Recharge estimation methodologies employed by the Environment Agency of England and Wales for the purposes of regional groundwater resource modelling

Quinn, S. A.; Liss, D.; Johnson, Daniel L.; Wonderen, J. J. Van; Power, Terry R.

doi:10.1144/sp364.6

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The variety in approaches has led the UK groundwater modelling community to adopt a consistent methodology to distributed recharge modelling in which model parameterization is based on standardized data sets (Quinn et al, 2012). This standardization reflects the modelling community's desire to ensure that models of different regions are consistent and comparable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of varied complexity models simulating recharge at the field scale

Sorensen¹,

Finch

Ireson

et al. 2013

Hydrological Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Numerical models are frequently used for the regional quantification of groundwater recharge. However there is a wide range of potential models available that represent the land surface with varying degrees of complexity, but which are rarely tested against observations at the field scale. We compared four models that simulate potential recharge at four intensively monitored sites with different vegetation and soil types in two adjacent catchments. These models were: Penman–Grindley, UN Food and Agricultural Organization, SPAtial Distributed Evaporation and Joint UK Land Environment Simulator. Standardized, unoptimized land surface datasets and pertinent literature were used for parameterization to reflect practice in regional water resource management and planning in the UK. The models were validated against soil moisture observations at all sites, as well as observed transpiration and interception and calculated total evaporation over a year at a woodland site. Soil moisture observations were generally reproduced well, but there were significant differences in how the models apportioned precipitation through the hydrological cycle. This demonstrates that soil moisture data alone are not a good diagnostic for groundwater recharge models. Significant differences in potential recharge were produced by models at both grassland sites, although simulated average annual potential recharge varied by only 15% at the grassland site on permeable soil. At the woodland sites, soil moisture contents were reproduced least accurately, and there were large differences in potential recharge at both woodland sites. This predominantly resulted from varied and inaccurate simulation of evaporation, particularly in the form of interception losses where this was explicitly represented in models. Differences in model structure, such as runoff representation, and parameter selection also influenced all results. Hydrological Processes © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of varied complexity models simulating recharge at the field scale

Sorensen¹,

Finch

Ireson

et al. 2013

Hydrological Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…An example is CATCHMOD (Wilby 2005), although here the ratio adopted is 0.3. Developed by the Environment Agency of England and Wales (EA) (Quinn et al 2012), it has been used to calculate recharge for the EA's regional chalk groundwater model for the River Kennet. An alternative approach is to assume a linear reduction between the point where water is no longer unlimited and the wilting point .…”

Section: Recharge: Evaporationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An alternative approach is to assume a linear reduction between the point where water is no longer unlimited and the wilting point . This method has also been adopted by the EA for use in its recharge models (Hulme et al 2001;Quinn et al 2012). It is also included in the 4R methodology developed by Heathcote et al (2004), which is used to calculate recharge in many UK regional groundwater models, including the Chalk (Soley et al 2012).…”

Section: Recharge: Evaporationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in modelling groundwater behaviour in Chalk catchments

Butler

Hughes

Jackson

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Groundwater in Chalk catchments is a major resource that also helps support internationally important habitats and ecosystems. Its dual porosity and dual permeability properties, coupled with large-scale structural features (such as hard rock layers and marls), produce a highly complex hydrogeological system. Recent impacts from groundwater flooding as well as vulnerability to drought have raised questions over the ability of traditional approaches to model these aquifers. Current work on near-surface hydrological processes has highlighted the importance of the soil and weathered zone for controlling recharge rates. In addition, karst-like features, sedimentary deposits and valley bottom processes govern stream–aquifer interaction and present a challenge in their representation in any modelling system. Methods that have, and are being, developed to incorporate these features, and their use in modelling Chalk catchments, are described. These are required in order to address major challenges, such as groundwater flooding and drought impacts, both of which could become more frequent and intense as a result of climate change.

show abstract

“…Furthermore, the required time steps for RE can be very small (minutes or hours), whereas a SMAP can operate with daily or longer time steps. Consequently, in the UK, the Environment Agency tends to instead advocate the use of SMAPs for regional groundwater recharge estimation studies [ Rushton , ; Quinn et al ., ]. However, robust parameterization of SMAPs is much harder to achieve.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another approach involves imposing a standardized procedure that links SMAP parameters with soil type data. In the UK, the Environment Agency advocate a method based on the FAO56 [ Allen et al ., ] method [ Quinn et al ., ]. Spatial variations in soil properties are accounted for using submodels within a given catchment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A soil moisture accounting-procedure with a Richards' equation-based soil texture-dependent parameterization

Mathias

Skaggs

Quinn³

et al. 2015

Water Resour. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Given a time series of potential evapotranspiration and rainfall data, there are at least two approaches for estimating vertical percolation rates. One approach involves solving Richards' equation (RE) with a plant uptake model. An alternative approach involves applying a simple soil moisture accounting procedure (SMAP) based on a set of conceptual stores and conditional statements. It is often desirable to parameterize distributed vertical percolation models using regional soil texture maps. This can be achieved using pedotransfer functions when applying RE. However, robust soil texture based parameterizations for more simple SMAPs have not previously been available. This article presents a new SMAP designed to emulate the response of a one-dimensional homogenous RE model. Model parameters for 231 different soil textures are obtained by calibrating the SMAP model to 20 year time series from equivalent RE model simulations. The results are then validated by comparing to an additional 13 years of simulated RE model data. The resulting work provides a new simple two parameter (% sand and % silt) SMAP, which provides consistent vertical percolation data as compared to RE based models. Results from the 231 numerical simulations are also found to be qualitatively consistent with intuitive ideas concerning soil texture and soil moisture dynamics. Vertical percolation rates are found to be highest in sandy soils. Sandy soils are found to provide less water for evapotranspiration. Surface runoff is found to be more important in soils with high clay content.

show abstract

Recharge estimation methodologies employed by the Environment Agency of England and Wales for the purposes of regional groundwater resource modelling

Cited by 11 publications

References 39 publications

Comparison of varied complexity models simulating recharge at the field scale

Comparison of varied complexity models simulating recharge at the field scale

Advances in modelling groundwater behaviour in Chalk catchments

A soil moisture accounting-procedure with a Richards' equation-based soil texture-dependent parameterization

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About