How does a priori estimated spatial structure of the K field affect hydraulic tomography results?

Hydraulic tomography (HT) has been widely studied for characterizing the heterogeneity of hydraulic parameters in the subsurface. Although previous researches showed very promising results of hydraulic tomography for identifying hydraulic properties, several issues are still wide open. It is still plagued by a reasonable estimate of the hydraulic conductivity (K) distribution. This article aims at exploring how a priori estimated spatial structure of the K field affects the final result, and assessing the insight of HT. Several synthetic examples with the tomography data are obtained by solving numerically the transient flow equation in a know conductivity field. The sequential successive linear estimator (SSLE) approach is applied to interpret data from the transient hydraulic tomography to an estimated unknown K and specific storage (S) fields of aquifers. Through these numerical examples, the paper demonstrates and answers this question. Keywords: hydraulic tomography, inverse problem, sequential successive linear estimator