MODFLOW models for the simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge.

Dates

Publication Date: 2024-02-13
Start Date: 1979-01-01
End Date: 2015-12-31

Citation

Felfelani, F., Hughes, J., Traylor, J., and Krahulik, J., 2024, MODFLOW models for the simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge. U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9L89K96.

Summary

There is a growing interest in incorporating higher-resolution groundwater modeling within the framework of large-scale land surface models (LSMs), including new processes such as three- dimensional flow, variable soil saturation, and surface water/groundwater interactions. Conversely, complex groundwater models (e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater-Flow Model, MODFLOW) often use simpler representations of land surface dynamics (e.g., surface vegetation, evapotranspiration, recharge) and may benefit from higher process fidelity and temporal resolutions in these inputs. This study investigates the potential of improving groundwater representation in LSMs and land surface dynamics in MODFLOW through coupling LSMs to MODFLOW. [...]

Summary

There is a growing interest in incorporating higher-resolution groundwater modeling within the framework of large-scale land surface models (LSMs), including new processes such as three- dimensional flow, variable soil saturation, and surface water/groundwater interactions. Conversely, complex groundwater models (e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater-Flow Model, MODFLOW) often use simpler representations of land surface dynamics (e.g., surface vegetation, evapotranspiration, recharge) and may benefit from higher process fidelity and temporal resolutions in these inputs. This study investigates the potential of improving groundwater representation in LSMs and land surface dynamics in MODFLOW through coupling LSMs to MODFLOW. Groundwater simulations build on an existing and well-calibrated MODFLOW model of the U.S. Northern High Plains aquifer, a hydrologically complex basin under the dual impacts of conversion of native vegetation to intense irrigated agricultural fields and climate change. As a first stage of this work, simulated groundwater recharge from four different land models are used to drive MODFLOW groundwater simulations. Results show relatively large discrepancies between recharge estimates among simulations. Forcing MODFLOW using recharge simulated by some of the LSMs in place of a simple water balance model marginally improves MODFLOW groundwater simulation. Further, our results support the efficacy of coupling LSMs to a sophisticated groundwater model such as MODFLOW. The coupling results in significant improvements in prediction of groundwater levels through correction of skewness and reduction of bias. This modeling effort seeks to identify the best compromise between comprehensive land surface processes from global LSMs and advanced representation of groundwater from regional models.

Contacts

Point of Contact :: Integrated Modeling & Prediction Division
Originator :: Farshid Felfelani, Joseph D Hughes, Jonathan P Traylor, Justin Krahulik
Metadata Contact :: Integrated Modeling & Prediction Division
Publisher :: U.S. Geological Survey
SDC Data Owner :: Nebraska Water Science Center
USGS Mission Area :: Water Resources
Distributor :: U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase

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meta_data.xml “metadata for model archive” Original FGDC Metadata	View	14.82 KB	application/fgdc+xml
“ancillary swb files”		34.1 MB	application/zip
“source code”		1.02 GB	application/zip
bin.zip “binary executables”		2.22 MB	application/zip
georef.zip “georeferencing information”		22.63 KB	application/zip
modelgeoref.txt “model georeferencing file”		1.14 KB	text/plain
ancillary_bin.zip “ancillary binary folder”		5.19 MB	application/zip
ancillary_swb_bin.zip “ancillary swb binary folder”		5.19 MB	application/zip
ancillary_swb_externalfiles.zip “ancillary swb external files folder”		99.3 MB	application/zip
ancillary_swb_images.zip “ancillary swb images”		1.12 MB	application/zip
ancillary_swb_input.zip “ancillary swb inputs folder”		10.33 MB	application/zip
ancillary_swb_std_input.zip “ancillary swb standard inputs folder”		1.15 MB	application/zip
“ancillary swb climate datasets”		7.65 GB	application/zip
“ancillary swb outputs”		14.46 GB	application/zip
“model outputs folder”		5.03 GB	application/zip
“model inputs folder”		1.86 GB	application/zip
readme.txt “readme file for model archive”		48.73 KB	text/plain

Related External Resources

Type: Related Primary Publication

Felfelani, F., Hughes, J., Chen, F., Dugger, A., Schneider, T., Gochis, D., Traylor, J., and Essaid, H., 2024, Simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge: Journal of Hydrology, v. 630, p. 130703, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.130703.	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.130703

Purpose

The purpose of this data release is to publish the final versions of four different Land Surface Models that simulate recharge coupled to a MODFLOW 6 groundwater-flow model of the Northern High Plains aquifer. Results of the study are presented and discussed in a publication in the Journal of Hydrology entitled "Simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge."

MODFLOW models for the simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge.

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