Critical assessment of emerging techniques for in situ monitoring of water content and fluxes

This report is deliverable D8 of ENIGMA ITN project. "The objective is the development and field validation of novel techniques for characterizing temporal changes in the spatial distribution of flow and water content in the subsurface. These methods will go beyond classical approaches of static subsurface characterization, explore the potential of emerging techniques, and validate prototype instruments for monitoring temporal fluctuations in the distributions of subsurface fluxes, water content and exchanges with surface water bodies. Four different techniques are explored, focusing, on one hand, on the subsurface water content, quantification (ESR5 and ESR 8) and, on the other hand, on the groundwater flux estimation (ESR 6 and ESR 7). Based on existing knowledge, new approaches are developed with the aim of applying the latest technology in order to make in situ data acquisition productive and reliable. The combination of these techniques could allow for a better subsurface water processes understanding, broadening the possibilities in terms of groundwater dynamics monitoring and prediction.