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CASE STUDY: Athabasca River Basin, Canada
THE PROJECT
High-Resolution 3D Analysis of the Impact of Climate Change on Surface
Water and Groundwater Resources in the Athabasca River Basin, Canada.
SITUATION
Aquanty Inc. is an international hydrological sciences firm providing cutting
edge computer modelling services across a broad base
of sectors.
Their flagship platform, HydroGeoSphere™, is a leader in fully integrated
three-dimensional surface and subsurface modelling. In 2012 they needed
to undertake a high-resolution 3D Analysis of the Impact of Climate Change
on Surface Water and Groundwater Resources in the Athabasca River
Basin, Canada.
RESPONSE
Aquanty used Leapfrog Hydro to construct the conceptual geologic model
of the complex subsurface stratigraphy of the Athabasca River Basin.
• Leapfrog’s mesh generation, data transformation, and dynamic
interpolation tools were essential for delineating the 3D
large-scale geological and hydrostratigraphic system.
• The model was developed from publically available data with
input files prepared for coupled surface/subsurface hydrologic
simulations using HydroGeoSphere™.
“Combining
HydroGeoSphere™
with Leapfrog
has significantly
advanced the project
and given a better
understanding of
basin hydrological
processes and the
impacts of climate
change on water
resources.
”
SHAUN MALONEY
C.E.O - ARANZ Geo
Location of study watershed (North America)
Surface water depths simulated with HGS
• Leapfrog’s easy to understand graphics provided compelling communication.
• The model provided an efficient tool for peer review of model assumptions and hydrostratigraphic
conceptualisation.
HydroGeoSphere™ was used to simulate surface and subsurface water flow and interaction under the influence
of dynamically downscaled climate simulation results for present and future climate conditions.
Dynamically downscaling climate projections involves the use of a regional weather and climate model to
generate the high-resolution information in a dynamically consistent way that can accommodate major shifts in
climate regimes. It is a physically based method that relies less on calibration than statistically based methods.
The HydroGeoSphere™ model is a 3D control volume finite element simulator designed to simulate the entire
terrestrial portion of the hydrologic cycle. It uses a globally implicit approach to simultaneously solve the 2D
diffusion wave equation and 3D form of Richards’ equation.
OUTCOME
The pairing of the Leapfrog Hydro with HydroGeoSphere™ has enabled the construction of a very sophisticated
coupled climate/hydrology model in a relatively short time period. This increase in model sophistication and
construction efficiency allows larger and more challenging problems to be tackled.
While this project is on going, preliminary results are shedding light on the very complex and dynamic processes
that affect both surface and subsurface water resources within the Athabasca River Basin under both present
and future climate conditions.
Says Leapfrog’s Managing Director Shaun Maloney, “We’re delighted that Aquanty used Leapfrog Hydro to
develop the geological model for this project. Aquanty are recognised as leading experts in integrated climate,
surface, and subsurface modelling and in developing custom, very advanced numerical models.”
Contact Leapfrog for a trial or demo:
www.leapfrog3d.com