Project Description
This project aims to develop a novel framework that uses big data from satellites to assess the impacts of droughts and water extraction on groundwater resources in Australia, currently poorly understood and difficult to monitor. This project expects to generate new insights into the mechanisms driving changes in groundwater availability and identify risks from sustained groundwater extraction. Expected outcomes include a new national capability to assess and monitor groundwater resources from space and providing data for government, farmers, communities and traditional owners to better prepare for future droughts, increase disaster preparedness, and sustainably manage groundwater resources in a changing climate.
Project Personnel and Beneficiaries
This is an ARC DECRA project led by Dr Christopher Ndehedehe involved by several collaborators around the world. Including China, Hong Kong, Australia, US, and Europe have been identified. The project includes a Griffith University PhD student.
Outcomes to Date
1. A new method was developed to quantify groundwater recharge using satellite data.
2.Generated new data from satellite (freely and publicly available) to enable improved assessment of water budgets on a local scale.
3.Assessed groundwater and changes to drought properties on a global and regional scale. There is evidence of climate teleconnection impact ongroundwater in some areas.
4.Evaluated machine learning models for localized groundwater assessments.
At this preliminary stage of the project, a key outcome is that global groundwater is under threat due to increasing groundwater abstraction and climate change, and is one of the earth system boundaries that have been crossed. Opportunities to evaluate the capability of satellite data to accurately quantify changes in groundwater on local scale are unfolding and will strengthen agricultural water management and freshwater reporting.
Project Significance
This project will enable unprecedented ways of harnessing big data from satellites to assess groundwater status, improving the capability of water resource management agencies to monitor water availability and sustainably manage these critical resources. This will help farmers and communities to reduce adverse outcomes from drought by enabling earlier access to meaningful data to inform production decisions. The project will further operationalise the use of this data for environmental monitoring that could readily be incorporated into the workflows of existing online water monitoring platforms, generating publicly accessible groundwater information and contributing to expanding global markets for Australian satellite-based monitoring. This project contributes to SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation, SDG 2 zero hunger, SDG 13 addressing climate change, and SDG 15 on life on land. These components all rely upon the sustainable use and protection of groundwater resources.