Groundwater Science

PROJECT OVERVIEW: Groundwater Science approached CREST@UCS through the Shrewsbury Water Forum. It is a Shrewsbury based consultancy that provides expertise in water resources, contaminated land, mining hydrology, and research and software development for the hydrogeology community.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES: The initial objective was to support the establishment of a knowledge exchange network to benefit Groundwater Science’s research and development. After a couple of conversations, the objective evolved into CREST@UCS investigating the potential of satellite-based earth observation data to improve the calculation of actual evapotranspiration (ET). They wanted the focus to be on high spatial and temporal resolutions in order to feed into their existing groundwater modelling software.

PROJECT SOLUTIONS: CREST@UCS academics spent time reviewing literature to identify methods for calculating ET from earth observation data. They then identified appropriate earth observation datasets to form the basis of the calculation. Finally they identified existing tools which could form the basis of an operational tool for calculating ET and feed into the existing groundwater model. The resulting report was welcomed as being “very encouraging and novel”, and it is hoped that the research with Groundwater Science will continue further.