Groundwater Spatiotemporal Data Analysis Tool: Case Studies, New Features and Future Developments

Abstract

Groundwater Spatiotemporal Data Analysis Tool (GWSDAT) is an open-source, user-friendly, software application for the visualization and interpretation of groundwater monitoring data. Since its first release, over 8 years ago, it has become increasingly well established and is now a globally adopted tool. Despite its widespread use, there is little published material considering the application of GWSDAT. The primary purpose of this article is to demonstrate the different benefits of using GWSDAT by considering a cross-section of real case studies. The first case study is an example of using GWSDAT to provide evidence to support a proposal to reduce sampling frequency. The next case study discusses the use of GWSDAT to support the recommendation for site closure. The third case study considers how GWSDAT can be used to identify gaps in a monitoring network. The final case study reports on the application of the, newly introduced, well redundancy analysis feature in GWSDAT. Finally, the road map for future developments in the optimization of monitoring network and the motivation for doing this in a spatiotemporal framework is discussed.