Climatic and Anthropogenic  Impacts on Groundwater Resources and Adaptation Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

Groundwater is a critical resource globally, especially in arid and semiarid regions. However, these regions have been confronted by a changing climate, i.e., fluctuating precipitation patterns and increasing temperatures, altering hydrological processes such as groundwater recharge, storage and discharge. In particular, in climate-sensitive regions, for instance, high-latitude and high-altitude regions, interactions between surface water and groundwater are significantly affected by climate change, increasing water and food insecurity in downstream regions. Another factor impacting groundwater resources is human activity, e.g., population growth, industries consuming high amounts of water and widespread grain planting, all of which have greatly influenced the availability and sustainability of groundwater resources, leading to overexploitation of major aquifers globally, such as those in northwest India, California’s Central Valley and the North China Plain. Consequently, environmental and ecological degradation phenomena, e.g., shrinking water bodies (rivers, lakes and wetlands), land subsidence, salt-water intrusion, groundwater pollution, etc., have emerged as a result. Therefore, it is of great significance to implement adaptive water resources management strategies for groundwater protection. To this end, this Special Issue aims to promote the latest research on the potential impacts and risks of groundwater variations and strategies for water resource protection under changing climate and human activities across various climate and geophysical regions. Original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

1. Spatiotemporal variations in hydrogeological processes in a changing climate;
2. Innovations in hydrological observations, big data analysis and computing intelligence;
3. Impacts of extreme weather and climate events on geothermal heat exchanger;
4. Interactions between the surface and subsurface water systems;
5. Mechanism and modeling in hydrogeochemistry, contaminant hydrogeology;
6. Comprehensive groundwater governance and adaptation strategies.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Yun Pan
Dr. Yuyan Zhou
Dr. Yicheng Gong
Dr. Jina Yin
Dr. Ya Huang
Guest Editors

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