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| Submitter's Name |
Wesley Henson |
| Session Name |
Posters - Hydrology |
| Category |
Hydrology |
| Poster Number |
21 |
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| Author(s) |
Wesley Henson, University of Florida, US Geological Survey (Presenting Author) |
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Richard Niswonger,
US Geological Survey |
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Evaluating the Effects of Horizontal Spatial Discretization on Interflow in the Soil Zone Using the Richards and Groundwater Flow Equations |
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Infiltration can accumulate to form perched groundwater within the upper few meters of the soil horizon that drains to streams (interflow). Richards Equation has become a commonly used governing equation for simulating interflow in regional-scale models. Recent research has shown that optimal vertical discretization for Richards Equation near land surface and the water table is much smaller than the discretization typically used in basin-scale hydrologic models, yet little is known about optimal horizontal discretization or potential effects of horizontal discretization on interflow solutions. Most of the work related to the effects of discretization on the solution of Richards Equation has focused on the vertical infiltration problem. This study evaluates horizontal spatial discretization effects on interflow predictions using 1) a modified version of GSFLOW and 2) VS2DT. The modified GSFLOW couples Smith-Parlange 1-D infiltration equations with 3-D unconfined groundwater flow equation, whereas VS2DT uses Richards Equation to represent infiltration and variably saturated flow. Interflow solutions and breakthrough at the stream were compared using various horizontal and vertical grid resolutions
Variable horizontal spatial resolutions affected VS2DT interflow solutions (RMSE up to 0.12) and interflow breakthrough at the stream, whereas GSFLOW solutions were well correlated (RMSE |
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