USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: April 1, 2016

Featured Product: Evaluating the Source of Water to Wells Using Metamodeling

Map showing the location of the Lake Michigan Basin groundwater flow model used as the basis for the metamodels. Colors indicate zones defined in the original figure, adapted from Feinstein et al. (2010).

Numerical groundwater modeling is a strength of the USGS, from software development (like MODFLOW) to applications, such as the regional groundwater availability studies highlighted in the December 2015 News and Highlights. Numerical models are our most powerful tools for decision making. But these models require expertise to operate and require significant computational resources. Natural resource managers need reliable models to predict surface water impacts dues to installation of new groundwater wells and may not have the expertise or computer resources to run the necessary simulations. An alternative is to emulate the numerical process model with a statistical “metamodel”, or surrogate model. This new paper illustrates the use of a metamodel in the aquifers within the Lake Michigan basin, a temperate region where shallow groundwater is closely connected with lakes, wetlands, and streams. A groundwater flow model was emulated using three statistical techniques -- a Bayesian Network, an Artificial neural network, and a Gradient Boosted Regression Tree. A numerical MODFLOW-USG model was used for the evaluation.

USGS Groundwater-Related Press Releases

The USGS Active Groundwater Level Network includes about 20,000 wells that have been measured by the USGS or USGS cooperators at least once within the past 13 months. The animation shows a daily snapshot of water-level statistics in the network for March 2016. Credit: USGS. The image is in the public domain.

USGS Seeks National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Proposals 2016 Round II

Drought and Management Actions Affect World Waterway--the Rio Grande

 

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Simulation of groundwater storage changes in the eastern Pasco Basin, Washington

Design and testing of a process-based groundwater vulnerability assessment (P-GWAVA) system for predicting concentrations of agrichemicals in groundwater across the United States

Flood- and Drought-Related Natural Hazards Activities of the U.S. Geological Survey in New England

Transportation and Hydrology Studies of the U.S. Geological Survey in New England

Groundwater Contaminant Science Activities of the U.S. Geological Survey in New England

Arsenic and radionuclide occurrence and relation to geochemistry in groundwater of the Gulf Coast Aquifer System in Houston, Texas, 2007-11

Evaluating the sources of water to wells: Three techniques for metamodeling of a groundwater flow model

Groundwater data network interoperability

Groundwater hydrology and estimation of horizontal groundwater flux from the Rio Grande at selected locations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2009-10

Potential Effects of Alterations to the Hydrologic System on the Distribution of Salinity in the Biscayne Aquifer in Broward County, Florida

Hydrologic data and groundwater-flow simulations in the Brown Ditch Watershed, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, near Beverly Shores and Town of Pines, Indiana

Variability of surface-water quantity and quality and shallow groundwater levels and quality within the Rio Grande Project Area, New Mexico and Texas, 2009-13

Hydrologic controls on nitrogen cycling processes and functional gene abundance in sediments of a groundwater flow-through lake

Hydrologic Conditions, Recharge, and Baseline Water Quality of the Surficial Aquifer System at Jekyll Island, Georgia, 2012-13

Groundwater quality, age, and susceptibility and vulnerability to nitrate contamination with linkages to land use and groundwater flow, Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin, Colorado, 2013

Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data, Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona 2012-2013

Application of hydrogeology and groundwater-age estimates to assess the travel time of groundwater at the site of a landfill to the Mahomet Aquifer, near Clinton, Illinois

High-resolution gravity and seismic-refraction surveys of the Smoke Tree Wash area, Joshua Tree National Park, California

Isotope hydrology of the Chalk River Laboratories site, Ontario, Canada

 

USGS Groundwater-Related Software Updates and New Releases

FloPy v3.2.4.: Python package for creating, running, and post-processing MODFLOW-based models

 

Field Photo: USGS Groundwater Sampling

Did you know the USGS collects samples of groundwater and analyzes the samples to understand what is in the water?

USGS scientists collected water samples from domestic wells in the Hinkley, California, area, in January 2016, to measure concentrations of hexavalent chromium and other trace elements including arsenic, manganese and uranium. In these photos, USGS scientists are collecting groundwater samples and other groundwater data around Hinkley. The sample collection is part of a larger USGS study that is assessing the occurrence of both natural and man-made hexavalent chromium in the Hinkley area. The scope of the study is outlined in a new USGS fact sheet and on the USGS California Water Science Center web site.

Credit: USGS/Regina Ochoa. Photo is in the public domain. Click on photo for larger version.

Credit: USGS/Regina Ochoa. Photo is in the public domain. Click on photo for larger version.