EXPLORING THE ROLE OF GROUNDWATER STORAGE IN WATERSHED VARIABILITY ACROSS SPATIAL SCALES (Invited Presentation)

Advances in terrestrial hydrology modeling have the potential to provide novel insights into hydrologic connections across physical systems. Feedbacks between groundwater depth, surface runoff and land energy fluxes that influence water availability, and dynamic system behavior are well established, but remain difficult to quantity. Furthermore, much of the work to establish these connections has been completed on the catchment scale. Groundwater is difficult to observe over large scales and groundwater surface water interactions are largely excluded or greatly simplified in continental and global modeling efforts. Integrated hydrologic models are one way to bridge this gap. Here we use a high resolution groundwater surface water model of the contiguous US to quantify the role of groundwater storage changes in watershed dynamics and response to stress. Results demonstrate the importance of groundwater in buffering both anthropogenic and natural water stressors; and conversely the impacts of long term trends on the stability of this buffer and resiliency to future stressors.