Climate change, population growth, and increasing industrial and agricultural water demands upped the pressure on groundwater as freshwater resources for many areas worldwide. This pressure consists of a circularity problem. It primarily calls for reliable and sustainable groundwater/ aquifer management to insure that water needs are met for current and future generations and likewise to prevent induced problems such as falling water tables, drying wetlands, increasing sea-water intrusion, and the general deterioration of water quality.
Secondarily and somewhat paradox is the fact that a proper groundwater management requires a reliable aquifer characterization. While the characterization can be time-consuming, costly and may be ill-suited to large scale application (drilling, aquifer testing, river gauging, etc.), it is essential especially if the focus is on trans-border aquifers and their management.

We envisage a session which highlights innovative methods for characterising aquifers but likewise, a session that bridges aquifer characterization and groundwater management, both on an aquifer scale. While the main thematic topics deal with:
• Determination of aquifer hydraulic properties,
• Groundwater flow distribution
• Qualitative and quantitative investigation of input and output fluxes (e.g. recharge, submarine groundwater discharge, salt water intrusion etc.)
• Groundwater ages
• Groundwater management strategies and adaptions

methodical sub-topics could be, but are not limited to:
• Geophysical techniques (satellite- airborne and ground-based) for aquifer characterization
• Remote sensing techniques inferring aquifer characteristics (hydraulic properties, discharge, recharge etc.)
• Numerical groundwater modelling over large spatial scales
• Geo- /hydrochemical techniques for water characterization/separation and novel ages tracers
• Linking of any of the above
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