GROW progress and results

progress and results

Model development of coupling surface water, groundwater, and crop growth

Coupled the VIC-WUR hydrological model with the WOFOST crop growth model, implemented at a global resolution of 30 arcminutes and a regional resolution of 5 arcminutes.
Coupled the VIC-WUR hydrological model with a groundwater model (using MODFLOW6), applied globally and regionally at a 5-arcminute resolution, with special attention to accurately representing capillary rise.
Currently testing: the model for the historical period from 1970 to 2010 under natural and human-impacted conditions to ensure accuracy to observations and previous model efforts.
Under development: Global coupling of groundwater, surface water, and crop production, including downscaling the VIC-WUR-WOFOST model to higher resolutions and enhancing the global parameterization for crop types.

Balancing groundwater needs for sufficient crop production and a healthy environment

Conducted a detailed evaluation of groundwater- and surface-water-centric methods for estimating environmental flow requirements, resulting in a more reliable assessment of groundwater's contribution to critical streamflow for ecosystems.
In progress: Integrating the newly estimated environmental flow thresholds into the model's water-use module to better estimate sustainable levels of groundwater usage. This will support a nuanced understanding of groundwater available versus sustainable limits.
In progress: Comprehensive assessment of groundwater contributions to crop production, exploring the trade-offs between sustainable groundwater use and crop yield optimization.

Future adaptation

Conducted a literature review of global groundwater management practices, identifying common mismanagement issues and challenges in achieving sustainable practices (paper recently published in Journal of Hydrology).
In progress: Identifying and parameterizing relevant adaptation scenarios for large-scale applications, enabling global-scale assessments and policy development.

publications

In brackets is who contributed and in which journal the research is published

Global Groundwater Sustainability: A Critical Review of Strategies and Future Pathways (Fatemeh, Sida, Inge in Journal of Hydrology)
Contrasting impacts of irrigation and deforestation on Lancang-Mekong River Basin hydrology (Inge in Communications Earth& Environment)
Comparing Global Violations of Environmentally Critical Groundwater Discharge Thresholds (Bryan, Inge in Water Resources Research)
Contrasting effects of increasing irrigation efficiency on hydrological drought based on hydrological scenario simulations (Inge in Journal of Hydrology)
Uncertainty in model estimations of global groundwater depth (Inge in Environmental Research Letters)
Cryosphere-groundwater connectivity is a missing link in the mountain water cycle (Inge in Nature Water)
Global analysis of groundwater pumping from increased river capture (Inge, Sida, Bryan in Environmental Research Letters)
Hydrological drought forecasts using precipitation data depend on catchment properties and human activities (Inge in Nature Earth and Environment)
Quantifying groundwater's contribution to regional environmental-flows and diverse hydrologic landscapes (Inge in Water Resources Research: top 10% of WRR reads)

conference contributions

Agro-hydrological machine-learning approach for prioritizing investments in sustainable irrigation (to be presented at AGU2024, with Inge as contribution author).
Unpacking unsustainable groundwater policies worldwide and analysis of governance failure (presented at Sustainable Istanbul 2024 by Fatemeh)
Enhancing global water availability by coupling MODFLOW model with VIC-WUR model: a case-study from the Indus River basin (presented at the World Groundwater Congress of IAH, 2024 by Sida)
Navigating global challenges: development and application of a coupled groundwater and crop growth model (presented at EGU2024 by Inge (invited talk and panel member))
Global groundwater environmental flow violations (presented at EGU2024 by Bryan)
Cryosphere-groundwater connectivity in the mountain water cycle- where does meltwater go? (Presented at EGU, with Inge as contributing author)
Groundwater availability and sustainability (presented at EGU2023 by Inge (medal lecture))
Impact of groundwater pumping on river flow (presented at EGU2023 by Inge)
Global violations of environmentally critical groundwater discharge (presented at EGU2023 by Bryan)