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Elizabeth Jachens

Elizabeth Jachens is a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in the California Water Science Center in the Groundwater Availability and Use Assessments project.

Elizabeth graduated with her Ph.D. in Water Resources Engineering from Oregon State University in March of 2020. Her research focused on the use of recession analysis to characterize watershed responses to drought. She earned an M.S. in Water Resources Engineering and a Graduate Certificate in Water Conflict Management and Transformation, both from Oregon State University in 2019. Elizabeth graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering with a minor in math from California State University, Chico in 2015.

Science and Products

Groundwater sustainability and land subsidence in California’s Central Valley

The Central Valley of California is one of the most prolific agricultural regions in the world. Agriculture is reliant on the conjunctive use of surface-water and groundwater. The lack of available surface-water and land-use changes have led to pumping-induced groundwater-level and storage declines, land subsidence, changes to streamflow and the environment, and the degradation of water quality. A
Authors
Claudia C. Faunt, Jonathan A. Traum, Scott E. Boyce, Whitney A. Seymour, Elizabeth Rae Jachens, Justin T. Brandt, Michelle Sneed, Sandra Bond, Marina Marcelli
By
Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center
link
Image: Looking South at the Salton Sea

Water Availability of the Salton Sea Watershed

Throughout history, the Salton Sea has formed and dried up due to flooding from the Colorado River. It was most recently formed in 1905 when the Colorado River broke through an irrigation canal and flowed uncontrolled into the Salton Sea watershed. The Salton Sea is a terminal lake (it has no outlets). It is also a transboundary watershed, with area in both the state of California and Mexico’s...
By
California Water Science Center
link

Water Availability of the Salton Sea Watershed

Throughout history, the Salton Sea has formed and dried up due to flooding from the Colorado River. It was most recently formed in 1905 when the Colorado River broke through an irrigation canal and flowed uncontrolled into the Salton Sea watershed. The Salton Sea is a terminal lake (it has no outlets). It is also a transboundary watershed, with area in both the state of California and Mexico’s...
Learn More

Carmel River Basin Hydrologic Models: Future Climate Data

This digital dataset contains the gridded future climate data used for the Carmel River Basin Hydrologic Model. The daily climate data for the Carmel River Basin Hydrologic Model Hydrologic Model are based on the Salinas and Carmel River Basins Study (SCRBS) future climate scenarios (Henson and others, 2024). SCRBS considers one baseline climate scenario that represents recent historical climate c
By
California Water Science Center

Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Future Climate Data

This digital dataset contains the gridded future climate data used for the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models. The monthly climate data for Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models are based on the Salinas and Carmel River Basins Study (SCRBS) future climate scenarios [Henson and others, 2024). SCRBS considers one baseline climate scenario that represents recent historical climate conditions and
By
California Water Science Center

Salinas and Carmel Rivers Basin Study (SCRBS): Future Climate

This digital dataset contains the baseline and future climate data used as the basis for analysis of current and future water supplies and demands in the Salinas and Carmel Rivers Basin Study (SCRBS). SCRBS uses a suite of integrated hydrologic models to explore impacts of future climate and socioeconomic scenarios on water supplies and demands in the basins. SCRBS considers one baseline climate s
By
California Water Science Center

Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Agricultural and Municipal Water Supply and Groundwater Data (ver. 2.1, August 2024)

This digital dataset contains the datasets related to agricultural and municipal water supply and groundwater in the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (LSVHM), including the Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM) and the Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM). Groundwater inflow and outflow data include reported groundwater pumpage and groundwater elevations obtained for the peri
By
California Water Science Center

Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Climate Data

This digital dataset contains the climate data used for the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM) and Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM)). The monthly climate data for the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models are based on the regional climate data for the Salinas Valley Hydrologic System [Hevesi and others, 2022]. To develop the monthly c
By
California Water Science Center

Salinas Valley Operational Model: Input Operational Data (ver. 2.0, September 2023)

This digital dataset contains the surface water operational data used for the Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM) including the timeseries data and the operational rules. While much of the input data is shared between the Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM) and the Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM), the SVOM has additional input data specific to the purpose and function of
By
California Water Science Center

Salinas Valley Hydrologic System: Regional Climate Data

This digital dataset contains the climate data used for the Salinas Valley Hydrologic System, including the Salinas Valley Watershed Model (SVWM) and the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM) and Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM)). The climate data include spatially distributed daily precipitation, maximum and minimum air temperature, and
By
California Water Science Center

Los Angeles Basin Watershed Model (LABWM) using INFIL4.0

This data release documents the datasets and procedures used to update the Los Angeles Basin Watershed Model (LABWM) (Hevesi and Johnson, 2016) from INFIL3.0 (USGS, 2008a, 2008b) to INFIL4.0. The LABWM provides gridded monthly infiltration, evaporation, recharge, and runoff estimates for the Los Angeles region using the water balance recharge model, INFIL. INFIL is a grid-based, distributed-parame
By
California Water Science Center

Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Discretization Data (ver. 1.2, August 2024)

The Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models’ discretization data includes a shapefile of the model domain and layers and a shapefile of the water balance subregions. The Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (LSVHM) include a historical model, the Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM) and a reservoir operations model, the Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM). While the Lower Salina
By
California Water Science Center

Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Surface Water Data (ver. 1.1, September 2024)

This digital dataset contains the surface water data used for both the Salinas Valley Watershed Model (SVWM) and the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM) and Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM)). The surface water dataset includes describes two regions of the Salinas River Watershed; the upper region is occurs primarily within San Luis Obis
By
California Water Science Center

Central Valley Hydrologic Model version 2 (CVHM2): Water Banking for water years 1961-2019 (ver. 2.0, Aug 2023)

Managed aquifer recharge is a water-management strategy used to meet water demands during dry periods, or periods of high-water demand, when surface-water supplies are low. One method of managed aquifer recharge uses aquifer systems as subsurface reservoirs or ‘water banks’ to effectively and economically store surface water when surplus is available, and then recover the recharged groundwater to
By
California Water Science Center

Science and Products

Groundwater sustainability and land subsidence in California’s Central Valley

The Central Valley of California is one of the most prolific agricultural regions in the world. Agriculture is reliant on the conjunctive use of surface-water and groundwater. The lack of available surface-water and land-use changes have led to pumping-induced groundwater-level and storage declines, land subsidence, changes to streamflow and the environment, and the degradation of water quality. A
Authors
Claudia C. Faunt, Jonathan A. Traum, Scott E. Boyce, Whitney A. Seymour, Elizabeth Rae Jachens, Justin T. Brandt, Michelle Sneed, Sandra Bond, Marina Marcelli
By
Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center
link
Image: Looking South at the Salton Sea

Water Availability of the Salton Sea Watershed

Throughout history, the Salton Sea has formed and dried up due to flooding from the Colorado River. It was most recently formed in 1905 when the Colorado River broke through an irrigation canal and flowed uncontrolled into the Salton Sea watershed. The Salton Sea is a terminal lake (it has no outlets). It is also a transboundary watershed, with area in both the state of California and Mexico’s...
By
California Water Science Center
link

Water Availability of the Salton Sea Watershed

Throughout history, the Salton Sea has formed and dried up due to flooding from the Colorado River. It was most recently formed in 1905 when the Colorado River broke through an irrigation canal and flowed uncontrolled into the Salton Sea watershed. The Salton Sea is a terminal lake (it has no outlets). It is also a transboundary watershed, with area in both the state of California and Mexico’s...
Learn More

Carmel River Basin Hydrologic Models: Future Climate Data

This digital dataset contains the gridded future climate data used for the Carmel River Basin Hydrologic Model. The daily climate data for the Carmel River Basin Hydrologic Model Hydrologic Model are based on the Salinas and Carmel River Basins Study (SCRBS) future climate scenarios (Henson and others, 2024). SCRBS considers one baseline climate scenario that represents recent historical climate c
By
California Water Science Center

Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Future Climate Data

This digital dataset contains the gridded future climate data used for the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models. The monthly climate data for Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models are based on the Salinas and Carmel River Basins Study (SCRBS) future climate scenarios [Henson and others, 2024). SCRBS considers one baseline climate scenario that represents recent historical climate conditions and
By
California Water Science Center

Salinas and Carmel Rivers Basin Study (SCRBS): Future Climate

This digital dataset contains the baseline and future climate data used as the basis for analysis of current and future water supplies and demands in the Salinas and Carmel Rivers Basin Study (SCRBS). SCRBS uses a suite of integrated hydrologic models to explore impacts of future climate and socioeconomic scenarios on water supplies and demands in the basins. SCRBS considers one baseline climate s
By
California Water Science Center

Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Agricultural and Municipal Water Supply and Groundwater Data (ver. 2.1, August 2024)

This digital dataset contains the datasets related to agricultural and municipal water supply and groundwater in the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (LSVHM), including the Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM) and the Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM). Groundwater inflow and outflow data include reported groundwater pumpage and groundwater elevations obtained for the peri
By
California Water Science Center

Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Climate Data

This digital dataset contains the climate data used for the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM) and Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM)). The monthly climate data for the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models are based on the regional climate data for the Salinas Valley Hydrologic System [Hevesi and others, 2022]. To develop the monthly c
By
California Water Science Center

Salinas Valley Operational Model: Input Operational Data (ver. 2.0, September 2023)

This digital dataset contains the surface water operational data used for the Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM) including the timeseries data and the operational rules. While much of the input data is shared between the Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM) and the Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM), the SVOM has additional input data specific to the purpose and function of
By
California Water Science Center

Salinas Valley Hydrologic System: Regional Climate Data

This digital dataset contains the climate data used for the Salinas Valley Hydrologic System, including the Salinas Valley Watershed Model (SVWM) and the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM) and Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM)). The climate data include spatially distributed daily precipitation, maximum and minimum air temperature, and
By
California Water Science Center

Los Angeles Basin Watershed Model (LABWM) using INFIL4.0

This data release documents the datasets and procedures used to update the Los Angeles Basin Watershed Model (LABWM) (Hevesi and Johnson, 2016) from INFIL3.0 (USGS, 2008a, 2008b) to INFIL4.0. The LABWM provides gridded monthly infiltration, evaporation, recharge, and runoff estimates for the Los Angeles region using the water balance recharge model, INFIL. INFIL is a grid-based, distributed-parame
By
California Water Science Center

Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Discretization Data (ver. 1.2, August 2024)

The Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models’ discretization data includes a shapefile of the model domain and layers and a shapefile of the water balance subregions. The Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (LSVHM) include a historical model, the Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM) and a reservoir operations model, the Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM). While the Lower Salina
By
California Water Science Center

Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models: Surface Water Data (ver. 1.1, September 2024)

This digital dataset contains the surface water data used for both the Salinas Valley Watershed Model (SVWM) and the Lower Salinas Valley Hydrologic Models (Salinas Valley Integrated Hydrologic Model (SVIHM) and Salinas Valley Operational Model (SVOM)). The surface water dataset includes describes two regions of the Salinas River Watershed; the upper region is occurs primarily within San Luis Obis
By
California Water Science Center

Central Valley Hydrologic Model version 2 (CVHM2): Water Banking for water years 1961-2019 (ver. 2.0, Aug 2023)

Managed aquifer recharge is a water-management strategy used to meet water demands during dry periods, or periods of high-water demand, when surface-water supplies are low. One method of managed aquifer recharge uses aquifer systems as subsurface reservoirs or ‘water banks’ to effectively and economically store surface water when surplus is available, and then recover the recharged groundwater to
By
California Water Science Center
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