MODFLOW models for the simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains driven by multi-model estimates of surficial aquifer recharge.

There is a growing interest in incorporating higher-resolution groundwater modeling within the framework of large-scale land surface models (LSMs), including new processes such as three-dimensional flow, variable soil saturation, and surface water/groundwater interactions. Conversely, complex groundwater models (e.g., the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater-Flow Model, MODFLOW) often use simpler representations of land surface dynamics (e.g., surface vegetation, evapotranspiration, recharge) and may benefit from higher process fidelity and temporal resolutions in these inputs. This Data Release includes the model inputs used for the MODFLOW 6 models developed for the simulation of groundwater-flow dynamics in the U.S. Northern High Plains using recharge from four different Land Surface Models. Each model included the same MODFLOW 6 groundwater-flow model of the Northern High Plains aquifer which simulated transient recharge, irrigation pumping, groundwater evapotranspiration, changes in groundwater storage, routing of base flow through stream networks for irrigation and non-irrigation time periods from 1979 through 2015. The only difference in each groundwater-flow model is the source of recharge which came from the following Land Surface Models: (1 USGS Soil-Water-Balance (SWB), (2), coupled Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and Noah-MP, (3) U.S. National 122 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Water Model (NWM) configuration 123 of the WRF-Hydro, and (4) the Community Land Model.

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  "010:12"
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  "geospatial"
]