Improving the design and implementation of sediment fingerprinting studies: summary and outcomes of the TRACING 2021 Scientific School

PURPOSE: Identifying best practices for sediment fingerprinting or tracing is important to allow the quantification of sediment contributions from catchment sources. Although sediment fingerprinting has been applied with reasonable success, the deployment of this method remains associated with many issues and limitations. METHODS: Seminars and debates were organised during a 4-day Thematic School in October 2021 to come up with concrete suggestions to improve the design and implementation of tracing methods. RESULTS: First, we suggest a better use of geomorphological information to improve study design. Researchers are invited to scrutinise all the knowledge available on the catchment of interest, and to obtain multiple lines of evidence regarding sediment source contributions. Second, we think that scientific knowledge could be improved with local knowledge and we propose a scale of participation describing different levels of involvement of locals in research. Third, we recommend the use of state-of-the-art sediment tracing protocols to conduct sampling, deal with particle size, and examine data before modelling and accounting for the hydro-meteorological context under investigation. Fourth, we promote best practices in modelling, including the importance of running multiple models, selecting appropriate tracers, and reporting on model errors and uncertainty. Fifth, we suggest best practices to share tracing data and samples, which will increase the visibility of the fingerprinting technique in geoscience. Sixth, we suggest that a better formulation of hypotheses could improve our knowledge about erosion and sediment transport processes in a more unified way. CONCLUSION: With the suggested improvements, sediment fingerprinting, which is interdisciplinary in nature, could play a major role to meet the current and future challenges associated with global change. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11368-022-03203-1.