This project executed jointly with Utrecht University is a three year scientific research project supported by the CASIMIR program of NWO that aims at promoting the exchange of researchers between the private and academic sector. The project focuses on the hydrology and cryosphere of the Himalayas and deals with the influence of snow cover of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau on Asian monsoon dynamics, and the possibility to forecast the strength of the monsoon and the hydrological effects in downstream areas.