"Introduction to Integrated Hydrologic Modelling with HydroGeoSphere with Ed Sudicky" - Aquanty Webinar
On November 23rd, 2021 Aquanty's founder and scientific lead Dr. Ed Sudicky delivered a webinar discussing the key philosophies and concepts of integrated hydrologic modeling using Aquanty’s flagship modeling platform HydroGeoSphere. As the co-founder of Aquanty, principle developer of HydroGeoSphere and a true leader in the field of integrated hydrological modeling, Dr. Sudicky is perfectly positioned to discuss advances that have been made and future areas for research and development with integrated models representing the hydrological processes.
Given the recent increase in losses attributed to large-scale extreme climate related events (i.e. overland pluvial flooding, excess moisture, and drought), and the concern that the frequency of these events will progressively increase in response to climate change, there is growing demand for large-scale hydrologic risk assessments. Because of complex nonlinear interactions between climate, surface water, groundwater and soil moisture across large watersheds, robust physically-based 3D integrated hydrologic models provide a holistic means of performing water-related risk assessment for these types of applications.
In this presentation Dr. Sudicky discusses the results from a series of studies covering a range of scales whereby fully-integrated surface/subsurface water models have been developed using the HydroGeoSphere platform, including its capability to perform real-time 3D forecasting of the entire hydrosphere as driven by an ensemble of weather forecasts and guided by data assimilation using wireless field instruments. Within the platform, hydrologic responses within sub-basins are nested seamlessly within full-basin scale models in order to capture additional details at an increased resolution. These simulations facilitate large-scale spatially-distributed projections of flood, drought, and other water-related risks relevant to, for example, crop production at unprecedented detail, over temporal intervals ranging from days to decades. The basin response can also be used to gain insight into the potential impact of a changing climate on water resource availability from both water quantity and quality perspectives. Results from this work demonstrate that comprehensive physically-based hydrologic simulation platforms are becoming increasingly relevant and feasible tools for addressing global water related challenges.