Recently published scientific articles detail fresh perspectives and new ideas regarding the future of groundwater modeling.
The articles were published in a special section within the September-October 2017 issue of the National Ground Water Association’s flagship technical journal, Groundwater®.
Within this special section are 17 technical commentaries authored by early-career groundwater scientists and engineers. They offer a wealth of new ideas on the future of groundwater flow and transport modeling.
The section starts with an issue paper from Ty P.A. Ferré, Ph.D. Titled “Revisiting the Relationship between Data, Models, and Decision-Making,” Ferré proposes that multimodel analyses that include advocacy models may better inform stakeholders and can improve the effectiveness of hydrogeologic data collection.
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Ferré was the 2016 NGWA Foundation Darcy Lecturer. In that capacity, he presented his talk “Seeing Things Differently: Rethinking the Relationship Between Data, Models, and Decision-Making” at institutions around the world.
Groundwater Editor-in-Chief Henk Haitjema, Ph.D. says, “In his issue paper, Ty Ferré summarizes the ideas he presented in his 2016 Darcy Lecture and they connect directly to the 17 technical commentaries that follow in the special section of the September-October issue of Groundwater.”
This issue of Groundwater also contains an issue paper titled “Naïve Simplicity: The Overlooked Piece of the Complexity-Simplicity Paradigm.” Authored by Franklin Schwartz, Ph.D., Ganming Liu, Ph.D., Pradeep Aggarwal, Ph.D., and Cynthia M. Schwartz, it offers a fresh perspective on the long debate regarding simple vs. complex modeling.
“The authors contrast ‘elegant simplicity’ with ‘naive simplicity’ and emphasize that you cannot simplify what you do not yet understand,” Haitjema said. “Examples from outside the field of groundwater flow modeling help to illustrate their views.”
Since 1963, Groundwater has published a dynamic mix of papers on topics focused on groundwater such as flow and well hydraulics, hydrogeochemistry and contaminant hydrogeology, application of geophysics, management and policy, and the history of hydrology.
The National Ground Water Association is a not-for-profit professional society and trade association for the global groundwater industry. Our members around the world include leading public and private sector groundwater scientists, engineers, water well system professionals, manufacturers, and suppliers of groundwater-related products and services. The Association’s vision is to be the leading groundwater association advocating for responsible development, management, and use of water.
