VIRTUAL DRAWDOWN TESTS OF GROUNDWATER AQUIFERS FROM INSAR REMOTE SENSING

Abstract:

Groundwater management depends on the type and quality of field data available describing a given aquifer system. Our increasing reliance on groundwater, especially as traditional surface supplies continue to be overexploited due to rising population and standard of living, requires that we better understand the state of our subsurface supplies. Groundwater aquifers, and the water flow models that relate aquifer parameters to management strategies, are typically characterized in terms of how much water is available at any point in the basin (storativity), and how easily water can flow from one point to another (transmissivity). Often these parameters are estimated by field drawdown tests, in which a known quantity of water is withdrawn from the aquifer, and the resulting spatial and temporal distribution of hydraulic head analyzed.

Pumping tests can be expensive and time consuming, so that for most aquifer systems very few drawdown test data sets exist. Here we show that estimates for storativity and hydraulic conductance can be derived from time series InSAR observations coupled with well head measurements. While this requires the presence of monitoring wells in the basin, monitor-only wells are often fairly plentiful. Comparison of hydraulic head and InSAR deformation data at a monitoring well yields the ratio of head to subsidence and any time delay between the two, from which we solve for the needed conductivity and storativity. We present examples of these parameters associated with groundwater systems in the San Luis Valley, CO, and the Central Valley area of California, as observed by several spaceborne radar systems and validated by comparison with field data.

 

The fundamental relation between pressure and stress resulting in changes in hydraulic head yields a simple linear relationship between deformation Δb, hydraulic head Δh, and skeletal storage coefficient: S_k = Δb / Δh, so that measuring deformation everywhere above an aquifer over time yields change in head. Similarly, InSAR-observed temporal response of deformation following changes in head allows us to estimate conductivity in the reservoir. These tools point toward an approach for forecasting future head levels.