Simulation of groundwater flow and effects of groundwater irrigation on stream base flow in the Elkhorn and Loup River basins, Nebraska, 1895-2055: Phase Two

Stanton, Jennifer S.; Peterson, Steven M.; Fienen, Michael N.

doi:10.3133/sir20105149

Cited by 18 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Groundwater elevations along the boundaries of the study domain were determined from water table observations collected in 1995 and were fixed during the simulation. Stanton et al [2010] found the model‐predicted annual base flow and runoff to be consistent with observations. During the simulation period (1940–2005), roughly 2% of the total water entering and 5% of the total water leaving the modeled aquifer was found to flow across the fixed water level boundaries.…”

Section: Study Sitesupporting

confidence: 73%

“…In a recent modeling study, Stanton et al [2010] used a suit of numerical models including MODFLOW 2000 [ Harbaugh , 2005] to examine the regional groundwater dynamics and watershed hydrology of the Loup and Elkhorn River basins. Groundwater elevations along the boundaries of the study domain were determined from water table observations collected in 1995 and were fixed during the simulation.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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Interpretation of hydrologic trends from a water balance perspective: The role of groundwater storage in the Budyko hypothesis

Istanbulluoglu

Wang

Wright

et al. 2012

Water Resources Research

126

120

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[1] We investigate the observed positive trends in annual runoff in several basins in central Nebraska using the Budyko hypothesis as a diagnostic tool. In basins where runoff is dominated by base flow we found that the estimated annual evapotranspiration (ET a ) to precipitation (P) ratio (ET a /P) from data is negatively related to the aridity index (ET p /P, where ET p is potential annual evapotranspiration). This observation is inconsistent with the Budyko hypothesis. We hypothesized that the observed negative trend results from significant interannual changes in basin water storage. This hypothesis is tested using data from groundwater monitoring wells in the Sand Hills region of Nebraska. Plots of the yearly changes in groundwater storage versus the annual aridity index revealed the mean annual aridity index as a critical climatological variable that controls basin storage gain-loss dynamics. For the same absolute deviation from the mean climate, we found that a wetter year leads to a larger gain in groundwater storage than the net loss in a drier year. We argue that this storage gain-loss behavior builds a climate memory in the hydrologic system, causing persistence and statistically significant trends in annual runoff. A parsimonious model was developed that couples the Budyko hypothesis with a linear reservoir equation for base flow and was used to examine the possible causes of observed positive trends of annual runoff. We found that subtle, statistically insignificant, increases in annual P have led to positive and statistically insignificant trends in annual ET a and P À ET a . Annual runoff, on the other hand, was predicted to have high persistence and statistical significance, consistent with observations. Further model sensitivity analyses showed that increasing the size of the groundwater reservoir is associated with increased long-term (multidecadal) persistence in annual runoff and translates high-frequency, high-amplitude variation in climate to low-frequency, low-amplitude runoff response. Our results underscore the importance of evaluating apparent trends in any system variable in a complete water budget context.

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Section: Study Sitesupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Interpretation of hydrologic trends from a water balance perspective: The role of groundwater storage in the Budyko hypothesis

Istanbulluoglu

Wang

Wright

et al. 2012

Water Resources Research

126

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…It has been reported that, on average, subsurface flow accounts for 30%–40% of the total streamflow for the watershed in which U.S.‐ARM is located (i.e., Salt Fork of the Arkansas River) during the period of the 1940s to present [ Esralew and Lewis , 2010]. At major rivers in Nebraska, including the lower Platte River watershed where the U.S.‐Ne3 site is located, subsurface flow accounts for more than 50% of the total streamflow because of the High Plain aquifer beneath the state [ Stanton et al , 2010].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating runoff simulations from the Community Land Model 4.0 using observations from flux towers and a mountainous watershed

et al. 2011

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[1] Previous studies using the Community Land Model (CLM) focused on simulating land-atmosphere interactions and water balance on continental to global scales, with limited attention paid to its capability for hydrologic simulations at watershed or regional scales. This study evaluates the performance of CLM 4.0 (CLM4) for hydrologic simulations and explores possible directions of improvement. Specifically, it is found that CLM4 tends to produce unrealistically large temporal variations of runoff for applications at a mountainous catchment in the northwest United States, where subsurface runoff is dominant, as well as at a few flux tower sites spanning a wide range of climate and site conditions in the United States. Runoff simulations from CLM4 can be improved by (1) increasing spatial resolution of the land surface representations and (2) calibrating model parameter values. We also demonstrate that runoff simulations may be improved by implementing alternative runoff generation schemes such as those from the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model or the TOPMODEL formulations with a more general power law-based transmissivity profile, which will be explored in future studies. This study also highlights the importance of evaluating both energy and water fluxes in the application of land surface models across multiple scales.

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“…This assumption is consistent with commonly used groundwater flow models such as the Stream package [ Prudic , ] in MODFLOW‐2000 [ Harbaugh et al ., ]. MODFLOW, along with its associated river and stream packages, has been used in numerous case studies that calculate stream depletion [e.g., Myers et al ., ; Leake et al ., ; Peterson et al ., ; Leake and Pool , ; Stanton et al ., ; Lambert et al ., ]. Thus, an adjoint approach based on the assumptions used in MODFLOW has potential for widespread use.…”

Section: Forward Equations Of Flow and Stream Depletionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adjoint modeling of stream depletion in groundwater‐surface water systems

Griebling

Neupauer

2013

Water Resources Research

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[1] Groundwater pumping may lead to reduction in surface water flows, which can compromise water supplies and habitat. In light of these threats, the need to minimize stream depletion, defined as the reduction in the flow rate in streams and rivers caused by groundwater pumping, becomes paramount. We develop adjoint equations to calculate stream depletion due to aquifer pumping. We consider a coupled groundwater and surface water system in which both the river head and river flow rate are impacted by drawdown in the aquifer as a result of pumping. Through an illustrative example, we show that the adjoint method for calculating stream depletion produces accurate results if the model is approximately linear. With only one simulation of the adjoint equations, stream depletion can be calculated for pumping at a well at any location in the model domain, which results in a substantial reduction in computational time as compared to the standard method of calculating stream depletion.Citation: Griebling, S. A., and R. M. Neupauer (2013), Adjoint modeling of stream depletion in groundwater-surface water systems, Water Resour. Res., 49,[4971][4972][4973][4974][4975][4976][4977][4978][4979][4980][4981][4982][4983][4984]

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Simulation of groundwater flow and effects of groundwater irrigation on stream base flow in the Elkhorn and Loup River basins, Nebraska, 1895-2055: Phase Two

Cited by 18 publications

References 8 publications

Interpretation of hydrologic trends from a water balance perspective: The role of groundwater storage in the Budyko hypothesis

Interpretation of hydrologic trends from a water balance perspective: The role of groundwater storage in the Budyko hypothesis

Evaluating runoff simulations from the Community Land Model 4.0 using observations from flux towers and a mountainous watershed

Adjoint modeling of stream depletion in groundwater‐surface water systems

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