Effects of climate and land use changes on groundwater resources in coastal aquifers

To estimate the freshwater loss in coastal aquifers due to salinisation, a numerical model based on the sharp interface assumption has been introduced. The developed methodology will be useful in areas where limited hydrological data are available. This model will elaborate on the changes in fresh g...

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Main Authors: Sarukkalige, Priyantha Ranjan, Kazama, S., Sawamoto, M.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Academic Press 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42433
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author Sarukkalige, Priyantha Ranjan
Kazama, S.
Sawamoto, M.
author_facet Sarukkalige, Priyantha Ranjan
Kazama, S.
Sawamoto, M.
author_sort Sarukkalige, Priyantha Ranjan
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description To estimate the freshwater loss in coastal aquifers due to salinisation, a numerical model based on the sharp interface assumption has been introduced. The developed methodology will be useful in areas where limited hydrological data are available. This model will elaborate on the changes in fresh groundwater loss with respect to climate change, land use pattern and hydrologic soil condition. The aridity index has been introduced to represent the variations in precipitation and temperature. The interesting finding is that the deforestation leads to increase groundwater recharge in arid areas, because deforestation leads to reduce evapotranspiration even though it favors runoff. The combined climate and land use scenarios show that when the aridity index is less than 60, the agricultural lands give higher groundwater recharge than other land use patterns for all hydrologic soil conditions. The calculated recharge was then used to estimate the freshwater–saltwater interface and percentage of freshwater loss due to salinity intrusion. We found that in arid areas, the fresh groundwater loss increases as the percentage of forest cover increases. The combined effects of deforestation and aridity index on fresh groundwater loss show that deforestation causes an increase in the recharge and existing fresh groundwater resource in areas having low precipitation and high temperature (arid climates).
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-424332017-09-13T16:01:01Z Effects of climate and land use changes on groundwater resources in coastal aquifers Sarukkalige, Priyantha Ranjan Kazama, S. Sawamoto, M. salinity intrusion Climate change Freshwater loss Land use To estimate the freshwater loss in coastal aquifers due to salinisation, a numerical model based on the sharp interface assumption has been introduced. The developed methodology will be useful in areas where limited hydrological data are available. This model will elaborate on the changes in fresh groundwater loss with respect to climate change, land use pattern and hydrologic soil condition. The aridity index has been introduced to represent the variations in precipitation and temperature. The interesting finding is that the deforestation leads to increase groundwater recharge in arid areas, because deforestation leads to reduce evapotranspiration even though it favors runoff. The combined climate and land use scenarios show that when the aridity index is less than 60, the agricultural lands give higher groundwater recharge than other land use patterns for all hydrologic soil conditions. The calculated recharge was then used to estimate the freshwater–saltwater interface and percentage of freshwater loss due to salinity intrusion. We found that in arid areas, the fresh groundwater loss increases as the percentage of forest cover increases. The combined effects of deforestation and aridity index on fresh groundwater loss show that deforestation causes an increase in the recharge and existing fresh groundwater resource in areas having low precipitation and high temperature (arid climates). 2006 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42433 10.1016/j.jenvman.2005.08.008 Academic Press fulltext
spellingShingle salinity intrusion
Climate change
Freshwater loss
Land use
Sarukkalige, Priyantha Ranjan
Kazama, S.
Sawamoto, M.
Effects of climate and land use changes on groundwater resources in coastal aquifers
title Effects of climate and land use changes on groundwater resources in coastal aquifers
title_full Effects of climate and land use changes on groundwater resources in coastal aquifers
title_fullStr Effects of climate and land use changes on groundwater resources in coastal aquifers
title_full_unstemmed Effects of climate and land use changes on groundwater resources in coastal aquifers
title_short Effects of climate and land use changes on groundwater resources in coastal aquifers
title_sort effects of climate and land use changes on groundwater resources in coastal aquifers
topic salinity intrusion
Climate change
Freshwater loss
Land use
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42433