From Knowledge into Action: The Launching of the State-Wide Airborne Electromagnetic Project in California

Abstract In 2014, legislation was passed in California requiring the sustainable management of groundwater. This presented an opportunity to advance the adoption of the airborne electromagnetic (AEM) method for the acquisition of needed subsurface data. The process of moving “knowledge into action” began in 2016 with a university-funded demonstration project showing the capability of the SkyTEM system to image the sediments of the groundwater system in the Tulare Irrigation District in California’s Central Valley. This was followed by a whitepaper to the Governor's Office proposing a state-wide project, voter-approved funding and the three-year Groundwater Architecture Project (GAP). The GAP brought together over 30 participants from academia, consulting, and local and state water agencies to conduct the focused research needed to define the optimal workflow for using the AEM method to image groundwater basins in the state. The successful move from knowledge into action concluded with a state-wide AEM project led by the Department of Water Resources between 2021 and 2023. This journey from knowledge into action can be an example to use for other applications and in other locations where state of the practice could be/should be raised to state of the science through the adoption of advanced technologies.