摘要：This edition of water and environment news focuses on aspects of isotope data collectionand dissemination related to precipitation and groundwater resources. The IAEA’s globalnetwork of isotopes in precipitation (GNIP) continues to be an invaluable resource forthe traditional application areas of hydrology and climatology, and increasingly for agrowing range of disciplines in ecology and forensics, creating new challenges fornetwork operation and data management. We strive to facilitate as wide a use of GNIPdata as possible and to expand the network, as feasible. To this end, user needs weregauged with a survey, and new methods of spatial analysis were applied to identify gapsin the network. Together with the new version of WISER — the IAEA’s web applicationfor GNIP data dissemination — we hope to be able to assure accessibility and long termsustainability of the network (see p. 2). Adequate characterization of groundwater flowremains a challenge in for most aquifer systems, particularly for large and deep aquiferswith limited hydrogeological information. We are making significant efforts to expandthe use of isotope age dating methods. Aquifers under study include two sectors of theGuarani aquifer in Brazil and Argentina, the Mekong delta aquifers in Vietnam and theaquifers under the Bangkok metropolitan area in Thailand (see p. 4). We have also madesubstantial progress in the IAEA Water Availability Enhancement Project (IWAVE)which aims to integrate the use of isotope hydrology for resource assessments, and inparticular, aquifer mapping (p. 6). Finally, I am saddened to note the passing of Prof. JoelGat from Israel. He was one of the original group of scientists who developed the field ofisotope hydrology and made numerous contributions to it. I came to personally know Joelafter coming to the IAEA in 1997 and it was a great privilege to have had his friendship.
