The basis for “real-time” optimization is a model of the “resource demand system”, which also includes the water requirements of the ecosystems. A transient double-continuum model of the mountain aquifer to simulate the behavior of the groundwater storage will be developed. This will allow the simulation of the groundwater discharge with a high temporal resolution. The ground water model (MODFLOW) takes into account the complex water transfer in the unsaturated zone (HYDRUS). With the help of currently available data (ERS SCAT, METOP ASCAT, ENVISAT ASAR and Sentinel-1), long-term soil moisture time series are created on spatially different scales (between 150 and 26 km), which are used to calibrate the hydrological-hydrogeological model. The next step is the coupling of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) with the hydrological-hydrogeological model. SWAT allows the modeling of nutrient transport, biomass production and agricultural management (e.g., artificial irrigation) . In addition to soil moisture, the models also consider the expansion of wetlands, vegetation parameters (e.g. NDVI), as well as land use information generated by means of multi-temporal and multi-spectral remote sensing data. This process-based model approach thus quantifies the influence of hydrological and land-use changes on ecosystem services, as well as the derivation of corresponding interrelationships in the form of causal chains.
