USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: December 3, 2018

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Feature: Fourth National Climate Assessment

USGS hydrologists contributed to the recently released Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States. The report summarizes the current science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century, including impacts on our Nation's water resources. According to the assessment, water systems face considerable risk, even without anticipated future climate changes. In many parts of the United States, groundwater is being depleted due to increased pumping during droughts and concentrated demands in urban areas. Drought risk is being exacerbated by increasing human water use and the depletion of groundwater that serves as a buffer against water scarcity. Increasing air temperatures, insufficient precipitation, and associated increases in irrigation requirements will likely result in greater groundwater depletion in the coming decades. For more information, view the Assessment water chapter executive summary, the complete Water chapter, or the overall Assessment.

USGS Groundwater-Related Technical Announcements

Back and Forth: Ask Questions and Learn More About the Low-Level Helicopter Flying Above the Mississippi Alluvial Plain

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Estimating Metal Concentrations with Regression Analysis and Water-Quality Surrogates at Nine Sites on the Animas and San Juan Rivers, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah (11/30/18)

Land subsidence along the California Aqueduct in west-central San Joaquin Valley, California, 2003-10 (11/30/18)

Groundwater-storage change and land-surface elevation change in Tucson Basin and Avra Valley, south-central Arizona -- 2003-2016 (11/30/18)

Simulation of groundwater flow and analysis of projected water use for the Rush Springs aquifer, western Oklahoma (11/30/18)

Preparations for water sampling (11/28/18)

Baseline water quality of an area undergoing shale-gas development in the Muskingum River watershed, Ohio, 2015-16 (11/28/18)

Groundwater quality in the Mississippi embayment-Texas coastal uplands aquifer system, south-central United States (11/26/18)

Groundwater quality in the Floridan aquifer system, Southeastern United States (11/26/18)

Groundwater chemistry and water-level elevations in bedrock aquifers of the Piceance and Yellow Creek watersheds, Rio Blanco County, Colorado, 2013-16 (11/26/18)

Linkages between hydrology and seasonal variations of nutrients and periphyton in a large oligotrophic subalpine lake (11/22/2018)

Relating cyanobacteria and physicochemical water-quality properties in Willow Creek Lake, Nebraska, 2012-14 (11/19/18)

Chemical and isotopic characteristics of methane in groundwater of Ohio, 2016 (11/19/18)

Filtering of periodic infiltration in a layered vadose zone: 2. Applications and a freeware screening tool (11/20/18)

Deep aquifer recharge in the Columbia River Basalt Group, upper Umatilla River Basin, northeastern Oregon (11/14/18)

Assessment of managed aquifer recharge at Sand Hollow Reservoir, Washington County, Utah, updated to conditions through 2016 (11/13/18)

Nutrient enrichment in wadeable urban streams in the piedmont ecoregion of the southeastern United States (11/13/18)

Revised groundwater-flow model of the glacial aquifer system north of Aberdeen, South Dakota, through water year 2015 (11/07/18)

Increasing soil organic carbon to mitigate greenhouse gases and increase climate resiliency for California (11/16/18)

A multidisciplinary-based conceptual model of a fractured sedimentary bedrock aquitard: improved prediction of aquitard integrity (11/01/18)

Geologic, hydrologic, and water-quality data from multiple-well monitoring sites in the Bunker Hill and Yucaipa Groundwater Subbasins, San Bernardino County, California, 1974-2016 (11/30/18)

Using heat as a tracer to determine groundwater seepage in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, April-November, 2017 (11/14/18)

 

USGS Groundwater Flow and Transport Model Data Releases

Note: The following links take you to data.doi.gov

MODFLOW-NWT model of predictive simulations of groundwater response to selected scenarios in the Williston Basin, United States and Canada

MODFLOW-NWT groundwater flow model used to evaluate groundwater flow in the Elkhorn and Loup River Basins, Central Nebraska, Phase Three: U.S. Geological Survey data release

Field Photos:

In this photo, USGS Research Hydrologist Paul Hsieh collects seismic data during a groundwater study at Pinnacles National Park in California. The USGS is collaborating with the U.S. National Park Service to understand the Park's groundwater resources. The red seismometer on the ground measures ambient seismic noise, which includes microtremors induced by wind, ocean waves, and human activity. The seismic data collected can be used to estimate unconsolidated sediment thickness, map the bedrock surface, and infer fault locations. Results of the study will be used to develop strategies for long-term management of groundwater in the park.