Examining regional groundwater–surface water dynamics using an integrated hydrologic model of the San Joaquin River basin

Abstract

Widespread irrigated agriculture and a growing population depend on the complex hydrology of the San Joaquin River basin in California. The challenge of managing this complex hydrology hinges, in part, on understanding and quantifying how processes interact to support the groundwater and surface water systems. Here, we use the integrated hydrologic platform ParFlow-CLM to simulate hourly 1 km gridded hydrology over 1 year to study un-impacted groundwater–surface water dynamics in the basin. Comparisons of simulated results to observations show the model accurately captures important regional-scale partitioning of water among streamflow, evapotranspiration (ET), snow, and subsurface storage. Analysis of this simulated Central Valley groundwater system reveals the seasonal cycle of recharge and discharge as well as the role of the small but temporally constant portion of groundwater recharge that comes from the mountain block. Considering uncertainty in mountain block hydraulic conductivity, model results suggest this component accounts for 7–23 % of total Central Valley recharge. A simulated surface water budget guides a hydrograph decomposition that quantifies the temporally variable contribution of local runoff, valley rim inflows, storage, and groundwater to streamflow across the Central Valley. Power spectra of hydrograph components suggest interactions with groundwater across the valley act to increase longer-term correlation in San Joaquin River outflows. Finally, model results reveal hysteresis in the relationship between basin streamflow and groundwater contributions to flow. Using hourly model results, we interpret the hysteretic cycle to be a result of daily-scale fluctuations from precipitation and ET superimposed on seasonal and basin-scale recharge and discharge.