Groundwater modeling with InSAR and AEM data in California
Groundwater modeling with InSAR and AEM data in California
This project, in collaboration with Stanford University and the USGS, is currently being funded by NASA. The goal of this project is to improve groundwater model development by integrating high-resolution hydrostratigraphic data from airborne electromagnetics (AEM), and high-resolution hydrologic data from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR). InSAR has the highest signal over areas with high groundwater declines and high clay content. AEM has the highest signal over areas with high clay content. Because both datasets are sensitive to the presence of subsurface clay, they can complement each other and improve the accuracy and unique-ness of model inversions.
This project, in collaboration with Stanford University and the USGS, is currently being funded by NASA. The goal of this project is to improve groundwater model development by integrating high-resolution hydrostratigraphic data from airborne electromagnetics (AEM), and high-resolution hydrologic data from interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR). InSAR has the highest signal over areas with high groundwater declines and high clay content. AEM has the highest signal over areas with high clay content. Because both datasets are sensitive to the presence of subsurface clay, they can complement each other and improve the accuracy and unique-ness of model inversions.
Land subsidence from 2015-2018, mapped using InSAR by Tre Altamira
Land subsidence super-imposed on resistivity data from airborne electromagnetics (AEM). Resistivity is related to lithology. Warm colors indicate sands and gravels, and cool colors indicate clays.