Nyer, E., Mayfield, P., and Hughes, J.D, 1998. Beyond the AFCEE Protocol for Natural Attenuation: Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation, v. 18, no. 3, 70-77.
Joseph Hughes
Joseph Hughes is a hydrologist in the Earth Systems Modeling Branch and is currently working on MODFLOW enhancements
Biography
Dr. Joseph Hughes is a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Integrated Modeling and Prediction Division in Reston, Virginia. He completed his B.S. and Ph.D. at the University of South Florida and his M.S. at the University of Michigan. Prior to working at the U.S. Geological Survey, Dr. Hughes worked for a number of consulting firms including DHI Water and Environment and Arcadis Geraghty and Miller. Dr. Hughes has extensive experience simulating surface water and ground water interactions, variably saturated groundwater flow, groundwater flow in variable-density environments, and surface water and ground water quality at local and regional spatial scales. Dr. Hughes specializes in the development of of numerical simulation codes to solve surface-water flow, groundwater flow, and advective-dispersive transport equations. He is a co-author of several numerical hydrologic codes including MODFLOW 6, a control-volume, finite-difference version of MODFLOW (MODFLOW-USG), the Sea Water Intrusion (SWI2) Package for MODFLOW, the Surface Water Routing (SWR1) Process for MODFLOW, and a multi-species version of the density-dependent groundwater flow and transport code SUTRA (SUTRA-MS). Dr. Hughes also specializes in the development of linear sub-space methods to solve simultaneous systems of equations.
Science and Products
Date published: April 28, 2019
Status: Completed Potential for Increased Inundation in Flood-Prone Regions of Southeast Florida in Response to Climate and Sea-Level Changes in Broward County, Florida, 2060–69
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Broward County Environmental Planning and Resilience Division, has developed county-scale and local-scale groundwater/surface-water models to study the potential for increased inundation and flooding in eastern Broward County that are due to changes in future climate and sea-level rise. The purpose is to provide information that can be used to...
Date published: March 4, 2019
Status: Active MODFLOW and Related Programs
MODFLOW is the USGS's modular hydrologic model. MODFLOW is considered an international standard for simulating and predicting groundwater conditions and groundwater/surface-water interactions. MODFLOW 6 is presently the core MODFLOW version distributed by the USGS. The previous core version, MODFLOW-2005, is actively maintained and supported as well.
Contacts: USGS MODFLOW Team
Attribution: Water Resources
Date published: February 7, 2019
Status: Completed Effects of hydrologic system alterations on salinity in the Biscayne aquifer in Broward Co.
To address concerns about the effects of water-resource management practices and rising sea level on saltwater intrusion, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Broward County Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division, initiated a study to examine causes of saltwater intrusion and predict the effects of future alterations to the hydrologic system on salinity...
Contacts: Joseph Hughes, Dorothy Sifuentes, PhD
Date published: October 19, 2018
Status: Completed Simulating Land Subsidence
The California Water Science Center has been involved in multiple studies simulating land subsidence associated with groundwater withdrawal. The simulations can be used to estimate the magnitude, location, and timing of subsidence. They can also be used to evaluate management strategies to mitigate adverse effects from subsidence while also optimizing water availability.
Contacts: Claudia C Faunt
Attribution: California Water Science Center, Land Subsidence in California
Date published: October 16, 2018
Status: Active Groundwater Models
Groundwater is an important resource, but availability, quality, and sustainability during growth have become major concerns. Groundwater models are numerical representations that help hydrologists better understand groundwater systems. These models also provide tools for water managers. The Utah Water Science Center has groundwater models for many seperate areas in Utah as well as two...
Contacts: Melissa D Masbruch
Attribution: Region 7: Upper Colorado Basin, Utah Water Science Center
Date published: May 29, 2018
Status: Active Houston Area Groundwater Level and Subsidence Monitoring
In cooperation with Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, the City of Houston, Fort Bend County Subsidence District, Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District, and ...
Contacts: Jason Ramage
Date published: May 29, 2018
Status: Active Coastal Lowlands Regional Groundwater Availability Study
USGS is undertaking a 5-year study to assess groundwater availability for the aquifers proximal to the Gulf of Mexico from the Texas-Mexico border through the panhandle of Florida, known as the Coastal Lowlands Aquifer System (CLAS). This study is one of several within the Regional Groundwater Availability Studies of the ...
Date published: October 1, 2017
Status: Active Exploring the USGS Science Data Life Cycle in the Cloud
Executive Summary Traditionally in the USGS, data is processed and analyzed on local researcher computers, then moved to centralized, remote computers for preservation and publishing (ScienceBase, Pubs Warehouse). This approach requires each researcher to have the necessary hardware and software for processing and analysis, and also to bring all external data required for the workflow over the...
Attribution: Community for Data Integration (CDI)
Date published: December 13, 2016
Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP): Water Availability Study
The Mississippi Alluvial Plain is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the Nation and depends on groundwater for irrigation. The MAP area constitutes the third largest area of irrigated cropland in the United States. The area is approximately 29,000 square miles (19 million acres) and includes parts of the States...
Contacts: Wade Kress
Year Published: 2020
Integrated hydro-terrestrial modeling: Development of a national capability
Water is one of our most important natural resources and is essential to our national economy and security. Multiple federal government agencies have mission elements that address national needs related to water. Each water-related agency champions a unique science and/or operational mission focused on advancing a portion of the nation’s ability...
Lesmes, David; Moerman, Jessica; Torgeson, Tom; Vallario, Bob; Scheibe, Timothy D.; Foufoula-Georgiou, Efi; Jenter, Harry L.; Bingner, Ronald L.; Condon, Laura; Cosgrove, Brian; Del Castillo, Carlos; Downer, Charles W; Eylander, John; Fienen, Michael N.; Frazier, Nels; Gochis, David; Goodrich, Dave; Harvey, Judson; Hughes, Joseph D.; Hyndman, David; Johnston, John M.; Melton, Forrest; Moglen, Glenn E.; Moulton, David; Lautz, Laura K.; Parmar, Rajbir; Rashleigh, Brenda; Reed, Patrick; Skalak, Katherine; Varadharajan, Charuleka; Viger, Roland J.; Voisin, Nathalie; Wahl, MarkAttribution: Water Resources
Year Published: 2019
Potential for increased inundation in flood-prone regions of southeast Florida in response to climate and sea-level changes in Broward County, Florida, 2060–69
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Broward County Environmental Planning and Resilience Division, has developed county-scale and local-scale groundwater/surface-water models to study the potential for increased inundation and flooding in eastern Broward County that are due to changes in future climate and sea-level rise. These models...
Decker, Jeremy D.; Hughes, Joseph D.; Swain, Eric D.Attribution: Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center, Region 2: South Atlantic-Gulf (Includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands)
View Citation
Decker, J.D., Hughes, J.D., and Swain, E.D., 2019, Potential for increased inundation in flood-prone regions of southeast Florida in response to climate and sea-level changes in Broward County, Florida, 2060–69: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018–5125, 106 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20185125.
Year Published: 2017
Documentation for the MODFLOW 6 Groundwater Flow Model
This report documents the Groundwater Flow (GWF) Model for a new version of MODFLOW called MODFLOW 6. The GWF Model for MODFLOW 6 is based on a generalized control-volume finite-difference approach in which a cell can be hydraulically connected to any number of surrounding cells. Users can define the model grid using one of three discretization...
Langevin, Christian D.; Hughes, Joseph D.; Banta, Edward R.; Niswonger, Richard G.; Panday, Sorab; Provost, Alden M.Attribution: Water Resources, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, United States of America
View Citation
Langevin, C.D., Hughes, J.D., Banta, E.R., Niswonger, R.G., Panday, Sorab, and Provost, A.M., 2017, Documentation for the MODFLOW 6 Groundwater Flow Model: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, book 6, chap. A55, 197 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/tm6A55.
Year Published: 2017
Documentation for the MODFLOW 6 framework
MODFLOW is a popular open-source groundwater flow model distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey. Growing interest in surface and groundwater interactions, local refinement with nested and unstructured grids, karst groundwater flow, solute transport, and saltwater intrusion, has led to the development of numerous MODFLOW versions. Often times,...
Hughes, Joseph D.; Langevin, Christian D.; Banta, Edward R.Attribution: Water Resources, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, United States of America
View Citation
Hughes, J.D., Langevin, C.D., and Banta, E.R., 2017, Documentation for the MODFLOW 6 framework: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, book 6, chap. A57, 40 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/tm6A57.
Year Published: 2017
Documentation for the “XT3D” option in the Node Property Flow (NPF) Package of MODFLOW 6
This report describes the “XT3D” option in the Node Property Flow (NPF) Package of MODFLOW 6. The XT3D option extends the capabilities of MODFLOW by enabling simulation of fully three-dimensional anisotropy on regular or irregular grids in a way that properly takes into account the full, three-dimensional conductivity tensor. It can also improve...
Provost, Alden M.; Langevin, Christian D.; Hughes, Joseph D.Attribution: Water Resources, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, United States of America
View Citation
Provost, A.M., Langevin, C.D., and Hughes, J.D., 2017, Documentation for the “XT3D” option in the Node
Property Flow (NPF) Package of MODFLOW 6: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, book 6, chap. A56, 40 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/tm6A56.
Year Published: 2016
Scripting MODFLOW model development using Python and FloPy
Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are commonly used to construct and postprocess numerical groundwater flow and transport models. Scripting model development with the programming language Python is presented here as an alternative approach. One advantage of Python is that there are many packages available to facilitate the model development process...
Bakker, Mark; Post, Vincent E. A.; Langevin, Christian D.; Hughes, Joseph D.; White, Jeremy T.; Starn, Jeffrey; Fienen, Michael N.Attribution: Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program
Year Published: 2016
Potential effects of alterations to the hydrologic system on the distribution of salinity in the Biscayne aquifer in Broward County, Florida
To address concerns about the effects of water-resource management practices and rising sea level on saltwater intrusion, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Broward County Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division, initiated a study to examine causes of saltwater intrusion and predict the effects of future...
Hughes, Joseph D.; Sifuentes, Dorothy F.; White, Jeremy T.Attribution: Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center, Region 2: South Atlantic-Gulf (Includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands)
View Citation
Hughes, J.D., Sifuentes, D.F., and White, J.T., 2016, Potential effects of alterations to the hydrologic system on the distribution of salinity in the Biscayne aquifer in Broward County, Florida: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5022, 114 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20165022.
Year Published: 2015
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...
Hanson, Randall T.; Traum, Jonathan A.; Boyce, Scott E.; Schmid, Wolfgang; Hughes, Joseph D.View Citation
"Hanson, R.T., J Traum, SE Boyce, W Schmid, JD Hughes, 2015, Examples of deformation-dependent flow simulations of conjunctive use with MF-OWHM: Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, v. 372, p. 449-453.
doi:10.5194/piahs-372-449-2015
Year Published: 2015
Coupling geophysical investigation with hydrothermal modeling to constrain the enthalpy classification of a potential geothermal resource.
An appreciable challenge in volcanology and geothermal resource development is to understand the relationships between volcanic systems and low-enthalpy geothermal resources. The enthalpy of an undeveloped geothermal resource in the Karckar region of Armenia is investigated by coupling geophysical and hydrothermal modeling. The results of 3-...
White, Jeremy T.; Karakhanian, Arkadi; Connor, Chuck; Connor, Laura; Hughes, Joseph D.; Malservisi, Rocco; Wetmore, Paul
Year Published: 2015
MODFLOW-based coupled surface water routing and groundwater-flow simulation
In this paper, we present a flexible approach for simulating one- and two-dimensional routing of surface water using a numerical surface water routing (SWR) code implicitly coupled to the groundwater-flow process in MODFLOW. Surface water routing in SWR can be simulated using a diffusive-wave approximation of the Saint-Venant equations and/or a...
Hughes, Joseph D.; Langevin, Christian D.; White, Jeremy T.Attribution: Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program
View Citation
MODFLOW-based coupled surface water routing and groundwater-flow simulation; 2014; Article; Journal; Groundwater; Hughes, Joseph D.; Langevin, Christian D.; White, Jeremy T.
Year Published: 2014
Feedback of land subsidence on the movement and conjunctive use of water resources
The dependency of surface- or groundwater flows and aquifer hydraulic properties on dewatering-induced layer deformation is not available in the USGS's groundwater model MODFLOW. A new integrated hydrologic model, MODFLOW-OWHM, formulates this dependency by coupling mesh deformation with aquifer transmissivity and storage and by linking land...
Schmid, Wolfgang; Hanson, Randall T.; Leake, Stanley A.; Hughes, Joseph D.; Niswonger, Richard G.
Year Published: 2014
Hydrologic conditions in urban Miami-Dade County, Florida, and the effect of groundwater pumpage and increased sea level on canal leakage and regional groundwater flow
The extensive and highly managed surface-water system in southeastern Florida constructed during the 20th Century has allowed for the westward expansion of urban and agricultural activities in Miami-Dade County. In urban areas of the county, the surface-water system is used to (1) control urban flooding, (2) supply recharge to production well...
Hughes, Joseph D.; White, Jeremy T.Attribution: , Caribbean-Florida Water Science Center, Region 2: South Atlantic-Gulf (Includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands)
View Citation
Hydrologic conditions in urban Miami-Dade County, Florida, and the effect of groundwater pumpage and increased sea level on canal leakage and regional groundwater flow; 2014; SIR; 2014-5162; Hughes, Joseph D.; White, Jeremy T.
Pre-USGS Publications
Date published: February 18, 2021
MODFLOW 6: USGS Modular Hydrologic Model
MODFLOW is a popular open-source groundwater flow model distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Attribution: Water Resources
Date published: February 18, 2021
FloPy: Python Package for Creating, Running, and Post-Processing MODFLOW-Based Models
FloPy is a Python package for creating, running, and post-processing MODFLOW-based models.
Attribution: Water Resources
Date published: October 17, 2012
Surface-Water Routing (SWR) Process: A Program for Modeling Surface-Water Flow with the USGS Modular Groundwater Flow Model (MODFLOW)
The Surface-Water Routing (SWR) Process is used to accurately simulate stages, surface-water flows, and surface-water/groundwater interactions in areas where surface-water gradients are small and/or there is significant management of surface water.
Attribution: Water Resources