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Scott Boyce, PhD

USGS California Water Science Center Research Hydrologist since May, 2010.

Understanding Integrated Modeling and Conjunctive Use of Water through New Software Developments and Applications
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My primary research interest is in understanding water resources through the use of computer software and applied mathematics.

My research encompasses analyses of regional flow systems with the development of new software, concepts, and supporting mathematics. Extended areas of research include operations research such as Bayesian and deterministic inverse problems, mathematical data assimilation, and techniques that reduce the computational burden of solving these problems, such as POD model reduction. These new methods help to better understand the hydrologic cycle and to develop more process-based hydrologic simulation tools that help water-resource managers with operations, planning, and policy issues.

Education and Certifications

  • 2015 Doctor of Philosophy; University of California, Los Angeles;  GPA: 3.713

  • 2009   Master of Science; University of California, Los Angeles;     GPA: 3.74

Science and Products

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One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model cross section

MODFLOW One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model—Conjunctive Use Simulation Software (MF-OWHM)

The MODFLOW One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MF-OWHM) – Conjunctive Use Simulation Software (Boyce, 2022; Boyce and others, 2020; Hanson and others, 2014) builds upon the MODFLOW-2005 framework for the simulation and analyses of conjunctive-use, water-management, and climate-crop-water scenario problems.
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California Water Science Center
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MODFLOW One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model—Conjunctive Use Simulation Software (MF-OWHM)

The MODFLOW One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MF-OWHM) – Conjunctive Use Simulation Software (Boyce, 2022; Boyce and others, 2020; Hanson and others, 2014) builds upon the MODFLOW-2005 framework for the simulation and analyses of conjunctive-use, water-management, and climate-crop-water scenario problems.
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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

Central Valley Hydrologic Model version 2 (CVHM2): Observation Data (Groundwater Level, Streamflow, Subsidence) from 1916 to 2018 (ver. 2.0, June 2023)

This digital dataset includes three sets of observational data (groundwater level, streamflow, subsidence) used to calibrate the updated Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM2)
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California Water Science Center

Digital hydrologic and geospatial data for the Rio Grande transboundary integrated hydrologic model and water-availability analysis, New Mexico and Texas, United States, and Northern Chihuahua, Mexico

Digital hydrologic and geospatial data for the Rio Grande transboundary integrated hydrologic model and water-availability analysis, New Mexico and Texas, United States, and Northern Chihuahua, Mexico
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New Mexico Water Science Center

Klamath natural flow study, Upper Klamath Basin groundwater flow model

The purpose of the Upper Klamath Basin Groundwater Flow Model (UKBGFM) is to simulate groundwater conditions in the Upper Klamath Basin under historical and predevelopment conditions. The UKBGFM quantifies estimates of and changes in groundwater levels, storage, pumping, drainage flow to tile drains, evapotranspiration, and flow between the Upper Klamath Basin and neighboring basins. The quantific
Authors
Jonathan A. Traum, Scott E. Boyce
By
Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

Modeling the surface water and groundwater budgets of the US using MODFLOW-OWHM

Assessments of groundwater and surface water budgets at a large scale, such as the contiguous United States, often separately analyze the complex dynamics linking the surface and subsurface categories of water resources. These dynamics include recharge and groundwater contributions to streamflow. The time-varying simulation of these complex hydrologic dynamics, across large spatial and temporal sc
Authors
Mustafa H Alattar, Tara J Troy, Tess A Russo, Scott E. Boyce
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Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

Rio Grande transboundary integrated hydrologic model and water-availability analysis, New Mexico and Texas, United States, and northern Chihuahua, Mexico

Changes in population, agricultural development and practices (including shifts to more water-intensive crops), and climate variability are increasing demands on available water resources, particularly groundwater, in one of the most productive agricultural regions in the Southwest—the Rincon and Mesilla Valley parts of Rio Grande Valley, Doña Ana and Sierra Counties, New Mexico, and El Paso Count
Authors
Randall T. Hanson, Andre B. Ritchie, Scott E. Boyce, Amy E. Galanter, Ian A. Ferguson, Lorraine E. Flint, Alan L. Flint, Wesley R. Henson
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Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center

One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model: A MODFLOW based conjunctive-use simulation software

The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Modular Ground-Water Flow Model (MODFLOW-2005) is a computer program that simulates groundwater flow by using finite differences. The MODFLOW-2005 framework uses a modular design that allows for the easy development and incorporation of new features called processes and packages that work with or modify inputs to the groundwater-flow equation. A process solves a
Authors
Scott E. Boyce, Randall T. Hanson, Ian Ferguson, Wolfgang Schmid, Wesley R. Henson, Thomas Reimann, Steffen W. Mehl, Marisa M. Earll
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Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

Integrated hydrologic modeling of the Salinas River, California, for sustainable water management

The Salinas River is the largest river in California’s Central Coast region. Groundwater resources of the Salinas River basin are used to meet water supply needs, including crop irrigation and municipal water supply. Two large multipurpose reservoirs also supply irrigation and municipal water uses. Historical imbalances between supply and demand have resulted in sinking groundwater levels, seawate
Authors
Joseph A. Hevesi, Wesley R. Henson, Randall T. Hanson, Scott E. Boyce
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Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

Santa Barbara and Foothill groundwater basins Geohydrology and optimal water resources management—Developed using density dependent solute transport and optimization models

Groundwater has been a part of the city of Santa Barbara’s water-supply portfolio since the 1800s; however, since the 1960s, the majority of the city’s water has come from local surface water, and the remainder has come from groundwater, State Water Project, recycled water, increased water conservation, and as needed, seawater desalination. Although groundwater from the Santa Barbara and Foothill
Authors
Scott R. Paulinski, Tracy Nishikawa, Geoffrey Cromwell, Scott E. Boyce, Zachary P. Stanko
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Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

Rio Grande transboundary integrated hydrologic model and water-availability analysis, New Mexico and Texas, United States, and Northern Chihuahua, Mexico

Errata**September 28, 2018: The purpose of a USGS Open-file report (OFR) is dissemination of information that must be released immediately to fill a public need or information that is not sufficiently refined to warrant publication in one of the other USGS series. As part of that refinement process, an error was discovered in one of the input data sets of the Rio Grande Transboundary Integrated Hy

Authors
Randall T. Hanson, Andre B. Ritchie, Scott E. Boyce, Ian Ferguson, Amy E. Galanter, Lorraine E. Flint, Wesley R. Henson
By
Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

Stochastic programming with a joint chance constraint model for reservoir refill operation considering flood risk

Reservoir refill operation modeling attempts to maximize a set of benefits while minimizing risks. The benefits and risks can be in opposition to each other, such as having enough water for hydropower generation while leaving enough room for flood protection. In addition to multiple objects, the uncertainty of streamflow can make decision making difficult. This paper develops a stochastic optimiza
Authors
Bin Xu, Scott E. Boyce, Yu Zhang, Qiang Liu, Le Guo, Ping-An Zhong
By
Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

Examples of deformation-dependent flow simulations of conjunctive use with MF-OWHM

The dependency of surface- and groundwater flows and aquifer hydraulic properties on deformation induced by changes in aquifer head is not accounted for in the standard version of MODFLOW. A new USGS integrated hydrologic model, MODFLOW-OWHM, incorporates this dependency by linking subsidence and mesh deformation with changes in aquifer transmissivity and storage coefficient, and with flows that a
Authors
Randall T. Hanson, Jonathan A. Traum, Scott E. Boyce, Wolfgang Schmid, Joseph D. Hughes
By
Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

An integrated approach to conjunctive-use analysis with the one-water hydrologic flow model, MODFLOW-OWHM

The MODFLOW-2005 (MF) family of hydrologic simulators has diverged into multiple versions designed for specific needs, thus limiting their use to their respective designs. The One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MF-OWHM v1.0) is an integrated hydrologic flow model that is an enhanced fusion of multiple MF versions. While maintaining compatibility with existing MF versions, MF-OWHM includes: linkages
Authors
Scott E. Boyce, Randall T. Hanson
By
Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MODFLOW-OWHM)

The One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MF-OWHM) is a MODFLOW-based integrated hydrologic flow model (IHM) that is the most complete version, to date, of the MODFLOW family of hydrologic simulators needed for the analysis of a broad range of conjunctive-use issues. Conjunctive use is the combined use of groundwater and surface water. MF-OWHM allows the simulation, analysis, and management of nearly a
Authors
Randall T. Hanson, Scott E. Boyce, Wolfgang Schmid, Joseph D. Hughes, Steffen W. Mehl, Stanley A. Leake, Thomas Maddock, Richard G. Niswonger
By
Water Resources Mission Area, California Water Science Center

MODFLOW One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MF-OWHM)

The MODFLOW One-Water Hydrologic Flow Model (MF-OWHM) is an integrated hydrologic model designed for the analysis of conjunctive-use management.

By
California Water Science Center, Land Subsidence in California

Batteries Included Fortran Library (BiF-lib), version 1.0.0

Standard Fortran provides limited data type, function, and subroutine support leaving the developer to write custom code for every project. This has lead to every developer having their own internal, homemade, Fortran library for doing common operations. In recognition of this, most newer programming languages incorporate a large set of standard data types and functions that the developer can use
By
California Water Science Center

Science and Products