Groundwater-surface water interactions: New methods and models to improve understanding of processes and dynamics

Interest in groundwater (GW)-surface water (SW) interactions has grown steadily over the last two decades. New regulations such as the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) now call for a sustainable management of coupled ground- and surface water resources and linked ecosystems. Embracing this mandate requires new interdisciplinary research on GW-SW systems that addresses the linkages between hydrology, biogeochemistry and ecology at nested scales and specifically accounts for small-scale spatial and temporal patterns of GW-SW exchange. Methods to assess these patterns such as the use of natural tracers (e.g. heat) and integrated surface-subsurface numerical models have been refined and enhanced significantly in recent years and have improved our understanding of processes and dynamics. Numerical models are increasingly used to explore hypotheses and to develop new conceptual models of GW-SW interactions. New technologies like distributed temperature sensing (DTS) allow an assessment of process dynamics at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. These developments are reflected in the contributions to this Special Issue on GW-SW interactions. However, challenges remain in transferring process understanding across scales.

Raw project data is available by contacting [e-mail]

近二十年来，学界对地下水（groundwater, GW）-地表水（surface water, SW）交互作用的研究兴趣持续增长。诸如欧盟水框架指令（Water Framework Directive, WFD）等新增法规，如今要求对耦合地下水与地表水水资源及其关联生态系统实施可持续管理。落实这一监管要求，需针对GW-SW系统开展新型跨学科研究，该研究需阐明嵌套尺度下水文学、生物地球化学与生态学之间的内在关联，并特别考量GW-SW交换的小规模时空分布特征。近年来，用于评估此类特征的方法——如天然示踪剂（例如热示踪）以及地表-地下一体化数值模型——已得到显著优化与完善，深化了我们对相关过程与动力学机制的认知。数值模型正越来越多地被用于验证假说，并构建GW-SW交互作用的新型概念模型。分布式温度传感（Distributed Temperature Sensing, DTS）等新兴技术，能够以前所未有的时空分辨率对过程动力学展开评估。上述研究进展均体现在本期GW-SW交互作用特刊的收录稿件之中。然而，在跨尺度推广过程认知方面仍存在诸多挑战。原始项目数据集可通过联系[e-mail]获取。