USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: June 1, 2017

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Featured Product: Thermal effect of climate change on groundwater-fed ecosystems

USGS scientists, in partnership with scientists at universities, developed tools that natural resource managers can use to forecast the effect of climate change on groundwater temperature at springs and seeps that support critical habitat. Using these tools, scientists identified important processes that control the long-term thermal response of springs and other groundwater discharge to climate change. Groundwater temperature changes will lag surface temperature changes from a changing climate. The rate of change of groundwater temperature can vary by decades depending on local hydrogeologic conditions. View the journal article.

USGS Groundwater-Related Press Releases

Unconventional Oil and Gas Production Not Currently Affecting Drinking Water Quality (05/31/17)

President Proposes $922 Million FY18 Budget for USGS (05/23/17)

High Levels of Radon Found in Some Wells Across Pennsylvania (05/11/17)

The Complex Dynamics of Geyser Eruptions (05/10/17)

New Report Shows Some Private Wells in Connecticut Test High for Naturally Occurring Arsenic, Uranium (05/03/17)

 

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Scenario Evaluator for Electrical Resistivity survey pre-modeling tool (05/31/17)

Hydrogeologic Framework and Selected Components of the Groundwater Budget for the Upper Umatilla River Basin, Oregon (05/31/17)

Measuring surface-water loss in Honouliuli Stream near the 'Ewa Shaft, O'ahu, Hawai'i (05/31/17)

Can beaches survive climate change? (05/26/17)

Thermal effect of climate change on groundwater-fed ecosystems (05/19/17)

Evaluating the impact of irrigation on surface water - groundwater interaction and stream temperature in an agricultural watershed (05/19/17)

Estimated seepage rates from selected ditches, ponds, and lakes at the Camas National Wildlife Refuge, eastern Idaho (05/22/17)

Hydrogeologic characteristics and geospatial analysis of water-table changes in the alluvium of the lower Arkansas River Valley, southeastern Colorado, 2002, 2008, and 2015 (05/19/17)

U.S. Geological Survey Karst Interest Group Proceedings, San Antonio, Texas, May 16-18, 2017 (05/15/17)

Carbon cycling in the mantled karst of the Ozark Plateaus, central United States (05/24/17)

Challenges for creating a site-specific groundwater-use record for the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system (central USA) from 1900 to 2010 (05/15/17)

Noble gas signatures in the Island of Maui, Hawaii: Characterizing groundwater sources in fractured systems (05/12/17)

Evaluation of radon occurrence in groundwater from 16 geologic units in Pennsylvania, 1986-2015, with application to potential radon exposure from groundwater and indoor air (05/11/17)

Groundwater and streamflow information program, Kansas cooperative water science since 1895 (05/10/17)

Geophysical data collected during the 2014 minute 319 pulse flow on the Colorado River below Morelos Dam, United States and Mexico (05/09/17)

Development of a coastal drought index using salinity data (05/09/17)

Science programs in Kansas (05/09/17)

Quality-assurance plan for water-quality activities in the U.S. Geological Survey Washington Water Science Center (05/09/17)

Simulation of groundwater flow in the glacial aquifer system of northeastern Wisconsin with variable model complexity (05/04/17)

Arsenic and uranium in private wells in Connecticut, 2013-15 (05/03/17)

Guidelines for preparation of State water-use estimates for 2015 (05/02/17)

Controls on the chemical composition of saline surface crusts and emitted dust from a wet playa in the Mojave Desert (USA) (05/01/17)

 

USGS Groundwater-Related Software Updates and New Releases

• MODFLOW 6 Beta v.0.9.02

USGS Groundwater Flow and Transport Model Data Releases

Note: The following links take you to data.gov

GSFLOW model simulations used to evaluate the impact of irrigated agriculture on surface water - groundwater interaction

SUTRA model used to evaluate the freshwater flow system on Roi-Namur, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands

MODFLOW-2000 model scenarios simulating proposed groundwater pumpage near Monocks Corner, South Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey data release

MODFLOW-2000 model used to evaluate potential effects of existing and proposed groundwater withdrawals on water levels and natural groundwater discharge in Snake Valley and surrounding areas, Utah and Nevada

SUTRA model used to evaluate the role of uplift and erosion in the persistence of saline groundwater in the shallow subsurface

MODFLOW2000 and MODFLOW-ASP models used to simulate the groundwater flow in the Atlantic Coastal Plain, North and South Carolina and parts of Georgia and Virginia, Predevelopment to 2004

MODFLOW-NWT model used to evaluate effects of complexity on head and flow calibration in the Fox-Wolf-Peshtigo watersheds, Wisconsin: U.S. Geological Survey data release.

Field Photos

Did you know we can use scientific equipment on planes and helicopters to study groundwater? During the first week of May 2017 USGS scientists used an airborne electromagnetic induction (AEM) tool flown by helicopter to study the Cedar River Aquifer near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. AEM is a geophysical method that enables scientists to see inside the earth, much like how medical imaging lets us see inside the human body. AEM data can help us understand:

• geologic structure,
• distribution of groundwater, and
• water quality.

USGS hydrologists will use the Cedar River Aquifer AEM data collected as they develop a three-dimensional model of the aquifer for the City. For more information about AEM data and groundwater modeling, learn about how USGS used AEM data in the development of a Sioux Falls groundwater flow model.

Archive of Past Highlights:

Past monthly summaries are available online.