Groundwater Resources in New Zealand

Data Synthesis and visualisation for groundwater resources in New Zealand

“As a conservative estimate, better understanding of groundwater resources could lead to improvements in water management with potential to prevent social, cultural, environmental and economic losses of $1 billion or more, about 1% of New Zealand’s GDP. Understandably, central and regional government has identified improved characterisation of groundwater resources as a top research priority.”

The SMART project is about characterisation of New Zealand’s aquifers, to improve ground- and freshwater management (www.smart-project.info).

The main research aims of the SMART project

• focus on novel, passive suite of methods to measure groundwater volume and changes in it over time
• aquifer hydraulic properties
• fluxes of groundwater interchange with surface waters
• water age
• with methods like ...
• ambient noise seismic tomography
• airborne geophysical surveying
• satellite remote sensing
• fibre optic temperature sensing
• novel age tracers

Outcomes shall made available via a web portal and harmonised 3D groundwater database that will meet stakeholder needs for open access, ease of use, and interoperability with existing systems. Furthermore the integration of existing data is crucial.

My Thesis Topics

I contribute in the field of “data synthesis and visualisation” in the form of a prototype 3D/4D WebGIS, data processing and web services to provide harmonised hydro(geo)logical data from multiple sources. Within the works for my Master Thesis until June 2012, I identified following milestones:

• stakeholder consultation - groundwater workshop, visited HBRC and EW
• gather and analyse (sample) hydro(geo)logical datasets from wells, boreholes or pump tests, managed in systems/databases like GGW/NGMP (GNS), Hilltop and Wiski (very popular among regional councils) – Feb 2012
• find a common data scheme/data model, migrate and/or transform data online and provide via web services to connect to a (NZ) SDI or integrate/link in web portal for easy access – April 2012
• identify appropriate technology and standards (ISO, OGC, OASIS … ) 3D/4D visualisation in the web, as aquifers are inherently 3D structures plus time (water time series data -> 4D) – June 2012

The prototype implementations of this thesis will be in test mode, accessible by designated staff and stakeholders. The research about “data synthesis and visualisation” including the topics of this Master Thesis will be continued in more detail by a PhD student from July 2012.

We focus on hydro(geo)logical data. The first steps are about accessing multiple existing sources of data and find a way to publish them via web services (most likely OGC).

Major Challenges include

• complexity of water-related data – many parameters and measurement properties, parameter naming, units etc.
• data policy issues (ownership, restricted access ...)
• data quality and quality and assurance issues – uncertainty, hint/description in metadata
• as existing data often is not accessible outside their environments (GNS network, regional councils’ local data storage), or mostly via manual file-based email/ftp interchange or as “pdf”-reports, the publishing of existing data from multiple sources is anticipated via the web e.g. via WMS, WFS, WCS, WaterML2.0?, SOS, download (shapefile, raster coverage) to allow easy recombination, correlation and analysis at national scale (surpassing regional boundaries)
• find a common data scheme, probably “just” implement a software to access databases and deliver WaterML2.0?! Good idea might be to transform online (e.g. XSLT/WPS web service)
• provide infrastructure, for storage, access, delivery and manipulation of different geodata (vector, raster, time series …)
• Prepare catalogue and provide metadata in standard encodings (XML, OGC web services, ISO 19115/19139 metadata, CSW, CS-W ebRIM/ISO)
• Regarding exisiting methods and infrstructures, like Auscope / SISS (AU), GeoNet (NZ), GENESIS FP7 (EU), CUAHSI (North America)
• Think about GeoSciML for description of geology and geometry, as WaterML is more about time series and measurement data prototypical web 3D/4D map/aquifer visualisation (X3D earth ...)