Field Virtual Site Seminar, Rachel Housego: Groundwater Dynamics: Methods and applications for improving predictions of environmental hazards

Abstract:

Nearly 1.5 million people inhabit barrier islands along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and coastal groundwater dynamics influence the availability of freshwater, ecosystem health, pollutant transport, and flooding in these densely populated communities. However, groundwater dynamics, including the aquifer head distribution and subsurface salinity structure, in coastal aquifers are affected by multiple environmental forcings, such as waves, tides, storm surges, and precipitation that act on a variety of spatial and temporal scales, making coastal groundwater dynamics complex and difficult to predict. In our study, we use measurements of groundwater heads, salinities, and temperatures collected for 3 years across a 550-m-wide barrier island in conjunction with observations of ocean tides, surge, waves, sound level, and rainfall to characterize the dynamics of the surface aquifer in Duck, NC. These observations are applied to understand the impacts of ocean storms on groundwater-driven flooding, and the evolution of a saline groundwater plume underneath the dune. In addition to observational data at Duck, examples of using coupled surface-subsurface numerical model simulations (HydroGeoSphere) to identify the ocean surge conditions that present the greatest salinization risk for coastal communities will also be presented.

Zoom webinar ID:969 1093 3469

University of Delaware

Host: Johanna Rosman

Note that the Seminar Speaker will be remote, but hosted in the IMS Seminar Room