Keller, Hans M

Photograph

Dates

Hans Martin Keller 1936 (Miinsterlingen, Switzerland) - 1993 (Zinalrothorn, Switzerland)

Biography

Hans Martin Keller was well known in the international hydrological community. On 30 July 1993, Hans and his wife Vreni died in the Swiss Alps together with their friend Willy Schmid, a glaciologist who was their guide. The three were descending from the Zinalrothorn when a slab avalanche, uncommon at that time of year, swept them over a precipice. An alarm was immediately raised but rescue workers could not help them.

Hans Keller was born in 1936 in Miinsterlingen, Switzerland. After high school, he studied forestry science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. The Institute of Forestry Research was very active in forest hydrology under Professor Engler and Professor Burger, but after the retirement of Professor Burger not much work went on in this field. Hans Keller, returning from Fort Collins with an MSc degree, was the right person to continue the tradition of his famous predecessors.

In order to study the dependence and sensitivity of the various components in both the water and the nutrient balances on land use, climate and geology in afforested mountain areas, a sound data base had to be established. Hans initiated and led the planning and installation of a study area in the Alptal. Along with many new ideas, he first concentrated on the problems related to measurement and data collection. The sediment transport measuring station on the Erlenbach torrent in the Alptal is a famous product of his work. Following this, Hans and his group started to simulate the hydrological processes and the components of water and nutrient circulation. Shortly before his death, a conference was held to present the results of 25 years of research in the Alptal. Nobody could have anticipated that this conference would become his scientific testament.

Hans was at home in Switzerland, but he had friends all over the world and liked to travel and participate in activities abroad. In a lengthy stay in New Zealand he gained experience in forested catchment hydrology. In 1974 he lectured at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. He was a member and also President of national and international organizations like the Swiss National Hydrological Commission, the IUFRO working group on "Forest Hydrology" and the European Reference Basin Network.

He gave courses at the University of Zurich and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, courses which were popular because of his ability to lecture clearly and concisely. His enthusiasm for his science and for nature was extremely catching. Hans was far more than just a scientist - he was very modest, friendly, full of solidarity, always ready to help and interested in problems which were presented to him. His extensive experience and knowledge, as well as the data he collected over many years were not his secret treasure. Dogmatism and narrow-mindedness were not his business. He was extremely agreeable to work with and it was a pleasure to learn from him.

Felix Naef VAW, ETH-Zilrich, Switzerland

Hydrological Achievements

Contributed to the development of measurement techniques for water, sediment and nutrients in Alpine basins. He was also a very active Swiss National Representative for IAHS, Vice President of the IAHS Commission on Water Quality, and an Associate Editor of Hydrological Sciences Journal from 1988 to his death

Reference Material

Felix Naef (1993) Hans M. Keller, Hydrological Sciences Journal, 38:6, 567-568, DOI: 10.1080/02626669309492708

Major Publications

Keller, H.M., 1970. Factors affecting water quality of small mountain catchments. J. Hydrol.(NZ), 9(2), pp.133-141.

Pereira, L.S. and Keller, H.M., 1982. Recession characterization of small mountain basins, derivation of master recession curves and optimization of recession parameters. in Hydrological Aspects of Alpine and High-Mountain Areas IAHS Publication 138: 243-255.

PEREIRA, LS; KELLER, HM, 1982, RECESSION CHARACTERIZATION OF SMALL MOUNTAIN BASINS, DERIVATION OF MASTER RECESSION CURVES AND OPTIMIZATION OF RECESSION PARAMETERS, HYDROLOGICAL SCIENCES JOURNAL, 27(2): 264-264

KELLER, HM; STROBEL, 1982, TWATER AND NUTRIENT DISCHARGE DURING SNOWMELT IN SUBALPINE AREAS, HYDROLOGICAL SCIENCES JOURNAL, 27(2): 270-271

PEREIRA, LS; KELLER, HM, 1982, FACTORS AFFECTING RECESSION PARAMETERS AND FLOW COMPONENTS IN 11 SMALL PRE-ALP BASINS, HYDROLOGICAL SCIENCES JOURNAL, 27(2): 263-264

Davis J. S. and Keller, H. M., 1983. Dissolved loads in streams and rivers - discharge and seasonally related variations. In Webb, B. W. (ed.) Dissolved Loads of Rivers and Surface Water Quantity/Quality Relationships. Proceedings of the Hamburg Symposium, August 1983. IAHA Publ. no. 141, pp. 79 - 89.

Fattorelli, S., Lenzi, M., Marchi, L. and Keller, H.M., 1988. An experimental station for the automatic recording of water and sediment discharge in a small alpine watershed. Hydrological sciences journal, 33(6), pp.607-617.

Keller, H.M., 1988. European experiences in long-term forest hydrology research. In Forest hydrology and ecology at Coweeta (pp. 407-414). Springer New York.

Kloeti, P., Keller, H.M. and Guecheva, M., 1989. Effects of forest canopy on throughfall precipitation chemistry. In Baltimore Symposium, Baltimore (Vol. 179, pp. 203-209).

Keller, H.M., Burch, H. and Guecheva, M., 1989. The variability of water quality in a small mountainous region. Iahs publ, 182, pp.305-312.

KELLER, HM, 1990, MONITORING WATER AND NUTRIENT BUDGETS IN SMALL MOUNTAIN BASINS - COLLECTING DATA AND OR UNDERSTANDING PROCESSES, in HOOGHART, JC; POSTHUMUS, CWS; WARMERDAM, PMM (Eds). TNO COMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGICAL RESEARCH : PROCEEDINGS AND INFORMATION Volume: 44: 225-233.

KELLER, HM; WEIBEL, P, 1991, SUSPENDED SEDIMENTS IN STREAMWATER - INDICATORS OF EROSION AND BED-LOAD TRANSPORT IN MOUNTAINOUS BASINS in PETERS, NE; WALLING, DE (Eds.), SEDIMENT AND STREAM WATER QUALITY IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT : TRENDS AND EXPLANATION, IAHS PUBLICATION, 203: 53-61

Keller, H.M. and Weibel, P., 1991. Suspended sediments in streamwater-indicators of erosion and bed load transport in mountainous basins. IAHS Publication, 203, pp.53-61.

KELLER, HM; FORSTER, F, 1991, SIMULATING SOIL-MOISTURE AND RUNOFF COMPONENTS TO ESTIMATE VARIABILITY OF STREAMFLOW CHEMISTRY, in: NACHTNEBEL, HP; KOVAR, K (Eds.), HYDROLOGICAL BASIS OF ECOLOGICALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT OF SOIL AND GROUNDWATER, IAHS PUBLICATION Volume: 202 Pages: 143-151 Published: 1991

BURCH, HJ; FORSTER, F; KELLER, HM, 1993, VARIABILITY AND PATTERNS OF STREAMFLOW GENERATION DURING RAINFALL EVENTS in Seuna, P; Gustard, A; Arnell, NW; et al.(Eds) 2nd International Conference on Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data (FRIEND) Location: TECH UNIV BRAUNSCHWEIG, BRAUNSCHWEIG, GERMANY

FRIEND: FLOW REGIMES FROM INTERNATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL AND NETWORK DATA Book Series: IAHS PUBLICATIONS Issue: 221 Pages: 353-359 Published: 1994