title: Optimal space-time coverage and exploration costs in groundwater monitoring networks.
abstract: A method to determine the optimal subset of stations from a reference level groundwater monitoring network is proposed. The method considers the redundancy of data from historical time series, the times associated with the total distance required to run through the entire monitoring network, and the sum of the times for each monitoring station. The method was applied to a hypothetical case-study consisting of a monitoring network with 32 stations. Cost-benefit analysis was performed to determine the number of stations to include in the new design versus loss of information. This optimisation problem was solved with simulated annealing. Results showed that the relative reduction in exploration costs more than compensates for the relative loss in data representativeness.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro, Portugal. lnunes@ualg.pt
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Cunha
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003625:Data Collection; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014873:Water Pollutants