Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID WA_2024_McLarty

Evaluating the temporal dynamics of drought propagation to groundwater

Institute: Washington
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-09-01 End Date: 2025-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $30,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $30,004

Principal Investigators: Alexandra (Sasha) Richey McLarty

Project Summary: The proposed work will quantify the temporal evolution of drought occurrence from precipitation through the water budget to deep groundwater. The study area is the Washington State portion of the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System. The work will produce a "drought cascade" figure, showing the temporal lag and drought signal attenuation as drought occurrence moves through the water cycle. Drought occurrence will be identified using z-scores and percentages of normal values for each variable of interest. The goal of the study is to identify the amount of time it takes for a surface-level drought signal to propagate to deep, confined groundwater layers or if the signal dissipates prior to reaching the deeper subsurface. The results can be used to inform how groundwater is used as a drought mitigation tool in Washington State.