Luk Peeters

Program Leader
System Conceptualisation

Applied geological fields, such as water resource assessment or environmental impact assessment, requires bringing together vast amounts of very diverse data in a way that is consistent with our ever evolving understanding of the earth. My research within Deep Earth Imaging explores the different ways we can conceptualise geological systems and how we can systematically test hypotheses about subsurface processes. The application of this research is mainly focused on groundwater investigations.

With over 7 years research experience in modelling groundwater dynamics at regional to continental scales for water resource management, I bring an understanding of water systems to Deep Earth Imaging. My research features a strong emphasis on maximally exploiting the information from data to reduce predictive uncertainty. I have an actively open mindset in combination with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. This helps me champion interdisciplinary research, bringing together geology, geophysics, geochemistry, statistics, hydrology, ecology and risk assessment to address the nation’s grand challenges in finding and managing groundwater.

Technical Skills

I have deep professional and academic experience in the following areas:

Risk and uncertainty analysis
Groundwater and surface water modelling
Geostatistics, exploratory data analysis and machine learning
Project management

Professional experience

March 2010 – Present
Research Scientist: CSIRO Land and Water

2019 – Present
Discipline Lead of Risk and Impact, Geological Bioregional Assessments http://www.bioregionalassessments.gov.au/

March 2017 – Present
Program Leader, Deep Earth Imaging Future Science Platform
https://research.csiro.au/dei/

2013 – 2017
Project Lead Uncertainty Propagation, Bioregional Assessments Programme
http://www.bioregionalassessments.gov.au/

2010-2014
Development of Australian Water Resource Assessment model
http://www.bom.gov.au/water/landscape

Education

PhD Geology: Groundwater and geochemical modeling of an unconfined aquifer in Central Belgium
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (2010)

Master in Geology (MSc.)
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (2003)

Bachelor in Geology (BSc.)
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (2001).

Selected publications

Peeters, L. J. M. (2017). Assumption Hunting in Groundwater Modeling: Find Assumptions Before They Find You. Groundwater 55 (5), 665-669 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12565)

Gladish, D. W., Pagendam, D. E., Peeters, L. J. M., Kuhnert, P. & Vaze, J. (2017). Emulation engines: choice and quantification of uncertainty for complex hydrological models. accepted in Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics

Crosbie, R. S., Peeters, L. J. M., Herron, N., McVicar, T. R. & Herr, A. (2017). Estimating groundwater recharge and its associated uncertainty: Use of regression kriging and the chloride mass balance method. Journal of Hydrology (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.08.003)

Page, D., Peeters, L. J. M., Vanderzalm, J., Barry, K. & Gonzalez, D. (2017). Effect of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) on recovered stormwater quality variability. Water Research 117, 1-8 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.03.049)

Asher, M. J., Croke, B. F. W., Jakeman, A. J. & Peeters, L. J. M. (2015). A review of surrogate models and their application to groundwater modeling. Water Resources Research 51 (8), 5957-5973 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015WR016967)

Peeters, L. J. M. (2015). Editor’s Message: Stand on the shoulders of giants, don’t hide behind them. Hydrogeology Journal 23 (3), 421-422 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10040-015-1247-0)

Doble, R., Crosbie, R., Peeters, L. J. M., Joehnk, K. & Ticehurst, C. (2014). Modelling overbank flood recharge at a continental scale. Hydrology Earth System Science 18 (4) 1273-1288 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1273-2014)

Noorduijn, S. L., Shanafield, M., Trigg, M. A., Harrington, G. A., Cook, P. G. & Peeters, L. J. M. (2014). Estimating seepage flux from ephemeral stream channels using surface water and groundwater level data. Water Resources Research 50 (2), 1474-1489 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2012WR013424)

Peeters, L. J. M. Podger, G. M., Smith, T., Pickett, T., Bark, R. H. & Cuddy, S. M.
(2014). Robust global sensitivity analysis of a river management model to assess nonlinear and interaction effects. Hydrology and Earth System Science 18 (9), 3777-3785 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3777-2014)

Peeters, L. J. M., Crosbie, R., Doble, R. & Van Dijk, A. (2013). Conceptual evaluation of continental land-surface model behaviour. Environmental Modelling & Software 43, 49-59 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2013.01.007)

Peeters, L. J. M. (2013). A Background Color Scheme for Piper Plots to Spatially Visualize Hydrochemical Patterns. Groundwater 52 (1) 2-6 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gwat.12118)

Rassam, D. W., Peeters, L. J. M., Pickett, T., Jolly, I. & Holz, L. (2013).Accounting for surface- groundwater interactions and their uncertainty in river and groundwater models: A case study in the Namoi River, Australia. Environmental Modelling & Software 50 108-119 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2013.09.004)

Bark, R., Peeters, L. J. M., Lester, R., Pollino, C., Crossman, N. & Kandulu, J. (2013). Understanding the sources of uncertainty to reduce the risks of undesirable outcomes in large- scale freshwater ecosystem restoration projects: An example from the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Environmental Science & Policy 33, 97-108 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2013.04.010)

Doble, R. C., Crosbie, R. S., Smerdon, B. D., Peeters, L. J. M. & Cook, F. J. (2012). Groundwater recharge from overbank floods. Water Resources Research 48 W09522 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011WR011441)

Possemiers, M., Huysmans, M., Peeters, L. J. M., Batelaan, O. & Dassargues, A. (2012). Relationship between sedimentary features and permeability at different scales in the Brussels Sands. Geologica Belgica 15 (3) 156-164

Shao, Q., Lerat, J., Brink, H., Tomkins, K., Yang, A., Peeters, L. J. M., Li, M., Zhang, L., Podger, G. & Renzullo, L. J. (2012). Gauge based precipitation estimation and associated model and product uncertainties. Journal of Hydrology 444-445 100-112 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.04.009)

Peeters, L. J. M., Fasbender, D., Batelaan, O. & Dassargues, A. (2010). Bayesian data fusion for water table interpolation: Incorporating a hydrogeological conceptual model in kriging. Water Resources Research 46 (8), W08532 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008353)

Rojas, R., Kahunde, S., Peeters, L. J. M., Batelaan, O., Feyen, L. & Dassargues, A. (2010). Application of a multimodel approach to account for conceptual model and scenario uncertainties in groundwater modelling. Journal of Hydrology 394 (3-4), 416-435 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.09.016)

Fasbender, D., Peeters, L. J. M., Bogaert, P. & Dassargues, A. (2008). Bayesian data fusion applied to water table spatial mapping. Water Resources Research 44 W12422 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008WR006921)

Huysmans, M., Peeters, L. J. M., Moermans, G. & Dassargues, A. (2008). Relating small-scale sedimentary structures and permeability in a cross-bedded aquifer. Journal of Hydrology 361 (1-2) 41-51 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2008.07.047)

Peeters, L. J. M., Bacao, F., Lobo, V. & Dassargues, A. (2007). Exploratory data analysis and clustering of multivariate spatial hydrogeological data by means of GEO3DSOM, a variant of Kohonen’s Self-Organizing Map. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 11 1309-1321 (http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/hess-11-1309-2007)

Peeters, L. J. M., Haerens, B., Van der Sluys, J. & Dassargues, A. (2004). Modelling seasonal variations in nitrate and sulphate concentrations in a vulnerable alluvial aquifer. Environmental Geology 46 (6-7), 951-962 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00254-004-1107-z)