Contact Details

Telephone

work +44 (0)1224 272914

Email

jc.comte@abdn.ac.uk

Address

The University of Aberdeen School of Geosciences, St Mary's Building, Room 124
 

Web Links

• PURE profile
• School of Geosciences
• Northern Rivers Institute
• Hydrogeology Journal

Biography

• 2019-present: Senior Lecturer in Hydrogeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen
• 2014-2019: Lecturer in Hydrogeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen
• 2014-2016: Visiting researcher, Queen's University Belfast
• 2009-2014: Postdoctoral research fellow in Hydrogeology/Hydrogeophysics, School of Planning Architecture and Civil Engineering, Queen's University Belfast
• 2008: PhD in Hydrogeology, University of Avignon 'Contribution of electrical resistivity tomography to variable-density groundwater flow modelling in coastal aquifers - Application to three contrasted climate settings (Canada, New Caledonia, Senegal)'
• 2003-2009: Hydrogeologist consultant, HYDRIAD, Nimes
• 2002-2003: DESS (MSc2) Hydrogeology, University of Avignon
• 1998-2002: DEUG-Licence-Maitrise IUP (BSc, MSc1) Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, University Paul Sabatier Toulouse

Research Interests

• Regional quantitative hydrogeology
• Integrated approaches for aquifer characterisation and modelling
• Application of geophysical methods for parameterisation and calibration of groundwater models 
• Groundwater resources in complex hydrogeological environments, including coastal, insular, hard rock and volcanic aquifers
• Sustainable management of fresh groundwater resources in coastal aquifer systems

Research Team

Research fellows (ongoing)

• Dr Andres Gonzalez Quiros - Royal Society Newton International Fellow
• Dr Syed Mustafa - NERC Connect4WR Researcher

PhD students (ongoing)

• Hamish Johnson - Groundwater and nutrient dynamics in heterogeneous agricultural catchments
• Yogendra Kumar - Quantifying fracture flow with the self-potential method
• Jesus Mezquita - Hydrogeophysical approaches for characterising flow and storage in weathered/fractured aquifers
• Joel Blackburn - Understanding stream-aquifer interactions and their influence on flow regimes and fluvial processes in a newly restored ephemeral stream

Recently completed PhD students (Aberdeen)

• Samson Oiro - Impact of climate change and human activities on groundwater resources in the Nairobi and Tiwi aquifers: two strategic Kenyan aquifers under high pressure

Research Grants

• World Bank/AURECON applied research grant - Groundwater numerical modelling in support of strengthening of water resources planning, monitoring and management in Kenya (2018-2020). PI. 
• AHRC/GCRF/University of Nottingham Research Grant - Kisima project: Historical and future groundwater well management on Kilwa Kisiwani island, Tanzania (2019-2020). Co-I. 
• Royal Society Newton International Fellowship (Dr Andres Gonzalez Quiros) - Monitoring and coupled hydrogeophysical modelling of saltwater intrusion in heterogeneous coastal aquifers (2019-2021). 
• NERC/DFID Research Grant [NE/S005943/1] - SHEAR Programme: Connect4 water resilience: connecting water resources, communities, drought and flood hazards, and governance across 4 countries in the Limpopo basin (2018-2020). PI.
• NERC Urgency Grant [NE/R002568/1] - Extreme rainfall and floods in arid regions (Botswana): replenishment or contamination of water resources? (2017-2018). PI.
• United Utilities Water/Environmental Agency applied research grant - Understanding stream-aquifer interactions and their influence on flow regimes and fluvial processes in a newly restored ephemeral stream (2017-2022). Co-PI.
• Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Environment and Sustainability Research Grant [ESRG3/16] - East African groundwater resources under climatic and human pressure (2016-2017). PI.
• Geological Survey of Ireland Research Grant [2015-SC-003] - Determining fractured bedrock aquifer parameters using Magnetic Resonance Sounding to better constrain numerical groundwater models in support of catchment scale water resource management (2016). Co-I.
• Elphinstone Fund/Water Resources Management Authority of Kenya PhD Scholarship (Mr S. Oiro) - Comparative hydrogeology of the Nairobi volcanic suite aquifer and the Tiwi coastal aquifer (2015-2018).
• NERC/DFID/ESRC Research Grant [NE/L001888/1] - UPGro Programme: Towards Groundwater security in coastal East Africa (2013-2014). PI.
• EuropeAid/African Union Research Grant [EuropeAid/130-741/D/ACT/ACP] - Groundwater resource in basement rocks of Africa (2012-2015). Co-I.
• Department of Employment and Learning Northern Ireland PhD Scholarship (Mr N. Dickson) - Incorporation of multi-scale hydrogeophysical datasets into numerical groundwater models (2012-2015).

Teaching Responsibilities

• GL5037 Field Geophysical Data Acquisition (MSc Geophysics) - course coordinator
• GG4071 Environmental Hydrology (BSc year 4)
• GG3575 Techniques in Physical Geography (BSc year 3) 
• GG2510 Mapping and Monitoring the Environment (BSc year 2)
• GG2508 Skills and Techniques in Geosciences (BSc year 2) - course coordinator

External Responsibilities

• Editor, Hydrogeology Journal (since 2018); formerly Associate Editor (2014-2018)
• Member of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), the French Committee of Hydrogeology of the IAH (CFH), the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the European Geosciences Union (EGU); Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS)
• Peer reviews for Geophysical Prospecting, Hydrological Sciences Journal, Journal of Hydrology, Hydrogeology Journal, Near Surface Geophysics, Hydrological Processes, Regional Environmental Changes, Water Resources Research, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Scientific Reports
• 25+ hydrogeological expertises / consultancy works carried out since 2003 on groundwater resources development, characterisation, modelling, management and protection, for various institutional or private clients in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, North America, Indian & Pacific Ocean

Publications 

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