SWIFT

Freshwater is essential for people, food production and ecosystems, yet water scarcity is increasing worldwide due to climate change, population growth and growing water demands. Understanding how water availability, agricultural production and ecosystem health interact under global change requires large-scale integrated models. However, the computational demands of these models often limit our ability to explore uncertainty, evaluate adaptation options and assess future scenarios.

SWIFT aims to transform large-scale water systems modelling by combining advances in hydrology, crop modelling and high-performance computing. By developing a GPU-accelerated modelling framework that dynamically links groundwater, surface water and agricultural processes, we seek to make large ensembles, uncertainty assessments and adaptation analyses feasible at unprecedented spatial scales. This will help improve our understanding of future water and food security challenges and support the development of climate-resilient management strategies worldwide.

This project is supported by eScience and focusing on collaboration and knowledge exchange supporting our current model development of VIC-WUR2.0.  

People involved: Inge de Graaf (PI), Karun Datadien (technical lead), Sida Liu, Bart Schilperpoort (eScience) runtime: 4/2026-3/2029.

SWIFT contributes to the model development of VIC-WUR