WebAIS Platform

Thematic Areas

Five Thematic Areas

WebAIS is built upon five integrated Thematic Areas, each representing a distinct yet interconnected pillar of the agricultural water management system in Bangladesh. Together, they capture the full chain from field measurements to advanced modelling and finally to decision-making.

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TA-1: Environmental Observation Network (EON) & Database Management

This thematic area establishes the foundational data backbone of WebAIS. It brings together environmental sensors, soil-moisture probes, weather stations, groundwater level loggers, and remote-sensing streams into a unified observation network. TA-1 ensures that real-time, high-quality data flows continuously from field sites to the central system, enabling accurate monitoring of crop conditions, soil water status, evapotranspiration, and climatic variability. This area also covers the development of standardized data pipelines, automated quality control, and harmonization across multiple agencies and data providers.

Work Package 1 (WP-1) falls under this thematic area and is responsible for installing the environmental instrumentation, developing the data ingestion architecture, implementing OGC-compliant data services, and establishing the backend database for the WebAIS platform. WP-1 ensures that all thematic areas, models, and decision tools depend on reliable, accessible, and interoperable data. It provides the “ground truth” on which WebAIS analytics, Digital Twin components, and decision support logic are built.

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TTA-2: Water Resources (Groundwater & Surface Water Systems)

TA-2 addresses the comprehensive assessment of Bangladesh’s water resources by integrating groundwater, surface water, salinity, and hydrodynamic processes into one analytical framework. It quantifies where water is available, how it moves through aquifers and rivers, how extraction affects long-term sustainability, and how climate or anthropogenic forces change system behavior. This thematic area covers the full spectrum—from deep aquifer modeling to canal flows in coastal polders—helping agencies understand water availability at farm, scheme, and regional scales.

Two major work packages operate within this area. WP-2 focuses on groundwater modelling, including the construction of MODFLOW6 models for Manikganj, Rajshahi, and Khulna; recharge estimation; lithological interpretation; safe-yield thresholds; and salinity intrusion dynamics. WP-3 covers surface water hydrology, including SWAT-based watershed modelling, flow estimation, canal system analysis, coastal hydrodynamic modelling (BDM), and polder-level waterlogging/salinity assessments. Together, these WPs provide an integrated picture of Bangladesh’s water resources for irrigation decision-making.

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TA-3: Irrigation Water Management (Crop Modelling, ET & Field Experiments)

This thematic area focuses on understanding how much water crops actually need, when they need it, and how water use can be optimized at the field and regional scale. TA-3 brings together evapotranspiration estimation, irrigation scheduling, crop-water productivity analysis, and field experimentation across different agro-ecological regions. It supports water-efficient crop production by combining on-ground measurements, controlled irrigation treatments, and simulation-based predictions.

Three work packages operate here. WP-4 focuses on crop modelling using DSSAT, developing more than 30 models across rice, wheat, and other crops under multiple irrigation regimes. WP-5 is responsible for experimental field plots in Natore, Manikganj, and Satkhira—generating multi-season datasets on soil moisture, ET, phenology, and yield. WP-6 covers evapotranspiration modelling using sensor, weather, and satellite inputs. Together, these WPs generate irrigation demand estimates, crop response functions, and the scientific basis for resource-smart irrigation strategies.

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TA-4: Land System Dynamics & Socio-Economic Assessment

TA-4 focuses on understanding how cropping systems, land use, farmer decisions, and production environments evolve across Bangladesh — and how these changes influence irrigation water demand, resource sustainability, and agricultural resilience. This thematic area integrates land-use change analysis, crop-rotation mapping, Earth Observation-based classification, household surveys, and farm-level resource assessments. By combining human, biophysical, and landscape factors, TA-4 provides a holistic understanding of the drivers shaping current and future agricultural water use.

Three work packages operate within this thematic area. WP-7 (Land System Shifts) analyzes cropping patterns, production-system transitions, and long-term land-use change using census data, field studies, and change detection analytics. WP-8 (Socio-Economic Assessment) conducts household surveys, soil assessments, and farm-typology analyses to understand farmer behavior, resource endowment, and adaptive capacity. WP-9 (Crop Mapping) develops high-resolution, EO-based crop maps and temporal phenology profiles using Sentinel-1/2, ground surveys, and rule-based classification, providing spatially explicit information on crop distribution and rotation systems. Together, these work packages deliver a comprehensive picture of land systems, socio-economic drivers, and crop distribution — essential inputs for water-demand estimation, modelling, and Digital Twin integration.

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TA-5: WebAIS Digital Platform (Digital Twin & Decision Support System)

This thematic area integrates all data, models, analytics, and workflows into a unified Digital Twin of Bangladesh’s agricultural water system. It focuses on developing the WebAIS platform architecture, metadata catalog, model-execution services, visualization tools, and Data2Decision pipelines. TA-5 ensures that the insights generated across all thematic areas are accessible, usable, and actionable for farmers, planners, and national agencies. It transforms complex information into simplified dashboards, maps, and decision recommendations.

WP-10 is the central work package within this thematic area. It manages platform development using OGC APIs, Open Pioneer Trails, authentication/authorization (Keycloak), and integration of sensor data and model outputs. WP-10 also supports model-on-demand execution, scenario visualization, crop-water demand dashboards, groundwater/surface-water analytics, and user-level customization. Through this work package, WebAIS becomes a fully operational Digital Twin that supports evidence-based agricultural water management across Bangladesh.

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