Happy New Year 2023

A message from the head of the GRDC, Ulrich Looser

For over 34 years, GRDC is providing historical discharge data in cooperation with National Hydrological Services to the climate-related programmes and projects of the United Nations and their special organisations and the science communities.

The service to discharge data, which are part of the WMO Catalogue for Climate Data has been accessed this year by users from more than 130 countries. A major contribution to this is still made by the GRDC Data Portal, which has streamlined data request procedures. But also the provision of geospatial data products via standalone applications, such as the Freshwater Fluxes into the World's Oceans, is readily accepted by our users. This is reflected in the number of more than 100 peer-reviewed journals that are published each year based on GRDC data. Moreover, we are particularly proud that GRDC discharge data as well as the WMO Basins and Sub-basins dataset form the basis for the first State of Global Water Resources 2021 report, published by WMO in November this year.

Beyond data provision, also the acquisition of discharge data from WMO member states has been successful. Updates of discharge time series and station metadata from 25 countries have been already imported and the pending ones will be processed early in 2023. At regional meetings such as a hydrological software training course for SADC countries in Pretoria and a WMO HydroSOS workshop for Lake Victoria countries in Kigali, contacts with additional data providers could be established and data exchanges are being negotiated. This clearly reflects GRDC's sound relationship with data providers and their valued support to GRDC.

We at GRDC would like to express our sincere gratitude to our users and data providers. We are continuously working to improve relations with data providers for a better data exchange as well as to facilitate easier access to data and products to our users. GRDC is grateful for the high level of cooperation already achieved.

Together with the GRDC team I wish you personal health and all the best for 2023.

Ulrich Looser