Data Science (Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence) became more than an important facilitator for many domains in fundamental and applied sciences as well as industry and is disrupting the way of research already to a large extent. Originally, data sciences were viewed to be well-suited, especially, for data-intensive applications such as image processing, pattern recognition, etc. In the recent past, particularly, data-driven and physics-inspired machine learning methods have been developed to an extent that they accelerate numerical simulations and became directly applied in the nuclear waste management cycle. In addition to process-based approaches for creating surrogate models, other disciplines such as virtual reality methods and high-performance computing are leveraging the potential of data sciences more and more. The present challenge is utilizing of the best experimental and monitoring data as well as model concepts and tools to integrate multi-chemical-physical, coupled processes, multi-scale and probabilistic simulations in Digital Twins (DT) able to mirror or predict the performance of its corresponding existing or future physical implementations including workflows.

Therefore, the main aim of the Topical Collection is to explore how the development of digitisation methods supports and influences our research concepts and practices in Environmental Earth Sciences. The Topical Collection invites different types of manuscripts, i.e. opinion, research, technical papers as well as reviews. We encourage contributions from related activities across a wide range of environmental geosciences.

The call for the Topical Collection was initiated from different actors, including research entities, technical support organizations and nuclear waste management organizations of the European projects EURAD (European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management) and PREDIS (Pre-disposal Management of Radioactive Waste).

The special issue entitled “Groundwater in Agricultural Areas” addresses an environmental concern that has gained significant attention in this new era of global pollution. Indeed, groundwater plays a vital role in providing for drinking and irrigation purposes in most of the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. However, the continuous rise in groundwater pollution causes a significant threat, particularly in irrigated agricultural areas.

Pollutants can easily enter the aquifers due to the return flow from irrigation, animal waste, fertilizers, and soil amendments. The quality of groundwater is directly influenced by various geochemical processes, including chemical precipitation, ion exchange, physical or chemical properties of soil, interaction between soil, rock, and water, hydrodynamic dispersion, etc. To gain a comprehensive understanding and assessment of groundwater contamination in diverse irrigation regions, there is a significant need to develop appropriate model concepts and tools that integrate physicochemical strategies and experimental methods, enabling the identification of the source of groundwater pollution in irrigated agricultural regions.

This special issue, “Groundwater in Agricultural Areas” welcomes the submission of manuscripts, including regional studies, technical papers, and review manuscripts from all over the world.

Assessment of groundwater quality in irrigated agricultural regions across the Asian continent

Measures to control pollution of aquifer receiving irrigation return flow

Hydrogeochemical processes regulating the fate of fertilizers including nitrate and other physicochemical parameters

Linkages between occurrences of geogenic groundwater contaminants such as fluoride and arsenic in irrigated agricultural regions

Factors governing spatial distribution and temporal variations of groundwater chemistry in irrigated agricultural regions