'NERC-NSTC': Groundwater Resources in a Changing Climate (GRCC) - A Taiwan & UK partnership to share and develop groundwater knowledge and expertise

“NERC-NSTC”：气候变化中的地下水资源 (GRCC) - 台湾

• 批准号: NE/X002470/1
• 负责人: John Bloomfield
• 金额: $ 12.86万
• 依托单位: British Geological Survey
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FX002470%2F1
• 关键词: NERC; NSTC; Groundwater; Resources; Changing

Groundwater provides about of one-third of global freshwater supplies and it has been estimated that about 2.5 billion people are solely dependent on groundwater for basic daily water needs. It is critical for agricultural irrigation, industrial water supplies, and it sustains important groundwater-dependent terrestrial ecosystems. However, this high level of dependence on groundwater means that communities and ecosystems across the globe are vulnerable to natural changes in groundwater resources and the impacts of climate change. Consequently, groundwater droughts, periods of below-normal groundwater levels, and associated surface water droughts are a major threat to global water security and are potentially susceptible to being modified by climate change.It has been shown that groundwater droughts are becoming more frequent, longer and more intense in the UK consistent with climate warming, and, that regardless of climate setting, nations and communities are increasingly aware of the impacts of climate change on the resilience of water resources. For example, Taiwan and the UK have both suffered recent major droughts. In 2021 Taiwan experienced its worst drought in over 50 years due to failure of the annual typhoon season leading to restrictions in public, industrial and agriculture water supplies. In response, the Taiwan Ministry of Water commissioned 190 new groundwater wells. In the UK, the driest 18 months for over 100 years, from 2010 to 2012, led to record low groundwater levels, 'hosepipe bans' were imposed on ~20 million people in spring 2012, and the environment and farming sectors were significantly adversely affected. In both cases the episodes of drought were driven by exceptional rainfall deficits consistent with the effects of climate change, either by the failure of the annual typhoons in Taiwan, or successive dry winters in the UK. As a result, there is a pressing need to better understand the formation and propagation of groundwater droughts and for improved short- and long-term forecasting and prediction of groundwater and linked surface water resources and droughts under climate change.In response to the call from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST) and Natural Environment Research Council, UK, the Groundwater Research in a Channing Climate (GRCC) Partnership is proposed. The GRCC is a new multi-disciplinary research partnership between the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan and the British Geological Survey (BGS) UK that will enable the sharing of knowledge and expertise and will build an enduring research capacity to addresses research challenges and societal needs related to groundwater droughts common to Taiwan and the UK. It will be facilitated by partnership-building activities and by joint working on three technical strands. To ensure that it endures, the GRCC Partnership will explicitly provide support for early careers researchers (ECRs) to grow into leadership roles and it will consolidate learning from all GRCC activities to produce a plan for future collaboration and growth of the partnership following the initial phase of GRCC funding. The GRCC Partnership activities include: regular project team VCs; reciprocal, annual visits for joint workshops and to enable joint working on the three research themes; and, to enable access to and participation in regional (Taiwan and UK) research fora to widen the reach of the GRCC Partnership. The GRCC Partnership will work on and produce joint deliverables on three research strands: groundwater droughts; baseflow (streamflow) droughts; and, groundwater drought prediction and forecasting. The GRCC will enhance our ability to deliver impactful research on this important topic by significantly growing our current capability and future potential to provide world-leading, innovative research that can contribute to improved water resource and drought management planning in Taiwan, the UK, and more widely.

地下水供应约占全球淡水供应的三分之一，据估计，约有25亿人仅依靠地下水满足基本的日常用水需求。它对农业灌溉、工业供水至关重要，并维持着重要的依赖地下水的陆地生态系统。然而，对地下水的高度依赖意味着全球各地的社区和生态系统容易受到地下水资源自然变化和气候变化影响的影响。因此，地下水干旱、低于正常水位的时段以及相关的地表水干旱是对全球水安全的主要威胁，可能容易受到气候变化的影响。已有研究表明，在英国，地下水干旱正变得更加频繁、持续时间和强度与气候变暖一致，而且，无论气候背景如何，国家和社区都越来越意识到气候变化对水资源弹性的影响。例如，台湾和英国最近都遭遇了重大干旱。2021年，台湾经历了50多年来最严重的干旱，原因是一年一度的台风季节中断，导致公共、工业和农业供水受到限制。为此，台湾水利部委托建造了190口新的地下水井。在英国，从2010年到2012年，是100多年来最干旱的18个月，导致地下水位创历史新低，2012年春季，约2000万人被禁止使用软管，环境和农业部门受到严重不利影响。在这两种情况下，干旱都是由与气候变化影响相一致的异常降雨量不足推动的，要么是台湾一年一度的台风失败，要么是英国连续干旱的冬季。因此，迫切需要更好地了解地下水干旱的形成和传播，以及改善气候变化下地下水及其相关地表水资源和干旱的短期和长期预测和预报。应台湾科技部和英国自然环境研究委员会的呼吁，提出了气候变化中的地下水研究伙伴关系。GRCC是国立成功大学(NCKU)、台湾和英国地质调查局(BGS)之间的一个新的多学科研究伙伴关系，将促进知识和专业知识的共享，并将建立持久的研究能力，以应对台湾和英国常见的与地下水干旱有关的研究挑战和社会需求。它将通过建立伙伴关系活动和在三个技术方面的联合工作来促进。为了确保持续下去，GRCC伙伴关系将明确为早期职业研究人员(ECR)成长为领导角色提供支持，并将综合从GRCC所有活动中吸取的经验教训，以制定一项计划，以在GRCC资助的初始阶段之后，为伙伴关系的未来合作和发展制定计划。GRCC伙伴关系的活动包括：定期项目团队风险投资；每年互访联合研讨会，并就三个研究主题开展联合工作；以及，使其能够进入和参与区域(台湾和英国)研究论坛，以扩大GRCC伙伴关系的影响范围。GRCC伙伴关系将就三个研究方向开展工作并产生联合成果：地下水干旱；基流(径流)干旱；以及地下水干旱预测和预报。通过显著提高我们目前的能力和未来提供世界领先的创新研究的潜力，GRCC将增强我们在这一重要主题上交付有影响力的研究的能力，这些研究有助于改善台湾、英国和更广泛的水资源和干旱管理规划。