Tom Gleeson

1. Groundwater footprints and sustainability
   Can groundwater development be sustainable in different hydrologic and political settings? Sustainable development of groundwater resources is a crucial and significant societal challenge. This interdisciplinary research strand integrates recent hydrogeologic research with cutting-edge sustainability concepts such as strong sustainability, backcasting, multi-generational goal setting and adaptive management.
   
   
2. Mega-scale groundwater systems
   Are regional- to continental-scale groundwater processes different from local-scale processes? Both groundwater management and science are generally limited to the scale of small watersheds, and yet better understanding and management of large-scale groundwater resources is also critical. 
   
   
3. Groundwater recharge and discharge
   How does water cross the land surface in diverse hydrologic settings? Recharge and discharge processes are a critical connection between the hydrosphere and geosphere and are vital to groundwater sustainability and surface water ecology.
4. Fluid flow around geologic structures
   How do faults and fractures impact fluid flow? Feedbacks between fluid flow and faults are critical to problems such as earthquakes, carbon sequestration and the safety of shale gas development.
   
   

Please see the pulications page of my personal research webpage for full list of publications. Students are underlined.

 Aeschbach-Hertig, W. and Gleeson, T., (2012) Regional strategies for the accelerating global problem of groundwater depletion. Nature Geoscience, 5: 853-861.

Gleeson, T., Wada, Y., Bierkens, M.F.P. and van Beek, L.P.H. (2012) Sustainable water balance of global aquifers revealed by groundwater footprint. Nature, 488: 197–200

Ferguson, G. and Gleeson, T. (2012) Vulnerability of coastal aquifers to climate change and groundwater use, Nature Climate Change, 2: 342-345 doi:10.1038/nclimate1413

Gleeson, T., Smith. L., Jansen, N., Hartmann, J., Dürr, H., Manning, A.H.,van Beek, R. and A.M. Jellinek (2011) Mapping permeability over the surface of the earth. Geophysical Research Letters, 38, L02401, doi:10.1029/2010GL045565. 

Gleeson, T., VanderSteen, J., Sophocleous, M.A., Taniguchi, T., Alley, W.M., Allen, D.M., and Zhou, Y. (2010) Groundwater sustainability strategies. Nature Geoscience, 3:378-379.

Gleeson, T., and Novakowski, K. (2009) Identifying watershed-scale barriers to groundwater flow: lineaments in the Canadian Shield. Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 121, no. 3/4, p. 333–347; doi: 10.1130/B26241.1

For more information see the teaching page of my personal research webpage.

• CIFAR Junior Fellowship (2011-2013)
• NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2009-2011)
• Trevor C. Holland Fellowship from Queen’s University (2009)
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2007-2008)
• Queen's Graduate Award (2005-2009)
• NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship (2005-2006)
• Environmental Youth Corp Internship (2003)
• NSERC Graduate Research Scholarship (2002-2003)
• NSERC Undergraduate Research Scholarship (1999)

• Associate Editor, Hydrogeology Journal (2011-2014)
• Member, Departmental Computer Committee (2012-)
• Member, Departmental Scholarship Committee (2011-)
• Session Convener, AGU 2010 “Mega-scale hydrogeology", 2011 AGU "Coastal hydrogeology" and 2012 IAH "Groundwater sustainability"
• Invited speaker at Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, Canadian Water Network, UBC, SFU
• Student representative, AGU Hydrology Section Executive Committee (2008-2010)
• Postdoctoral Representative, Earth and Ocean Sciences faculty retreat, UBC (2010)