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The Groundwater Index in the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan provides a general overview of groundwater levels relative to long-term groundwater levels in Massachusetts. The methods used to compute the Groundwater Index were revised for the 2019 version of the Drought Management Plan. The 2019 plan aligns the drought categories and specifies the drought status from select percentile ranges of soil moisture, groundwater levels, streamflow, and precipitation with the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). A percentile is a statistic that indicates the percentage of observations (such as groundwater level) that is equal to or below it. This enables Massachusetts to adopt a frequency-of-occurrence approach to determine drought severity, as is used by the USDM and the USGS. The 2019 Drought Management Plan indicates that the percentiles computed from groundwater data (water-level records), defined as groundwater level below which a given percentage falls under, should be used to calculate the groundwater index. However, the methods for computing these percentiles have not been evaluated and published in a peer-reviewed publication.
Groundwater data from wells in the USGS Climate Response Network are used for the Groundwater Index in the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan. A substantial number of these wells have only monthly measurements of groundwater levels with no or little continuous (daily mean) data. In recent years, many wells were converted to continuous data collection sites. Long-term continuous daily-mean data will increase the accuracy of percentile estimates used to compute the groundwater index.
The goal of this project is to improve and document the data and methods used to compute the Groundwater Index of the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan.
The objectives include developing long-term synthetic records for select wells used in the Groundwater Index of the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan and calculating individual station groundwater (water-level) percentiles based on these long-term records.
Objectives
1. Evaluate short-term and partial well water-level records to include in analysis, and correlate water-level records from nearby long-term, continuous sites to the well water-level records from short-term and partial-record sites. If an appropriate correlation is established, develop a long-term synthetic water-level record (daily record) for appropriate groundwater wells (data-collection sites) using the record extension technique, MOVE.1.
2. Calculate percentiles for groundwater data collection locations where appropriate.
3. Publish a USGS Scientific Investigations Report documenting methods and results along with a data release of input and output data and the R code used in the analysis.
Hydrologic technician adjusting a solar panel while installing new real-time equipment and gage house onto a groundwater well. The site ID is: 423715072042801 MA-TMW 3R TEMPLETON, MA.
Hydrologic technician adjusting a solar panel while installing new real-time equipment and gage house onto a groundwater well. The site ID is: 423715072042801 MA-TMW 3R TEMPLETON, MA.
The Groundwater Index in the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan provides a general overview of groundwater levels relative to long-term groundwater levels in Massachusetts. The methods used to compute the Groundwater Index were revised for the 2019 version of the Drought Management Plan. The 2019 plan aligns the drought categories and specifies the drought status from select percentile ranges of soil moisture, groundwater levels, streamflow, and precipitation with the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). A percentile is a statistic that indicates the percentage of observations (such as groundwater level) that is equal to or below it. This enables Massachusetts to adopt a frequency-of-occurrence approach to determine drought severity, as is used by the USDM and the USGS. The 2019 Drought Management Plan indicates that the percentiles computed from groundwater data (water-level records), defined as groundwater level below which a given percentage falls under, should be used to calculate the groundwater index. However, the methods for computing these percentiles have not been evaluated and published in a peer-reviewed publication.
Groundwater data from wells in the USGS Climate Response Network are used for the Groundwater Index in the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan. A substantial number of these wells have only monthly measurements of groundwater levels with no or little continuous (daily mean) data. In recent years, many wells were converted to continuous data collection sites. Long-term continuous daily-mean data will increase the accuracy of percentile estimates used to compute the groundwater index.
The goal of this project is to improve and document the data and methods used to compute the Groundwater Index of the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan.
The objectives include developing long-term synthetic records for select wells used in the Groundwater Index of the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan and calculating individual station groundwater (water-level) percentiles based on these long-term records.
Objectives
1. Evaluate short-term and partial well water-level records to include in analysis, and correlate water-level records from nearby long-term, continuous sites to the well water-level records from short-term and partial-record sites. If an appropriate correlation is established, develop a long-term synthetic water-level record (daily record) for appropriate groundwater wells (data-collection sites) using the record extension technique, MOVE.1.
2. Calculate percentiles for groundwater data collection locations where appropriate.
3. Publish a USGS Scientific Investigations Report documenting methods and results along with a data release of input and output data and the R code used in the analysis.
Hydrologic technician adjusting a solar panel while installing new real-time equipment and gage house onto a groundwater well. The site ID is: 423715072042801 MA-TMW 3R TEMPLETON, MA.
Hydrologic technician adjusting a solar panel while installing new real-time equipment and gage house onto a groundwater well. The site ID is: 423715072042801 MA-TMW 3R TEMPLETON, MA.