Chapter 10 - Overview, Current Status, and Future Prospect of Stochastic Time Series Modeling in Subsurface Hydrology

Abstract

Groundwater, a major source of freshwater supply that is used to meet all kinds of global water demands, needs urgent attention for its sustainable management. Stochastic time series modeling offers a valuable tool for managing this hidden subsurface resource to accommodate the future scenarios of a burgeoning population and climatic change. This chapter aims to explain the systematic procedure for applying stochastic modeling to the field of hydrology. First, it provides an overview of time series analysis and succinctly discusses the key hypotheses that need to be checked prior to stochastic modeling. Second, it illustrates the step-by-step procedure for developing, validating, and evaluating appropriate stochastic time series models. Third, the current status of application of stochastic time series modeling in subsurface hydrologic studies is discussed and future research directions are provided. It is revealed that the application of stochastic modeling in subsurface hydrology has received a great deal of attention from researchers in recent times, although there is a need to carry out much more research in the future to gain a better understanding of stochasticity of the subsurface hydrologic variables.