WaterUnderground

Research

Crowdfunding Science: A personal journey toward a public campaign

26th August 2017
Crowdfunding Science: A personal journey toward a public campaign
Author Jared van Rooyen's study area.

Post by Jared van Rooyen, MSc candidate in Earth Science at Stellenbosch University, in South Africa. Part one of three in a Crowdfunding Science series by Jared. ___________________________________________________________ When my supervisor, Dr Jodie Miller, suggested to me last year that we should look at crowdfunding as a way to potentially to fund my master’s project, I had no idea of what I w ...[Read More]

Good groundwater management makes for good neighbors

15th July 2017
Good groundwater management makes for good neighbors
Photo found on the Charter for Compassion's website.

Post by Samuel Zipper, postdoctoral fellow at both McGill University and the University of Victoria, in Canada. You can follow Sam on Twitter at @ZipperSam. ___________________________________________________________ Dedicated Water Underground readers know that this blog is not just about water science, but also some of the more cultural impacts of groundwater. Keeping in that tradition, today’s ...[Read More]

What is the difference between ‘water withdrawal’ and ‘water consumption’, and why do we need to know?

24th June 2017
What is the difference between ‘water withdrawal’ and ‘water consumption’, and why do we need to know?

Post by Inge de Graaf, University of Freiburg, Environmental Hydrological Systems group ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Last week I had to teach my first class in global hydrology. When I showed the global trend on increasing demands and withdrawals (see Figure) I needed to explain the different terms as sometimes the ...[Read More]

How prehistoric water pit stops may have driven human evolution

17th June 2017
How prehistoric water pit stops may have driven human evolution

Post by Matthew Robert Bennett, Bournemouth University and Mark O Cuthbert, Cardiff University Our ancient ancestors seem to have survived some pretty harsh arid spells in East Africa’s Rift Valley over five million years. Quite how they kept going has long been a mystery, given the lack of water to drink. Now, new research shows that they may have been able to survive on a small networks of sprin ...[Read More]

Is highway de-icing ‘a-salting’ our aquifers?

10th June 2017
Is highway de-icing ‘a-salting’ our aquifers?

Post by Mark Cuthbert, Cardiff University, and Michael Rivett, GroundH20 plus Ltd; University of Strathclyde. If you live in a cold climate, have you ever wondered where all the de-icing salt (or ‘grit’ as we call it in the UK) that gets spread on the roads in winter time ends up, aside from that accumulating salty grime that coats your car? As you might expect, most of the salt gets washed off th ...[Read More]

Fire and groundwater

3rd June 2017
Fire and groundwater

Post by Andy Baker, University of New South Wales The effects of fire on the surface environment are clear to see. Landscapes are coated in ash. Intense fires can destroy all vegetation and alter soil properties. Less intense fires destroy just the surface leaf litter, grasses and shrubs.  Grass fires can be fast moving, destroying buildings and threatening lives. Intense fires can even form their ...[Read More]

Groundwater Speed Dating! Can you find a match?

11th May 2017
Groundwater Speed Dating! Can you find a match?

Post by Matt Herod Welcome to the first edition of groundwater speed dating. In today’s post I introduce you to a motley crew of isotopes and chemicals that hydrogeologists and geochemists use to date the age of groundwater. After meeting all of the contestants it will be up to you to pick your favourite and perhaps propose a second date. On your groundwater samples that is. Before I introdu ...[Read More]

Monitoring groundwater drought without measuring it

4th May 2017
Monitoring groundwater drought without measuring it

Post by Anne van Loon, University of Birmingham You might remember that the summer of 2015 was extremely dry in large parts of Europe (Figure 1), leading to crop losses, wildfires, drinking water supply deficiencies, and reductions in energy production and navigation (Van Lanen et al., 2016), whether you experienced it yourself or read about it in the newspapers. Based on incomplete information th ...[Read More]

Global fossil groundwater resources—the grandkids like hanging out with the grandparents!!!

25th April 2017
Global fossil groundwater resources—the grandkids like hanging out with the grandparents!!!

Post by Scott Jasechko, University of Calgary Groundwater is the world’s largest family of fresh and unfrozen water, and its members range from young to old. There are toddler groundwaters recharged more recently than the year ~1960. Our earlier research showed that these modern groundwaters make up only a small share of global groundwater stocks (Ref. 1 and Water Canada). But what of ancient ‘fos ...[Read More]