Past Groundwater Drought in the North American Cordillera
Abstract Groundwater level records in North America are relatively short (<60 years), preventing long‐term analysis of historical changes in groundwater levels associated with drought. In this study, tree ring widths are used to reconstruct groundwater levels in three regions in the North America...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110614 |
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| author | S. C. Hunter D. M. Allen K. E. Kohfeld |
| author_facet | S. C. Hunter D. M. Allen K. E. Kohfeld |
| author_sort | S. C. Hunter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Groundwater level records in North America are relatively short (<60 years), preventing long‐term analysis of historical changes in groundwater levels associated with drought. In this study, tree ring widths are used to reconstruct groundwater levels in three regions in the North American Cordillera: Central British Columbia (BC), Canada, the Southern Interior Region of BC, and the San Luis Valley in Colorado, USA. Periods with severe drought conditions, identified using regime shift and threshold analyses were: 1890–1900 and 1950–1970 in Colorado, around 1920–1940 in the BC Interior, and 1935–1945 in Central BC. The groundwater level reconstructions are correlated with several climate indices and have similar regime shifts as identified in streamflow and drought records. The groundwater level reconstructions are strongly related to winter snowpack, suggesting that the observed trend of declining snowpack in recent years may lead to declining groundwater availability in these regions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a90bf33e65774c72beccaf91dd726687 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-a90bf33e65774c72beccaf91dd7266872025-08-20T03:16:26ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072024-11-015121n/an/a10.1029/2024GL110614Past Groundwater Drought in the North American CordilleraS. C. Hunter0D. M. Allen1K. E. Kohfeld2Department of Earth Sciences Simon Fraser University Burnaby BC CanadaDepartment of Earth Sciences Simon Fraser University Burnaby BC CanadaSchool of Resource and Environmental Management Simon Fraser University Burnaby BC CanadaAbstract Groundwater level records in North America are relatively short (<60 years), preventing long‐term analysis of historical changes in groundwater levels associated with drought. In this study, tree ring widths are used to reconstruct groundwater levels in three regions in the North American Cordillera: Central British Columbia (BC), Canada, the Southern Interior Region of BC, and the San Luis Valley in Colorado, USA. Periods with severe drought conditions, identified using regime shift and threshold analyses were: 1890–1900 and 1950–1970 in Colorado, around 1920–1940 in the BC Interior, and 1935–1945 in Central BC. The groundwater level reconstructions are correlated with several climate indices and have similar regime shifts as identified in streamflow and drought records. The groundwater level reconstructions are strongly related to winter snowpack, suggesting that the observed trend of declining snowpack in recent years may lead to declining groundwater availability in these regions.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110614groundwaterdroughtdendrochronology |
| spellingShingle | S. C. Hunter D. M. Allen K. E. Kohfeld Past Groundwater Drought in the North American Cordillera Geophysical Research Letters groundwater drought dendrochronology |
| title | Past Groundwater Drought in the North American Cordillera |
| title_full | Past Groundwater Drought in the North American Cordillera |
| title_fullStr | Past Groundwater Drought in the North American Cordillera |
| title_full_unstemmed | Past Groundwater Drought in the North American Cordillera |
| title_short | Past Groundwater Drought in the North American Cordillera |
| title_sort | past groundwater drought in the north american cordillera |
| topic | groundwater drought dendrochronology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110614 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT schunter pastgroundwaterdroughtinthenorthamericancordillera AT dmallen pastgroundwaterdroughtinthenorthamericancordillera AT kekohfeld pastgroundwaterdroughtinthenorthamericancordillera |