For the characterisation of infiltration and groundwater recharge, different hydrogeological, geophysical and hydrogeochemical methods as well as new modelling approaches are combined to determine the available water resources in a management time interval of about 1 month. Information from day-based climate modelling, which reproduces the general development of precipitation and evapotranspiration characteristics, is taken into account in the forecast modelling for the period 2020-2070. The results of these investigations serve as a quantitative basis for the prediction of water deficits within the aquifer on the basis of drought indicators, i.e. factors which are derived from the complex process spectrum and can indicate an impending drought.
Furthermore, data assimilation techniques are used to determine initial conditions for prediction modelling and to continuously optimise these using available measurement information, e.g. of soil moisture and water infiltration volume.
