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5/24/2018 | 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM | ESTIMATING CHANGES TO GROUNDWATER DISCHARGE TEMPERATURE UNDER ALTERED CLIMATE CONDITIONS | 310 B

ESTIMATING CHANGES TO GROUNDWATER DISCHARGE TEMPERATURE UNDER ALTERED CLIMATE CONDITIONS

New easy-to-use tools allow evaluation of the key physical processes that control thermal responses of groundwater-fed ecosystems to climate change, in particular (1) groundwater recharge rate and temperature and (2) land-surface temperature that is conducted to the aquifer. As an example, the tools are applied to the Fall River Springs complexes, California, USA. Upper-basin springs are strongly affected only by recharge conditions, but large distal springs are also strongly influenced by changes in average annual land-surface temperature. Timing of temperature changes depends on both vadose zone (geologic material above the aquifer) properties and the rate of upland recharge. Most of the thermal response of upper-basin springs will occur within 20 years of a shift in recharge temperatures, but the lower-basin Fall River Springs will respond more slowly, with about half of the land-surface temperature change response occurring within the first 20 years and about half of the recharge response occurring in approximately 60 years. These findings explain why typical fisheries studies in this region lasting a few years measure almost constant springs’ temperature. For this system, springs temperatures will change on a timescale similar to but lagging climate trends.

Climate Change
Ecosystem
Groundwater

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Presenters/Authors

Erick Burns (), U.S. Geological Survey, eburns@usgs.gov;