Groundwater flooding occurs when the water table rises above the land surface. It generally requires sustained rainfall over relatively longer duration than other forms of flooding, its location is discontinuous, and they can last for weeks or months. The increased frequency of groundwater flooding in Ireland in recent decades has highlighted the need to better understand, map and monitor groundwater flood events. In this context Geological Survey Ireland initiated the GWFlood project in 2016 in order to address the deficit of data and fit-for-purpose flood maps. With the GWFlood project now complete, our work on groundwater flooding is now advancing through the newly established GWClimate project which is developing flood forecast tools and evaluate the potential impacts of climate change to groundwater flooding (and groundwater drought).
