Snow-groundwater interactions in the Clackamas River watershed, Oregon
Project lead: Nina Aragon
Data science lead: Emilio Mayorga
Science team: Jezra Beaulieu, Ravi Appana, Pranav Bhardwaj, Morgan Levy, Tony Castronova, Prajjwal Panday
Several studies have shown that snowmelt is more effective at recharging groundwater stores than rain in mountain watersheds. The majority of snow-groundwater studies in snow-dominant mountain regions have been conducted at high elevation sites in CO. While snow-derived waters from these locations are vital to water supplies in the Western US, high elevation snowpacks are less at risk of disappearance due to increased temperatures associated with climate change. Warming temperatures associated with climate change have already caused significant declines in snowpack, and an increased fraction of the total precipitation is falling as rain instead of snow. In particular, low-elevation snow in the mid latitudes of the PNW is projected to be at-risk of disappearing (falling as rain).
This project develops tools that allow users to streamline data aquisition from CUAHSI HydroClient, USGS, and NRCS SNOTEL data portals to rapidly evaluate snowpack, streamflow and groundwater levels. The statistical analysis applied to these data in the Clackamas River watershed can then be applied to other watersheds of interest.
USGS well data and stream gauge data
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Characterize the relationship between precipitation phase (snow/rain) and groundwater recharge in the Clackamas River watershed of Oregon.
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Streamline data acquisition from various data portals.
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Allow the user to search stream gages, groundwater wells, and SNOTEL stations within specific watershed boundaries, and provide the ability to select specific stations according to data type or length of dataset.
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Automate workflows so this analysis could be applied to any watershed in the CONUS.
Modeling, isotope analysis
Data Sources:
HUC8 basin boundaries (and associated HUC10 and HUC12 sub-basins) Daymet precipitation and SWE (gridded, daily) MODIS SSEBop evapotranspiration (gridded, monthly) GRACE water storage anomalies (gridded, monthly) USGS NWIS discharge (point, daily) USGS groundwater level measurements (point, daily) SNOTEL SWE (point, daily)