Groundwater Resources and Salt Water Intrusion in a Changing Environment

• Main Author: Polemio, Maurizio (auth)
• Other Authors: Walraevens, Kristine (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2019
• Subjects: tide; artificial neural network; Gaza Strip; groundwater resources; seawater intrusion; nutrient discharge; freshwater resilience; offshore geophysics; atoll; freshwater lens; sea-level rise; small islands; sharp interface numerical modeling; climate change; recursive prediction; saltwater intrusion; Radon; submarine groundwater discharge; water resources management; flooding; groundwater storage; fish ponds; Tongatapu; extraction; monitoring; modelling; fresh groundwater volume; numerical model; atoll island; MODFLOW/SEAWAT; Nile Delta governorates; arid and semi-arid regions; time series model; hydrogeology; Libya; sea level rise; coastal aquifer; sea-aquifer relations; Tripoli; freshwater-saltwater interface; multi-layered coastal aquifer; well salinization; SGD model; Nile Delta aquifer; tidal signal; geophysics; groundwater; cation exchange; salinization; SGD; support vector machine; direct prediction; aquifer
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

This Special Issue presents the work of 30 scientists from 11 countries. It confirms that the impacts of global change, resulting from both climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressure, are huge on worldwide coastal areas (and critically so on some islands in the Pacific Ocean), with highly negative effects on coastal groundwater resources, which are widely affected by seawater intrusion. Some improved research methods are proposed in the contributions: using innovative hydrogeological, geophysical, and geochemical monitoring; assessing impacts of the changing environment on the coastal groundwater resources in terms of quantity and quality; and using modelling, especially to improve management approaches. The scientific research needed to face these challenges must continue to be deployed by different approaches based on the monitoring, modelling and management of groundwater resources. Novel and more efficient methods must be developed to keep up with the accelerating pace of global change.