From dynamic groundwater level measurements to regional aquifer parameters - assessing the power of spectral analysis
- Large-scale groundwater models are required to estimate groundwater availability and to inform water management strategies on the national scale.
However, parameterization of large-scale groundwater models covering areas of major river basins and more is challenging due to the lack of observational data and the mismatch between the scales of modeling and measurements.
In this work, we propose to bridge the scale gap and derive regional hydraulic parameters by spectral analysis of groundwater level fluctuations.
We hypothesize that specific locations in aquifers can reveal regional parameters of the hydraulic system.
We first generate ensembles of synthetic but realistic aquifers which systematically differ in complexity. Applying Liang and Zhang's (2013), , semi-analytical solution for the spectrum of hydraulic head time series, we identify for each ensemble member and at different locations representative aquifer parameters.
Next, we extend our study to investigate the use of spectral analysis in more complex numericalLarge-scale groundwater models are required to estimate groundwater availability and to inform water management strategies on the national scale.
However, parameterization of large-scale groundwater models covering areas of major river basins and more is challenging due to the lack of observational data and the mismatch between the scales of modeling and measurements.
In this work, we propose to bridge the scale gap and derive regional hydraulic parameters by spectral analysis of groundwater level fluctuations.
We hypothesize that specific locations in aquifers can reveal regional parameters of the hydraulic system.
We first generate ensembles of synthetic but realistic aquifers which systematically differ in complexity. Applying Liang and Zhang's (2013), , semi-analytical solution for the spectrum of hydraulic head time series, we identify for each ensemble member and at different locations representative aquifer parameters.
Next, we extend our study to investigate the use of spectral analysis in more complex numerical models and in real settings.
Our analyses indicate that the variance of inferred effective transmissivity and storativity values for stochastic aquifer ensembles is small for observation points which are far away from the Dirichlet boundary.
Moreover, the head time series has to cover a period which is roughly 10 times as long as the characteristic time of the aquifer. In deterministic aquifer models we infer equivalent, regionally valid parameters. A sensitivity analysis further reveals that as long as the aquifer length and the position of the groundwater measurement location is roughly known, the parameters can be robustly estimated.…
Author details: | Timo HoubenORCiD, Estanislao PujadesORCiD, Thomas KalbacherORCiDGND, Peter DietrichORCiD, Sabine AttingerORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR031289 |
ISSN: | 0043-1397 |
ISSN: | 1944-7973 |
Title of parent work (English): | Water resources research |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Place of publishing: | New York |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2022/05/13 |
Publication year: | 2022 |
Release date: | 2024/05/31 |
Tag: | homogeneous; plausibility test with field data; proof of concept in numerical environments; regional aquifer parameters; sensitivity analysis with field data; spectral analysis of groundwater level fluctuations; stochastic and deterministic numerical model design |
Volume: | 58 |
Issue: | 5 |
Article number: | e2021WR031289 |
Number of pages: | 22 |
Funding institution: | Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig; research; initiative Global Resource Water (GRoW) [02WGR1423A-F]; IDAEA-CSIC,; which is a Centre of Excellence Severo Ochoa (Spanish Ministry of; Science and Innovation) [CEX2018-000794-S]; Barcelona City Council; through the Award for Scientific Research into Urban Challenges in the; City of Barcelona 2020 [20S08708]; Projekt DEAL |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 50 Naturwissenschaften / 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Hybrid Open-Access |
License (German): | ![]() |