.
Nature Geoscience
Academic article
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Lun, David;
Merz, Ralf;
Blöschl, Günter;
Basso, Stefano;
Bertola, Miriam.
(2023)
Shifts in flood generation processes exacerbate regional flood anomalies in Europe.
Communications Earth & Environment
Academic article
-
Miniussi, Arianna;
Merz, Ralf;
Kaule, Lisa;
Basso, Stefano.
(2023)
Identifying discontinuities of flood frequency curves.
Journal of Hydrology
Academic article
-
Mushtaq, Sumra;
Miniussi, Arianna;
Merz, Ralf;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Marra, Francesco;
Basso, Stefano.
(2023)
Prediction of Extraordinarily High Floods Emerging From Heterogeneous Flow Generation Processes.
Geophysical Research Letters
Academic article
2022
-
Mushtaq, Sumra;
Miniussi, Arianna;
Merz, Ralf;
Basso, Stefano.
(2022)
Reliable estimation of high floods: A method to select the most suitable ordinary distribution in the Metastatistical extreme value framework.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
-
Yang, Soohyun;
Büttner, Olaf;
Kumar, Rohini;
Basso, Stefano;
Borchardt, Dietrich.
(2022)
An Analytical Framework for Determining the Ecological Risks of Wastewater Discharges in River Networks Under Climate Change.
Earth's Future
Academic article
-
Merz, Bruno;
Basso, Stefano;
Blöschl, Günter;
Merz, Ralf;
Viglione, Alberto;
Vorogushyn, Sergiy.
(2022)
Understanding Heavy Tails of Flood Peak Distributions.
Water Resources Research
Academic literature review
-
Basso, Stefano;
Bakken, Tor Haakon.
(2022)
Reconciling small hydropower and ecosystem services in river basins.
Frontiers in Environmental Science
Editorial
-
Saavedra, Felipe;
Musolff, Andreas;
von Freyberg, Jana;
Merz, Ralf;
Basso, Stefano;
Tarasova, Larisa.
(2022)
Disentangling scatter in long-term concentration-discharge relationships: the role of event types.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
Academic article
-
Merz, Ralf;
Miniussi, Arianna;
Basso, Stefano;
Petersen, Karl-Jonas;
Tarasova, Larisa.
(2022)
More Complex is Not Necessarily Better in Large-Scale Hydrological Modeling: A Model Complexity Experiment across the Contiguous United States.
Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS)
Academic article
2021
-
Basso, Stefano;
Ghazanchaei, Zohreh;
Tarasova, Larisa.
(2021)
Characterizing hydrograph recessions from satellite-derived soil moisture.
Science of the Total Environment
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Merz, Ralf;
Miniussi, Arianna.
(2021)
PHEV! The physically-based extreme value distribution of river flows.
Environmental Research Letters
Academic article
2020
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Merz, Ralf.
(2020)
Transformation of generation processes from small runoff events to large floods.
Geophysical Research Letters
Academic article
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Wendi, Dadiyorto;
Viglione, Alberto;
Kumar, Rohini;
Merz, Ralf.
(2020)
A Process-Based Framework to Characterize and Classify Runoff Events - the Event Typology of Germany.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Soulsby, Chris.
(2020)
Water-energy-ecosystem nexus in small run-of-river hydropower: optimal design and policy.
Applied Energy
Academic article
-
Merz, Ralf;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano.
(2020)
The flood cooking book: ingredients and regional flavors of floods across Germany.
Environmental Research Letters
Academic article
-
Merz, Ralf;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano.
(2020)
Parameter’s controls of distributed catchment models - How much information is in conventional catchment descriptors?.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
2019
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Merz, Ralf;
Kiss, Andrea;
Basso, Stefano.
(2019)
Causative classification of river flood events.
WIREs Water
Academic literature review
2018
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Zink, Matthias;
Merz, Ralf.
(2018)
Exploring Controls on Rainfall-Runoff Events: 1. Time Series-Based Event Separation and Temporal Dynamics of Event Runoff Response in Germany.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Poncelet, Carine;
Merz, Ralf.
(2018)
Exploring Controls on Rainfall-Runoff Events: 2. Regional Patterns and Spatial Controls of Event Characteristics in Germany.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
2016
-
Basso, Stefano.
(2016)
A physically based analytical model of flood frequency curves.
Geophysical Research Letters
Academic article
2015
-
Basso, Stefano.
(2015)
On the emergence of heavy-tailed streamflow distributions.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
-
Hastik, Richard;
Basso, Stefano;
Geitner, Clemens;
Vrščaj, Borut;
Walzer, Chris.
(2015)
Renewable energies and ecosystem service impacts.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Academic literature review
-
Basso, Stefano;
Frascati, Alessandro;
Marani, Marco.
(2015)
Climatic and landscape controls on effective discharge.
Geophysical Research Letters
Academic article
-
Betterle, Andrea;
Basso, Stefano;
Biswal, Basudev.
(2015)
Predicting streamflow distributions and flow duration curves from landscape and climate.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
2014
-
Doulatyari, Behnam;
Basso, Stefano.
(2014)
River flow regimes and vegetation dynamics along a river transect.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
2013
-
Basso, Stefano;
Rodriguez-Iturbe, Ignacio.
(2013)
Resilience of river flow regimes.
PNAS
Academic article
-
Lazzaro, Gianluca;
Basso, Stefano;
Schirmer, Mario.
(2013)
Water management strategies for run-of-river power plants: profitability and hydrologic impact between the intake and the outflow.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
2012
-
Basso, Stefano.
(2012)
Streamflow variability and optimal capacity of run-of-river hydropower plants.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
2010
-
Botter, Gianluca;
Basso, Stefano;
Porporato, Amilcare;
Rodriguez-Iturbe, Ignacio;
Rinaldo, Andrea.
(2010)
Natural streamflow regime alterations: Damming of the Piave river basin (Italy).
Water Resources Research
Academic article
Journal publications
-
Wang, Hsing-Jui;
Merz, Ralf;
Basso, Stefano.
(2025)
Constructing a geography of heavy-tailed flood distributions: Insights from common streamflow dynamics.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
Academic article
-
Gong, Yongmei;
Tomar, Sangita Singh;
Rogozhina, Irina;
Basso, Stefano.
(2025)
Quantifying the hydrological contribution of glaciers in southwestern Norway at the beginning of the 21st century.
Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies
Academic article
-
Pesce, Matteo;
Viglione, Alberto;
von Hardenberg, Jost;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Merz, Ralf.
(2024)
Regional multi-objective calibration for distributed hydrological modelling: a decision tree based approach.
Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (PIAHS)
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Musolff, Andreas;
de Wit, Heleen.
(2024)
More Frequent Runoff and Connected Sources in Headwaters Promote Browning of Northern Freshwaters.
Environmental Science and Technology Letters (ES&T Letters)
Academic article
-
Wang, Hsing-Jui;
Merz, Ralf;
Yang, Soohyun;
Basso, Stefano.
(2023)
Inferring heavy tails of flood distributions through hydrograph recession analysis.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
Academic article
-
Wang, Hsing-Jui;
Merz, Ralf;
Yang, Soohyun;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano.
(2023)
Emergence of heavy tails in streamflow distributions: the role of spatial rainfall variability.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Merz, Ralf;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Miniussi, Arianna.
(2023)
Extreme flooding controlled by stream network organization and flow regime.
Nature Geoscience
Academic article
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Lun, David;
Merz, Ralf;
Blöschl, Günter;
Basso, Stefano;
Bertola, Miriam.
(2023)
Shifts in flood generation processes exacerbate regional flood anomalies in Europe.
Communications Earth & Environment
Academic article
-
Miniussi, Arianna;
Merz, Ralf;
Kaule, Lisa;
Basso, Stefano.
(2023)
Identifying discontinuities of flood frequency curves.
Journal of Hydrology
Academic article
-
Mushtaq, Sumra;
Miniussi, Arianna;
Merz, Ralf;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Marra, Francesco;
Basso, Stefano.
(2023)
Prediction of Extraordinarily High Floods Emerging From Heterogeneous Flow Generation Processes.
Geophysical Research Letters
Academic article
-
Mushtaq, Sumra;
Miniussi, Arianna;
Merz, Ralf;
Basso, Stefano.
(2022)
Reliable estimation of high floods: A method to select the most suitable ordinary distribution in the Metastatistical extreme value framework.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
-
Yang, Soohyun;
Büttner, Olaf;
Kumar, Rohini;
Basso, Stefano;
Borchardt, Dietrich.
(2022)
An Analytical Framework for Determining the Ecological Risks of Wastewater Discharges in River Networks Under Climate Change.
Earth's Future
Academic article
-
Merz, Bruno;
Basso, Stefano;
Blöschl, Günter;
Merz, Ralf;
Viglione, Alberto;
Vorogushyn, Sergiy.
(2022)
Understanding Heavy Tails of Flood Peak Distributions.
Water Resources Research
Academic literature review
-
Basso, Stefano;
Bakken, Tor Haakon.
(2022)
Reconciling small hydropower and ecosystem services in river basins.
Frontiers in Environmental Science
Editorial
-
Saavedra, Felipe;
Musolff, Andreas;
von Freyberg, Jana;
Merz, Ralf;
Basso, Stefano;
Tarasova, Larisa.
(2022)
Disentangling scatter in long-term concentration-discharge relationships: the role of event types.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
Academic article
-
Merz, Ralf;
Miniussi, Arianna;
Basso, Stefano;
Petersen, Karl-Jonas;
Tarasova, Larisa.
(2022)
More Complex is Not Necessarily Better in Large-Scale Hydrological Modeling: A Model Complexity Experiment across the Contiguous United States.
Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS)
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Ghazanchaei, Zohreh;
Tarasova, Larisa.
(2021)
Characterizing hydrograph recessions from satellite-derived soil moisture.
Science of the Total Environment
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Merz, Ralf;
Miniussi, Arianna.
(2021)
PHEV! The physically-based extreme value distribution of river flows.
Environmental Research Letters
Academic article
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Merz, Ralf.
(2020)
Transformation of generation processes from small runoff events to large floods.
Geophysical Research Letters
Academic article
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Wendi, Dadiyorto;
Viglione, Alberto;
Kumar, Rohini;
Merz, Ralf.
(2020)
A Process-Based Framework to Characterize and Classify Runoff Events - the Event Typology of Germany.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Soulsby, Chris.
(2020)
Water-energy-ecosystem nexus in small run-of-river hydropower: optimal design and policy.
Applied Energy
Academic article
-
Merz, Ralf;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano.
(2020)
The flood cooking book: ingredients and regional flavors of floods across Germany.
Environmental Research Letters
Academic article
-
Merz, Ralf;
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano.
(2020)
Parameter’s controls of distributed catchment models - How much information is in conventional catchment descriptors?.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Merz, Ralf;
Kiss, Andrea;
Basso, Stefano.
(2019)
Causative classification of river flood events.
WIREs Water
Academic literature review
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Zink, Matthias;
Merz, Ralf.
(2018)
Exploring Controls on Rainfall-Runoff Events: 1. Time Series-Based Event Separation and Temporal Dynamics of Event Runoff Response in Germany.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
-
Tarasova, Larisa;
Basso, Stefano;
Poncelet, Carine;
Merz, Ralf.
(2018)
Exploring Controls on Rainfall-Runoff Events: 2. Regional Patterns and Spatial Controls of Event Characteristics in Germany.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano.
(2016)
A physically based analytical model of flood frequency curves.
Geophysical Research Letters
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano.
(2015)
On the emergence of heavy-tailed streamflow distributions.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
-
Hastik, Richard;
Basso, Stefano;
Geitner, Clemens;
Vrščaj, Borut;
Walzer, Chris.
(2015)
Renewable energies and ecosystem service impacts.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Academic literature review
-
Basso, Stefano;
Frascati, Alessandro;
Marani, Marco.
(2015)
Climatic and landscape controls on effective discharge.
Geophysical Research Letters
Academic article
-
Betterle, Andrea;
Basso, Stefano;
Biswal, Basudev.
(2015)
Predicting streamflow distributions and flow duration curves from landscape and climate.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
-
Doulatyari, Behnam;
Basso, Stefano.
(2014)
River flow regimes and vegetation dynamics along a river transect.
Advances in Water Resources
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano;
Rodriguez-Iturbe, Ignacio.
(2013)
Resilience of river flow regimes.
PNAS
Academic article
-
Lazzaro, Gianluca;
Basso, Stefano;
Schirmer, Mario.
(2013)
Water management strategies for run-of-river power plants: profitability and hydrologic impact between the intake and the outflow.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
-
Basso, Stefano.
(2012)
Streamflow variability and optimal capacity of run-of-river hydropower plants.
Water Resources Research
Academic article
-
Botter, Gianluca;
Basso, Stefano;
Porporato, Amilcare;
Rodriguez-Iturbe, Ignacio;
Rinaldo, Andrea.
(2010)
Natural streamflow regime alterations: Damming of the Piave river basin (Italy).
Water Resources Research
Academic article
Report
-
Furuseth, Ingvild Skumlien;
Barneveld, Robert;
Basso, Stefano;
Gragne, Ashenafi Seifu;
Barkved, Line Johanne;
Sundnes, Frode.
(2025)
Verktøy for å identifisere og prioritere områder for myrrestaurering: Vannkvantitet og -kvalitet i Haldenvassdraget.
NIVA-rapport (8075-2025)
Report
Teaching
Courses
Supervision
A group of supervised postdoctoral researchers, interns, Ph.D. and master students nominated me for the 2020 Supervision Award of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ.
Postdoctoral researchers
I have been the supervisor of two postdoctoral researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Germany.
- Dr. Larisa Tarasova (Jun 2020 - Sep 2022), now Senior Scientist and Research group leader at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Germany.
- Dr. Arianna Miniussi (Nov 2019 - Dec 2021), now Catastrophe Modelling Specialist at Gen Re, Germany.
Ph.D. students
I have been main and co-supervisor of two Ph.D. candidates to completion at the Helmholtz Interdisciplinary Graduate School for Environmental Research, Germany.
- Hsing-Jui Wang (Sep 2019 - Apr 2024), Emergence and prediction of heavy tails of river flow distributions (funded by the Glory Foundation of Taiwan). Role: main supervisor.
- Larisa Tarasova (May 2017 - May 2020), Process-based characterization and typology of runoff events in Germany. Role: co-supervisor.
Outreach
New way to predict river flood risk could help prepare for disasters
Our research is featured in a New Scientist article: “New way to predict river flood risk
could help prepare for disasters”, New Scientist, 30 March 2023.
Vil avsløre neste stor- flom
Our research is featured in the Norwegian national press: “Vil avsløre neste stor-
flom”, Dagbladet, 19 June 2023.
Ekstremvær! - hvilke utfordringer står vi overfor?
I showcased research findings on "Anticipating the occurrence of extreme floods in river basins" at the Ekstremvær! meeting organized by Tekna, the Norwegian Society of Graduate Technical and Scientific Professionals, Oslo, Norway, 13 April 2023.
Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) - Faglunsj
I illustrated our latest research on "Inferring extreme floods from common hydrologic dynamics" at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), Oslo, Norway, 8 June 2023.
ClimDesign - Norwegian Center for Climate Services
I presented a plan for "Using runoff generation processes to predict nonstationary flood hazard" at the meeting of the international advisory board of the ClimDesign project - Norwegian Center for Climate Services, Oslo, Norway, 9-10 October 2023.