What paper inspired you the most in 2013? The Early Career Hydrogeologists’ Network (ECHN) of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) has announced a new contest: ‘2013 Coolest Paper of the Year’ award (described in this Hydrogeology Journal editorial).

I nominated Fan et al (Science, 2013) who completed a Herculean effort to map the depth to the water table globally for the first time. The observations combined with the modeling are an important new database for global models that that reveals where shallow groundwater is likely important to surface water and agriculture.

Global depth to water table (Fan et al 2014).

What paper are you going to nominate? The paper can be from any peer-reviewed journal and by any author. The only criterion: it needs to be about hydrogeology and you need to be an early career hydrogeologist (post-graduate student or in the early years of professional work) to vote. Nominating closes on March 31st so please nominate right here:

Fan, Y., H. Li, G. Miguez-Macho (2013) Global patterns of groundwater table depth, Science, 339 (6122): 940-943, doi: 10.1126/science.1229881