AgasedViz: visualizing groundwater availability of Ogallala Aquifer, USA

Abstract

Water plays an immensely important role in human life, from household to agriculture and industrial development. Due to the heavy utilization and growing demands of water, the availability of water has become a high priority. Besides sources of surface water, such as streams, lakes, and rivers, aquifers are a significant source of water on Earth through the essential groundwater supply. In the United States, the Ogallala Aquifer, a primary geologic unit of the High Plains Aquifer System, is under massive exploitation, and the water level has decreased substantially. Analysis of the saturated thickness of this aquifer is urgently essential. Thus, an interactive visual analytics tool is necessary to enable users to visualize water availability and variation overtime at multiple locations within the region. Our interactive analytic tool carries out this by first retrieving and processing the data derived from the saturated thickness of groundwater using sensors integrated into the wells. Subsequently, a visualization consisting of a contour map and a time series heatmap is created based on the sensor data, to capture the trends and patterns, such as underground water distribution, spatial and temporal changes, and sudden decreases or increases of the water level. The visual components allow users to explore observational data, which organize the visual structure in supporting making an inference to gain insights. insights. This approach can be extended to apply for any geographic areas for water-level monitoring and controlling.