![Dr Jean-Christophe Comte Dr Jean-Christophe Comte](/img/200x200/staffpages/uploads/s09jc4/DSC07930_reduced3.jpg)
Dr Jean-Christophe Comte
Hydrogeology, Groundwater modelling, Hydrogeophysics
Reader
- About
-
- Email Address
- jc.comte@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 272914
- Office Address
- School/Department
- School of Geosciences
Biography
- 2023-present: Reader in Hydrogeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen
- 2019-2023: Senior Lecturer in Hydrogeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen
- 2014-2019: Lecturer in Hydrogeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen
- 2014-2016: Visiting researcher, Queen's University Belfast
- 2009-2014: Postdoctoral research fellow in Hydrogeology/Hydrogeophysics, School of Planning Architecture and Civil Engineering, Queen's University Belfast
- 2008: PhD in Hydrogeology, Department of Geology, University of Avignon 'Contribution of electrical resistivity tomography to variable-density groundwater flow modelling in coastal aquifers - Application to three contrasted climate settings (Canada, New Caledonia, Senegal)'
- 2003-2009: Hydrogeologist consultant, HYDRIAD, Nimes
- 2002-2003: DESS (MSc2) Hydrogeology, University of Avignon
- 1998-2002: DEUG-Licence-Maitrise IUP (BSc, MSc1) Geological and Environmental Engineering, University Paul Sabatier Toulouse
External Memberships
- Editor, Hydrogeology Journal - Official Journal of the International Association of Hydrogeologists
- Panel member, UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) cross-council Interdisciplinary Assessment College
- Research
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Research Overview
- Quantitative hydrogeology
- Hydrogeophysical methods for aquifer parameter estimation and calibration of groundwater models
- Groundwater resources in complex hydrogeological environments, including coastal, islands, fractured rocks and volcanic aquifers
- Saltwater intrusion and sustainability of fresh groundwater resources in coastal aquifer systems
- Groundwater and resilience to global changes, incl. urban hydrogeology, floods & droughts, interactions with surface water, managed aquifer recharge
- Hydrogeological properties and processes underpinning sustainable geothermal development
Research Team
Current PhD students (lead supervisor)
- Brady Johnson - Groundwater resilience to drought in Scotland
- Alfred Awuah - Coupled hydrogeophysical modelling of groundwater flow in fractured rocks
- Oluwaseun Olabode - The potential of managed aquifer recharge in Sub-saharan Africa
- Hamish Johnson - Groundwater and nutrient dynamics in heterogeneous agricultural catchments
- Yogendra Kumar - Quantifying fracture flow with the self-potential method
Recently completed PhD students (lead supervisor)
- Joel Blackburn - Understanding stream-aquifer interactions and their influence on flow regimes and fluvial processes in a newly restored ephemeral stream
- Jesus Mezquita - Hydrogeophysical approaches for characterising flow and storage in weathered/fractured aquifers
- Samson Oiro - Impact of climate change and human activities on groundwater resources in the Nairobi and Tiwi aquifers: two strategic Kenyan aquifers under high pressure
Funding and Grants
Ongoing:
- International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) for Official Development Assistance (ODA) Project Grant - A hidden water crisis in the fast-growing coastal megacity of Lagos: is unregulated groundwater abstraction causing aquifer depletion and saltwater intrusion? (2023). PI.
- Centre of Expertise for Waters CREW - Future predictions of water scarcity in Scotland: impacts to distilleries and agricultural abstractors (2023-2024). Co-I.
- Scottish Funding Council Hydronation programme - The role of groundwater in adapting to climate change and increasing resilience to drought in Eastern Scotland (2023-2027). PI.
- Royal Society International Exchange with Jilin University, China on managed aquifer recharge (2023-2025). PI.
- Centre of Expertise for Waters CREW - Understanding the relationship between water scarcity and land use in private water supply catchments (2023-2024). Co-I.
- NERC Exploring the Frontiers research grant [NE/X011593/1] - Hydro-g: Monitoring groundwater resources using low-cost microgravity sensors (2023-2024). Co-I, led by the University of Glasgow.
Completed:
- Department for the Economy/Geological Survey of Northern Ireland - Near-surface geophysical characterisation at the Stormont Estate, Belfast to support its geothermal development (2022). Co-PI, with Queen's University Belfast.
- GCRF/Academy of Medical Sciences/Geological Survey of Ireland - Groundwater-g: Supporting groundwater resources management using low-cost microgravity technology (2020-2022). Co-I, led by Queen's University Belfast.
- GCRF/Scottish Funding Council Covid-19 Response Research Grant - COVID-19 and water security in the world's largest refugee camp: can groundwater development safely meet the increased water demand to fight COVID-19 in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh? (2020-2021). PI.
- World Bank/AURECON applied research grant - Groundwater numerical modelling in support of strengthening of water resources planning, monitoring and management in Kenya (2018-2020). PI.
- AHRC/GCRF/University of Nottingham Research Grant - Kisima project: Historical and future groundwater well management on Kilwa Kisiwani island, Tanzania (2019-2020). Co-I, led by the University of Dar Es Salaam.
- Royal Society Newton International Fellowship (Dr Andres Gonzalez Quiros) - Monitoring and coupled hydrogeophysical modelling of saltwater intrusion in heterogeneous coastal aquifers (2019-2021).
- NERC/DFID Research Grant [NE/S005943/1] - SHEAR Programme: Connect4 water resilience: connecting water resources, communities, drought and flood hazards, and governance across 4 countries in the Limpopo basin (2018-2020). PI.
- NERC Urgency Grant [NE/R002568/1] - Extreme rainfall and floods in arid regions (Botswana): replenishment or contamination of water resources? (2017-2018). PI.
- United Utilities Water/Environmental Agency applied research grant - Understanding stream-aquifer interactions and their influence on flow regimes and fluvial processes in a newly restored ephemeral stream (2017-2022). PI.
- Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Environment and Sustainability Research Grant [ESRG3/16] - East African groundwater resources under climatic and human pressure (2016-2017). PI.
- Geological Survey of Ireland Research Grant [2015-SC-003] - Determining fractured bedrock aquifer parameters using Magnetic Resonance Sounding to better constrain numerical groundwater models in support of catchment scale water resource management (2016). Co-I, led by Queen's University Belfast.
- Elphinstone Fund/Water Resources Management Authority of Kenya PhD Scholarship (Mr S. Oiro) - Comparative hydrogeology of the Nairobi volcanic suite aquifer and the Tiwi coastal aquifer (2015-2018).
- NERC/DFID/ESRC Research Grant [NE/L001888/1] - UPGro Programme: Towards Groundwater security in coastal East Africa (2013-2014). PI.
- EuropeAid/African Union Research Grant [EuropeAid/130-741/D/ACT/ACP] - Groundwater resource in basement rocks of Africa (2012-2015). Co-I, led by the Research Institute for Development IRD.
- Department of Employment and Learning Northern Ireland PhD Scholarship (Mr N. Dickson) - Incorporation of multi-scale hydrogeophysical datasets into numerical groundwater models (2012-2015).
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
- MSc Geophysics Programme Director (2021-2024)
- GL5059 Near surface and Environmental Geophysics (MSc Geophysics) - course coordinator
- GL5573 Field geophysical data acquisition and subsurface digital mapping (MSc Geophysics) - course coordinator
- GL4535 Geoscience and the UN Sustainable Development Goals | Groundwater resources (BSc year 4)
- GG4071 Environmental Hydrology | Groundwater hydrology (BSc year 4)
- GG2510 Mapping and Monitoring the Environment | Environmental geophysics (BSc year 2)
- GG2013 Physical Environments | Groundwater: An introduction (BSc year 2)
- Publications
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Page 4 of 7 Results 31 to 40 of 61
Relative importance of conceptual and computational errors when delineating saltwater intrusion from resistivity inverse models in heterogeneous coastal aquifers
Advances in Water Resources, vol. 144, 103695Contributions to Journals: ArticlesModern sediment records of hydroclimatic extremes and associated potential contaminant mobilization in semi-arid environments: lessons learnt from recent flood-drought cycles in southern Botswana
Journal of Soils and Sediments, vol. 20, pp. 1632–1650Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGroundwater in Fractured Bedrock Environments: Managing Catchment and Subsurface Resources
Geological Society of London, London. 250 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SP479
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP479-2018-170
- [ONLINE] https://abdn.pure.elsevier.com/en/en/researchoutput/groundwater-in-fractured-bedrock-environments(85c5a084-6fba-4fe6-9c4b-6ec02e9cba0d).html
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
- [ONLINE] View publication in Mendeley
- [ONLINE] http://pure-ots.abdn.ac.uk:8080/portal/en/researchoutput/groundwater-in-fractured-bedrock-environments(85c5a084-6fba-4fe6-9c4b-6ec02e9cba0d).html
Analysis and numerical modelling of large-scale controls on aquifer structure and hydrogeological properties in the African basement (Benin, West Africa)
Geological Society Special Publications , vol. 479, no. 1, pp. 81-100Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/SP479.2
- [ONLINE] View publication in Mendeley
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Drivers, patterns and velocity of saltwater intrusion in a stressed aquifer of the East African coast: Joint analysis of groundwater and geophysical data in southern Kenya
Journal of African Earth Sciences, vol. 149, no. 1, pp. 334-347Contributions to Journals: ArticlesRegional-scale analysis of the effect of managed aquifer recharge on saltwater intrusion in irrigated coastal aquifers: long-term groundwater observations and model simulations in NE Tunisia
Journal of Coastal Research, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 91-110Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-17-00174.1
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
- [ONLINE] View publication in Mendeley
- [ONLINE] View publication in Mendeley
Hydrology at Aberdeen – thinking about water locally and globally
Scottish Geographical Journal, vol. 135, no. 3-4, pp. 267-286Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14702541.2019.1695894
Sensitivity and Uncertainty of Petrophysical Models to Predict Storage Properties in Weathered/Fractured HardRock Aquifers
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.201902380
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Using stable water isotopes to identify spatial-temporal controls on groundwater recharge in two contrasting East African aquifer systems
Hydrological Sciences Journal, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 862-877Contributions to Journals: ArticlesCatchment-scale heterogeneity of flow and storage properties in a weathered/fractured hard rock aquifer from resistivity and magnetic resonance surveys: implications for groundwater flow paths and the distribution of residence times
Geological Society Special Publications , vol. 479, pp. 35-58Contributions to Journals: Articles