Groundwater is central to hydroclimatic extremes because it both buffers and amplifies them. Large subsurface storage sustains baseflows and supply during dry spells, yet slow, lagged responses can prolong impacts and delay recovery; when recharge arrives over shallow or low-storage systems, rising heads can tip conditions toward groundwater flooding or waterlogging.
With this in mind, this session concentrates on the understanding of physical dynamics of groundwater extremes. We invite contributions that quantify how aquifers evolve across dry–wet sequences, clarifying how factors such as antecedent wetness or aquifer properties influence the development of groundwater extremes (i.e. onsets, drought severity, recovery rates, etc.).
We are keen on studies and methods that measure and model the effects of adaptation options on groundwater states across climates and aquifer types, including when and by how much interventions may unintentionally worsen drought impacts or elevate wet-period hazards if poorly timed or placed. Methodological innovations are encouraged, such as new diagnostics of drought recovery, process-based and data-driven modelling, feedback-aware modelling, or hybrid approaches that benchmark system dynamic models that include socioeconomic aspects against process-based groundwater models.
We also encourage work that traces compounding effects and cascading impacts to ecosystems and sectors (for example, demand spikes or irrigation shifts) and back again to groundwater through altered recharge and abstraction patterns. We particularly welcome presentations on hypothetical storylines and stress-testing approaches to map the possibility space of future groundwater behavior.