
Dr. Thomas Kalbacher
Stellvertretender Departmentleiter und Arbeitsgruppenleiter Hydroinformatik
Department Umweltinformatik
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ
Permoserstr. 15
04318 Leipzig, Germany
Tel. +49 341 235 - 1093
Research Interests
My interest is the software development of simulation and analysis tools to study the use and protection of natural hydrogeological systems.
Our soils and the underlying rocks have many functions. Humus, mineral soil and rock, i.e. the upper layers, protect the groundwater from substances of all kinds, filter it and thus keep it clean.
But also the deeper rock layers that are home to our aquifers sustainably purify our groundwater, which then feeds our lakes and rivers again or serves us directly as drinking water resources. The shallow and deep underground is habitat, water reservoir, water filter and basis for our nutrition. Its tasks are manifold and without it, our neighboring ecosystem and our entire food chain would not function either.
But, like everywhere else in life, benefit and protection are often in conflict. Industrial and agricultural interests often, and mostly rightly so, collide with ecological concerns and restrictions.
Model studies can help to solve such conflicts and bring about decisions. In the age of digitization, we now have completely different technical possibilities and resources at our disposal than this was the case ten years ago.
Entire infrastructures with modern high-performance computers allow us to study much larger and much more complex systems. This is also important because the spatial and temporal availability of observation data, whether from local measuring stations, overflights and surveys or satellite-based observations, poses great technical challenges for simulations and analyses. This concerns data collection, data integration and data preparation as well as model simulations and result evaluation (e.g. by uncertainty analyses).
The procedures and workflows for these tasks are complex and time-consuming, and must therefore be developed in a goal-oriented manner, but should also be fundamentally generalized afterwards. This is the only way to develop time-effective but sustainable reusable system analysis tools and not isolated island-solutions. In the working group Hydroinformatics, we try to implement exactly this in cooperation with the working group Research Software Engineering and Visualization.
Projects:
Digital Earth
In the age of digitization, significant advances in Earth system understanding can be achieved through better integration of data and knowledge from different Earth science disciplines and earth compartments into model-driven earth system analysis. The progress and improvement strongly depends on our capabilities of dealing with fast growing multi-parameter data and on our effort employing Data Science methods, adapting new algorithms and developing workflows tailored to . . . . . more
ESM - Earth System Modelling
The main objective of the project is to develop, evaluate and apply a world-leading Earth system modelling infrastructure - leading into an Earth System Simulator - to provide solutions to grand challenges faced by the Earth and environmental sciences. The project aims to enable the investigation of problems in an integrated manner considering interactions between different Earth system compartments and across scales - from local to global scales, and from weather time scales to millennia and beyond. More information about Digital Earth can be found at: https://www.esm-project.net/
Both, Digital Earth and ESM are Future Research Projects of the Helmholtz Association. More Information about the program and the Helmholtz Initiative and Networking Fund can be found HERE.
Publications: [arranged in alphabetical order]
- Bilke, L., Flemisch, B., Kalbacher, T., Kolditz, O., Helmig, R., Nagel, T., (2019):
Development of open-source porous media simulators: principles and experiences
Transp. Porous Media 130 (1), 337 - 361
Volltext (DOI) - Boog, J., Kalbacher, T., Nivala, J., Forquet, N., van Afferden, M., Müller, R.A., (2019):
Modeling the relationship of aeration, oxygen transfer and treatment performance in aerated horizontal flow treatment wetlands
Water Res. 157 , 321 - 334
Volltext (DOI) - Boog, J., Kalbacher, T., Nivala, J., van Afferden, M., Müller, R.A., (2019):
Modeling dynamics of organic carbon and nitrogen removal during aeration interruption in aerated horizontal flow treatment wetlands
Water Sci. Technol. 80 (3), 597 - 606
Volltext (DOI) - Boog, J., Nivala, J., Kalbacher, T., van Afferden, M., Müller, R.A., (2020):
Do wastewater pollutants impact oxygen transfer in aerated horizontal flow wetlands?
Chem. Eng. J. 383 , art. 123173
Volltext (DOI) - Chen, C., Sawarieh, A., Kalbacher, T., Beinhorn, M., Wang, W., Kolditz, O., (2005):
A GIS based 3-D hydrosystem model application of the Zarqa Ma'in-Jiza areas in Central Jordan
Journal of Environmental Hydrology 13 , paper 4
Volltext (URL) - Delfs, J.-O., Singh, A.K., Kalbacher, T., Wang, W., Kolditz, O., (2013):
Simultaneous flow of water and air across the land surface during runoff
In: Idelsohn, S., Papadrakakis, M., Schrefler, B., (eds.)
Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering - COUPLED PROBLEMS 2013
CIMNE, Barcelona, p. 949 - 956 - Delfs, J.-O., Wang, W., Kalbacher, T., Singh, A.K., Kolditz, O., (2013):
A coupled surface/subsurface flow model accounting for air entrapment and air pressure counterflow
Environ. Earth Sci. 69 (2), 395 - 414
Volltext (DOI) - Grathwohl, P., Rügner, H., Wöhling, T., Osenbrück, K., Schwientek, M., Gayler, S., Wollschläger, U., Selle, B., Pause, M., Delfs, J.-O., Grzeschik, M., Weller, U., Ivanov, M., Cirpka, O.A., Maier, U., Kuch, B., Nowak, W., Wulfmeyer, V., Warrach-Sagi, K., Streck, T., Attinger, S., Bilke, L., Dietrich, P., Fleckenstein, J.H., Kalbacher, T., Kolditz, O., Rink, K., Samaniego, L., Vogel, H.-J., Werban, U., Teutsch, G., (2013):
Catchments as reactors: a comprehensive approach for water fluxes and solute turnover
Environ. Earth Sci. 69 (2), 317 - 333
Volltext (DOI) - Harken, B., Chang, C.-F., Dietrich, P., Kalbacher, T., Rubin, Y., (2019):
Hydrogeological modeling and water resources management: Improving the link between data, prediction, and decision making
Water Resour. Res. 55 (12), 10340 - 10357
Volltext (DOI) - He, W., Beyer, C., Fleckenstein, J.H., Jang, E., Kalbacher, T., Naumov, D., Shao, H., Wang, W., Kolditz, O., (2015):
Reactive transport modeling in the subsurface environment with OGS-IPhreeqc
EGU General Assembly 2015, Vienna, Austria, 12–17 April 2015
Geophysical Research Abstracts 17
European Geosciences Union (EGU), p. EGU2015-9785 - He, W., Beyer, C., Fleckenstein, J.H., Jang, E., Kolditz, O., Naumov, D., Kalbacher, T., (2015):
A parallelization scheme to simulate reactive transport in the subsurface environment with OGS#IPhreeqc 5.5.7-3.1.2
Geosci. Model Dev. 8 (10), 3333 - 3348
Volltext (DOI) - He, W., Poonoosamy, J., Kosakowski, G., Van Loon, L.R., Mäder, U., Kalbacher, T., (2016):
Reactive transport
In: Kolditz, O., Görke, U.-J., Shao, H., Wang, W., Bauer, S., (eds.)
Thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical processes in fractured porous media: Modelling and benchmarking. Benchmarking initiatives
Terrestrial Environmental Sciences
Springer Nature, Cham, p. 179 - 197
Volltext (DOI) - He, W., Shao, H., Kolditz, O., Wang, W., Kalbacher, T., (2015):
Comments on "A mass conservative switching algorithm for modeling fluid flow in variably saturated porous media, K. Sadegh Zadeh, Journal of Computational Physics, 230 (2011)"
J. Comput. Phys. 295 , 815 - 820
Volltext (DOI) - Jang, E., Boog, J., He, W., Kalbacher, T., (2018):
OpenGeoSys Tutorial. Computational hydrology III: OGS#IPhreeqc coupled reactive transport modeling
SpringerBriefs in Earth System Sciences
Springer International Publishing, Cham, 103 pp.
Volltext (DOI) - Jang, E., He, W., Savoy, H., Dietrich, P., Kolditz, O., Rubin, Y., Schüth, C., Kalbacher, T., (2017):
Identifying the influential aquifer heterogeneity factor on nitrate reduction processes by numerical simulation
Adv. Water Resour. 99 , 38 - 52
Volltext (DOI) - Jang, E., Kalbacher, T., (2018):
File description
In: Jang, E., Boog, J., He, W., Kalbacher, T., (eds.)
OpenGeoSys Tutorial. Computational hydrology III: OGS#IPhreeqc coupled reactive transport modeling
SpringerBriefs in Earth System Sciences
Springer International Publishing, Cham, p. 25 - 29
Volltext (DOI) - Jing, M., Heße, F., Kumar, R., Kolditz, O., Kalbacher, T., Attinger, S., (2019):
Influence of input and parameter uncertainty on the prediction of catchment-scale groundwater travel time distributions
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 23 (1), 171 - 190
Volltext (DOI) - Kalbacher, T., Chen, X., Dai, Y., Hesser, J., Wang, X., Wang, W., (2015):
Richards flow
In: Kolditz, O., Shao, H., Wang, W., Bauer, S., (eds.)
Thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical processes in fractured porous media: Modelling and benchmarking. Closed-form solutions
Terrestrial Environmental Sciences
Springer Nature, Cham, p. 121 - 130
Volltext (DOI) - Kalbacher, T., Delfs, J.-O., Shao, H., Wang, W., Walther, M., Samaniego, L., Schneider, C., Kumar, R., Musolff, A., Centler, F., Sun, F., Hildebrandt, A., Liedl, R., Borchardt, D., Krebs, P., Kolditz, O., (2012):
The IWAS-ToolBox: software coupling for an integrated water resources management
Environ. Earth Sci. 65 (5), 1367 - 1380
Volltext (DOI) - Kalbacher, T., (2018):
Introduction
In: Jang, E., Boog, J., He, W., Kalbacher, T., (eds.)
OpenGeoSys Tutorial. Computational hydrology III: OGS#IPhreeqc coupled reactive transport modeling
SpringerBriefs in Earth System Sciences
Springer International Publishing, Cham, p. 1 - 6
Volltext (DOI) - Kalbacher, T., Mettier, R., McDermott, C., Wang, W., Kosakowski, G., Taniguchi, T., Kolditz, O., (2007):
Geometric modelling and object-oriented software concepts applied to a heterogeneous fractured network from the Grimsel rock laboratory
Comput. Geosci. 11 (1), 9 - 26
Volltext (DOI) - Kalbacher, T., Schneider, C.L., Wang, W., Hildebrandt, A., Attinger, S., Kolditz, O., (2011):
Modeling soil-coupled water uptake of multiple root systems with automatic time stepping
Vadose Zone J. 10 (2), 727 - 735
Volltext (DOI) - Kalbacher, T., Schneider, C.L., Wang, W., Hildebrandt, A., Attinger, S., Kolditz, O., (2010):
Computational efficient modelling of soil-coupled 3D root water uptake for multiple root systems
In: Carrera, J., Sánchez-Vila, X., Fernández-García, D., Bolster, D., (eds.)
Proceedings of the XVIII International Conference on Computational Methods in Water Resources (CMWR 2010), June 21 to 24, 2010, Barcelona, Spain
CIMNE, Barcelona, p. 1261 - 1268
Volltext (URL) - Kalbacher, T., Walther, M., Wang, W., (2015):
Appendix B: Coupled hydrosystems. OGS#mHM
In: Sachse, A., Rink, K., He, W., Kolditz, O., (eds.)
OpenGeoSys-Tutorial. Computational hydrology I: groundwater flow modeling
SpringerBriefs in Earth System Sciences
Springer International Publishing, Cham, p. 100 - 101
Volltext (DOI) - Kalbacher, T., Wang, W., McDermott, C., Kolditz, O., Taniguchi, T., (2005):
Development and application of a CAD interface for fractured rock
Environ. Geol. 47 (7), 1017 - 1027
Volltext (DOI) - Kalbacher, T., Wang, W., Watanabe, N., Park, C.-H., Taniguchi, T., Kolditz, O., (2008):
Parallelization concepts and applications for THM coupled finite element problems
Journal of Environmental Science for Sustainable Society 2 , 35 - 46
Volltext (DOI) - Kalbus, E., Kalbacher, T., Kolditz, O., Krüger, E., Seegert, J., Röstel, G., Teutsch, G., Borchardt, D., Krebs, P., (2012):
Integrated Water Resources Management under different hydrological, climatic and socio-economic conditions
Environ. Earth Sci. 65 (5), 1363 - 1366
Volltext (DOI) - Kolditz, O., Bauer, S., Beyer, C., Böttcher, N., Dietrich, P., Görke, U.-J., Kalbacher, T., Park, C.-H., Sauer, U., Schütze, C., Shao, H., Singh, A., Taron, J., Wang, W., Watanabe, N., (2012):
A systematic benchmarking approach for geologic CO2 injection and storage
Environ. Earth Sci. 67 (2), 613 - 632
Volltext (DOI) - Kolditz, O., Bauer, S., Bilke, L., Böttcher, N., Delfs, J.O., Fischer, T., Görke, U.J., Kalbacher, T., Kosakowski, G., McDermott, C.I., Park, C.H., Radu, F., Rink, K., Shao, H., Shao, H.B., Sun, F., Sun, Y.Y., Singh, A.K., Taron, J., Walther, M., Wang, W., Watanabe, N., Wu, Y., Xie, M., Xu, W., Zehner, B., (2012):
OpenGeoSys: an open-source initiative for numerical simulation of thermo-hydro-mechanical/chemical (THM/C) processes in porous media
Environ. Earth Sci. 67 (2), 589 - 599
Volltext (DOI) - Kolditz, O., Kalbacher, T., Wang, W., (2010):
Programm- und Softwareentwicklung für die Grundwassermodellierung
Grundwasser 15 (3), 145 - 145
Volltext (DOI) - Kolditz, O., Rink, K., Shao, H., Kalbacher, T., Kunkel, R., Zacharias, S., Dietrich, P., (2012):
Erratum to: International viewpoint and news: data and modelling platforms in environmental Earth sciences
Environ. Earth Sci. 67 (6), 1859
Volltext (DOI) - Kolditz, O., Rink, K., Shao, H., Kalbacher, T., Zacharias, S., Dietrich, P., (2012):
International viewpoint and news
Environ. Earth Sci. 66 (4), 1279 - 1284
Volltext (DOI) - Miles, B., Kalbacher, T., Kolditz, O., Chen, C., Gronewold, J., Wang, W., Peter, A., (2007):
Development and parameterisation of a complex hydrogeological model based on high-resolution direct-push data
Environ. Geol. 52 (7), 1399 - 1412
Volltext (DOI) - Rink, K., Kalbacher, T., Kolditz, O., (2012):
Visual data eploration for hydrological analysis
Environ. Earth Sci. 65 (5), 1395 - 1403
Volltext (DOI) - Savoy, H., Kalbacher, T., Dietrich, P., Rubin, Y., (2017):
Geological heterogeneity: Goal-oriented simplification of structure and characterization needs
Adv. Water Resour. 109 , 1 - 13
Volltext (DOI) - Seegert, J., Berendonk, T.U., Bernhofer, C., Blumensaat, F., Dombrowsky, I., Fuehner, C., Grundmann, J., Hagemann, N., Kalbacher, T., Kopinke, F.-D., Liedl, R., Leidel, M., Lorz, C., Makeschin, F., Markova, D., Niemann, S., Röstel, G., Schanze, J., Scheifhacken, N., Schuetze, N., Siebert, C., Stefan, C., Strehlitz, B., Teutsch, G., Weigelt, C., Weiß, H., Kolditz, O., Borchardt, D., Krebs, P., (2014):
Integrated water resources management under different hydrological, climatic and socio-economic conditions: results and lessons learned from a transdisciplinary IWRM project IWAS
Environ. Earth Sci. 72 (12), 4677 - 4688
Volltext (DOI) - Singh, A.K., Pilz, P., Zimmer, M., Kalbacher, T., Görke, U.-J., Kolditz, O., (2012):
Numerical simulation of tracer transport in the Altmark gas field
Environ. Earth Sci. 67 (2), 537 - 548
Volltext (DOI) - Steefel, C.I., Appelo, C.A.J., Arora, B., Jacques, D., Kalbacher, T., Kolditz, O., Lagneau, V., Lichtner, P.C., Mayer, K.U., Meeussen, J.C.L., Molins, S., Moulton, D., Shao, H., Šimůnek, J., Spycher, N., Yabusaki, S.B., Yeh, G.T., (2015):
Reactive transport codes for subsurface environmental simulation
Comput. Geosci. 19 (3), 445 - 478
Volltext (DOI) - Sun, F., Shao, H., Kalbacher, T., Wang, W., Yang, Z., Huang, Z., Kolditz, O., (2011):
Groundwater drawdown at Nankou site of Beijing Plain: model development and calibration
Environ. Earth Sci. 64 (5), 1323 - 1333
Volltext (DOI) - Zehner, B., Bilke, L., Kalbacher, T., Kalbus, E., Rink, K., Rausch, R., Kolditz, O., (2012):
Mixed 2D/3D visualization of a large scale groundwater study in a virtual reality centre
In: Oswald, S.E., Kolditz, O., Attinger, S., (eds.)
Models - repositories of knowledge : proceedings of ModelCARE2011 held in Leipzig, Germany, September 2011
IAHS Publ. 355
International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), Wallingford, Oxfordshire, p. 127 - 132 - Zschornack, L., Kalbacher, T., Dietrich, P., (2017):
Assessment of aquifer connectivity using oscillatory hydraulic aquifer tests
In: Liedl, R., Dietrich, P., Butler jr., J.J., (eds.)
Novel Methods for Subsurface Characterization and Monitoring: From Theory to Practice. NovCare 2017. International Conference, June 06-09, 2017, Dresden
Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, p. 83