REVIEW OF DATABASE REQUIREMENTS TO SUPPORT GROUND WATER AND INTEGRATED MODELLING
This report describes and documents activities undertaken as part of a Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) visit to Norway forming part of the EU COST SUB-URBAN project. Visits were made to the City of Oslo department of Planning and Mapping Services, and also the Geological Survey of Norway over the period 24th-28th February 2014.
The STSM provided an opportunity to understand in detail the requirements of the City of Oslo for addressing various sub surface problems concerned with ground water flow and foundation stability. The NGU is aiming to develop modelling methodologies and workflows which can address problems of this kind. Within the STSM visit we focussed on some of the components and building blocks of this workflow, in terms of the underlying databases, and considering some software tools developed by BGS but which could be adapted for use by NGU and the City of Oslo. It is clear that there is much productive and useful work to be done "getting the foundations right" in terms of data, and that BGS can also learn from the application of these techniques in Norway. In particular we identified opportunities to test various BGS software tools (such as Platypus) with data from NGU and the City of Oslo, thus benefiting all three organisations.
A number of the problems outlined both in Oslo and more generally on Norwegian aquifer modelling would seem appropriate to be investigated by integrated environmental modelling (IEM) a technique which BGS is seeking to develop further by working with partner organisations to develop. Development of such fully integrated models would require more work on the development of databases and software tools to create 3D grids etc (which is discussed below). However, particular examples which could be worked on in future would be the interaction between groundwater flow and surface water in the Oslo City area, and in turn the effect on groundwater levels and foundation conditions. There also appear to be issues associated with localised aquifers which fall under NGU’s remit, for example understanding the interplay between fluvial flow and groundwater, and potentially climate associated with seasonal aquifer re- charge related to spring snow melt which could be better understood through integrated environmental models