Joshua Larsen
Joshua Larsen - California Water Science Center
Science and Products
GSFLOW model to extend the San Antonio Creek Integrated Model and simulate future water availability scenarios, San Antonio Creek Valley watershed, Santa Barbara County, California
In the San Antonio Creek Valley Watershed (SACVW) of Santa Barbara County, California, climatic conditions, surface-water diversions, and groundwater withdrawals potentially affect water availability, magnitude of streamflow in San Antonio Creek, and the extent and quality of protected species habitat in the Barka Slough wetland. Future climate in central California may have warmer and...
Public supply water use reanalysis for the 2000-2020 period by HUC12, month, and year for the conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, August 2024)
The U.S. Geological Survey is developing national water-use models to support water resources management in the United States. Model benefits include a nationally consistent estimation approach, greater temporal and spatial resolution of estimates, efficient and automated updates of results, and capabilities to forecast water use into the future and assess model uncertainty. The term...
Total monthly water withdrawals for public supply by 12-digit hydrologic unit in the conterminous United States for 2015
This dataset presents the total estimated monthly public-supply water withdrawal by 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC12) in the conterminous United States for 2015. Public-supply water use was estimated by spatially and temporally downscaling available data from each state. The total represents combined groundwater and surface water withdrawals for 83,178 watersheds. Public supply...
MODFLOW-OWHM model used to simulate groundwater flow and evaluate storage in the Lucerne Valley Groundwater Basin, California
A three-dimensional groundwater flow model, MODFLOW-OWHM, was developed to provide a better understanding of the hydrogeology of the Lucerne Valley Groundwater Basin, California. The model was used to investigate the historical groundwater storage loss and subsidence associated with anthropogenic groundwater demands. The model was calibrated to 1942 through 2016 conditions. This USGS...
Data Release of hydrogeologic data from the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed, Santa Barbara County, California, 2015-2019
The San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW) is located in western Santa Barbara County about 15 miles (mi) south of Santa Maria, California and 55 mi north of Santa Barbara, California. The SACVW, is about 140 square miles and encompasses the San Antonio Creek Valley groundwater basin. Since the late 1800s, groundwater has been the primary source of water for agricultural, military...
Hydrologic data in Hinkley and Water Valleys, San Bernardino County, California, 2015-2018
Data were collected to help define hydrologic controls on groundwater movement as part of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study on background concentrations of hexavalent chromium in groundwater aquifers near Hinkley, California. Most data associated with the background study are available through the National Water Information System (NWIS) website, and GeoLog Locator. This product is...
Simulated effects of future water availability and protected species habitat in a perennial wetland, Santa Barbara County, California
This study evaluates the potential water availability in Barka Slough and the effects of changing hydrological conditions on the aquatic habitat of five protected species. Barka Slough is a historically perennial wetland at the downstream western end of the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW). A previously published hydrologic model of the SACVW for 1948–2018 was extended to...
Authors
Geoffrey Cromwell, Daniel Philip Culling, Matthew J. Young, Joshua Larsen
Next generation public supply water withdrawal estimation for the conterminous United States using machine learning and operational frameworks
Estimation of human water withdrawals is more important now than ever due to uncertain water supplies, population growth, and climate change. Fourteen percent of the total water withdrawal in the United States is used for public supply, typically including deliveries to domestic, commercial, and occasionally including industrial, irrigation, and thermoelectric water withdrawal. Stewards...
Authors
Ayman H. Alzraiee, Richard G. Niswonger, Carol L. Luukkonen, Joshua Larsen, Donald Martin, Deidre Mary Herbert, Cheryl A. Buchwald, Cheryl A. Dieter, Lisa D. Miller, Jana S. Stewart, Natalie A. Houston, Scott Paulinski, Kristen J. Valseth
Development and evaluation of public-supply community water service area boundaries for the conterminous United States
The water service area dataset, derived from the National Boundary Dataset for public-supply water systems in the United States, offers a detailed resolution surpassing county-level assessments, emphasizing water-centric land use. Crucial for linking populations and infrastructure to system withdrawals, it supports the creation of a national public-supply water-use model, enhancing...
Authors
Cheryl A. Buchwald, Natalie A. Houston, Jana S. Stewart, Ayman H. Alzraiee, Richard G. Niswonger, Joshua Larsen
An agricultural package for MODFLOW 6 using the Application Programming Interface
An agricultural water use package has been developed for MODFLOW 6 using the MODFLOW Application Programming Interface (API). The MODFLOW API Agricultural Water Use Package (API-Ag) was based on the approach to simulate irrigation demand in the MODFLOW-NWT and GSFLOW Agricultural Water Use (AG) Package. The API-Ag Package differs from the previous approach by implementing new features...
Authors
Joshua Larsen, Christian D. Langevin, Joseph D. Hughes, Richard G. Niswonger
FloPy workflows for creating structured and unstructured MODFLOW models
FloPy is a popular Python package for creating, running, and post-processing MODFLOW-based groundwater flow and transport models. FloPy functionality has expanded to support the latest version of MODFLOW (MODFLOW 6) including support for unstructured grids. FloPy can be used to download MODFLOW-based and other executables for Linux, MacOS, and Windows operating systems, which simplifies...
Authors
Joseph D. Hughes, Christian D. Langevin, Scott Paulinski, Joshua Larsen, David Brakenhoff
Heavy: Software for forward-modeling gravity change from MODFLOW output
Fortran software, named Heavy, was developed to simulate gravity change due to water-storage change in MODFLOW groundwater models. Heavy is compatible with MODFLOW-2005 and MODFLOW-NWT models using the layer-property flow or upstream weighting packages. All of the necessary information for the gravity calculation—the geometry of the model cells, the storage coefficient, and head change...
Authors
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Joshua Larsen
Predevelopment water levels, groundwater recharge, and selected hydrologic properties of aquifer materials, Hinkley and Water Valleys, California
Hydrologic and geophysical data were collected to support updates to an existing groundwater-flow model of Hinkley Valley, California, in the Mojave Desert about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. These data provide information on predevelopment (pre-1930) water levels, groundwater recharge, and selected hydrologic properties of aquifer materials.A predevelopment groundwater...
Authors
Krishangi D. Groover, John A. Izbicki, Whitney A. Seymour, Anthony A. Brown, E. Randall Bayless, Carole D. Johnson, Katherine L. Pappas, Gregory A. Smith, Dennis A. Clark, Joshua Larsen, Meghan C. Dick, Lorraine E. Flint, Christina Stamos-Pfeiffer, John G. Warden
Hydrogeology and simulation of groundwater flow in the Lucerne Valley groundwater basin, California
The Lucerne Valley is in the southwestern part of the Mojave Desert and is about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. The Lucerne Valley groundwater basin encompasses about 230 square miles and is separated from the Upper Mojave Valley groundwater basin by splays of the Helendale Fault. Since its settlement, groundwater has been the primary source of water for agricultural...
Authors
Christina Stamos-Pfeiffer, Joshua Larsen, Robert E. Powell, Jonathan C. Matti, Peter Martin
Integrated hydrologic model development and postprocessing for GSFLOW using pyGSFLOW
pyGSFLOW is a python package designed to create new GSFLOW integrated hydrologic models, read existing models, edit model input data, run GSFLOW models, process output, and visualize model data.
Authors
Joshua Larsen, Ayman H. Alzraiee, Richard G. Niswonger
Simulation of groundwater and surface-water resources of the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed, Santa Barbara County, California
In the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW), western Santa Barbara County, California, groundwater is the primary source of water for agricultural irrigation, the town of Los Alamos, and supplemental water to Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB). Groundwater pumpage has increased since the 1970s as non-irrigated agricultural land has been converted to irrigated land and as local...
Authors
Linda R. Woolfenden, John A. Engott, Joshua Larsen, Geoffrey Cromwell
Hydrogeologic characterization of the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed, Santa Barbara County, California
The San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW) is located in western Santa Barbara County, about 15 miles south of Santa Maria and 55 miles north of Santa Barbara, California. The SACVW is about 135 square miles and encompasses the San Antonio Creek Valley groundwater basin; the SACVW is separated from adjacent groundwater basins by the Casmalia and Solomon Hills to the north, and the...
Authors
Geoffrey Cromwell, Donald S. Sweetkind, Jill N. Densmore, John A. Engott, Whitney A. Seymour, Joshua Larsen, Christopher Palumbo Ely, Christina Stamos-Pfeiffer, Dianna M. Crilley
Improving groundwater model calibration with repeat microgravity measurements
Groundwater-flow models depend on hydraulic head and flux observations for evaluation and calibration. A different type of observation—change in storage measured using repeat microgravity—can also be used for parameter estimation by simulating the expected change in gravity from a groundwater model and including the observation misfit in the objective function. The method is demonstrated...
Authors
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Libby M. Wildermuth, Jacob E. Knight, Joshua Larsen
Python for Hydrology Self Study Curriculum
This repository contains study materials for python programming for hydrologic applications and a focus on groundwater modeling with flopy. The materials are used in an in-person curriculum at the USGS and provided here for reference for the larger hydrologic community.
Heavy
Heavy is a Fortran program for calculating the change in gravity caused by the change in groundwater storage as predicted by a MODFLOW groundwater-flow model. Gravity change is calculated relative to the initial time step at user-specified locations (e.g., measurement locations). At each location, the gravitational attraction is the sum of the attraction caused by storage change...
pyGSFLOW v1.0.0
Python package software release for pyGSFLOW. pyGSFLOW is a python package to create, read, write, edit, and visualize GSFLOW models. Source code, examples, installation instructions, and documentation can be found at https://github.com/pygsflow/pygsflow
Science and Products
GSFLOW model to extend the San Antonio Creek Integrated Model and simulate future water availability scenarios, San Antonio Creek Valley watershed, Santa Barbara County, California
In the San Antonio Creek Valley Watershed (SACVW) of Santa Barbara County, California, climatic conditions, surface-water diversions, and groundwater withdrawals potentially affect water availability, magnitude of streamflow in San Antonio Creek, and the extent and quality of protected species habitat in the Barka Slough wetland. Future climate in central California may have warmer and...
Public supply water use reanalysis for the 2000-2020 period by HUC12, month, and year for the conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, August 2024)
The U.S. Geological Survey is developing national water-use models to support water resources management in the United States. Model benefits include a nationally consistent estimation approach, greater temporal and spatial resolution of estimates, efficient and automated updates of results, and capabilities to forecast water use into the future and assess model uncertainty. The term...
Total monthly water withdrawals for public supply by 12-digit hydrologic unit in the conterminous United States for 2015
This dataset presents the total estimated monthly public-supply water withdrawal by 12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC12) in the conterminous United States for 2015. Public-supply water use was estimated by spatially and temporally downscaling available data from each state. The total represents combined groundwater and surface water withdrawals for 83,178 watersheds. Public supply...
MODFLOW-OWHM model used to simulate groundwater flow and evaluate storage in the Lucerne Valley Groundwater Basin, California
A three-dimensional groundwater flow model, MODFLOW-OWHM, was developed to provide a better understanding of the hydrogeology of the Lucerne Valley Groundwater Basin, California. The model was used to investigate the historical groundwater storage loss and subsidence associated with anthropogenic groundwater demands. The model was calibrated to 1942 through 2016 conditions. This USGS...
Data Release of hydrogeologic data from the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed, Santa Barbara County, California, 2015-2019
The San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW) is located in western Santa Barbara County about 15 miles (mi) south of Santa Maria, California and 55 mi north of Santa Barbara, California. The SACVW, is about 140 square miles and encompasses the San Antonio Creek Valley groundwater basin. Since the late 1800s, groundwater has been the primary source of water for agricultural, military...
Hydrologic data in Hinkley and Water Valleys, San Bernardino County, California, 2015-2018
Data were collected to help define hydrologic controls on groundwater movement as part of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study on background concentrations of hexavalent chromium in groundwater aquifers near Hinkley, California. Most data associated with the background study are available through the National Water Information System (NWIS) website, and GeoLog Locator. This product is...
Simulated effects of future water availability and protected species habitat in a perennial wetland, Santa Barbara County, California
This study evaluates the potential water availability in Barka Slough and the effects of changing hydrological conditions on the aquatic habitat of five protected species. Barka Slough is a historically perennial wetland at the downstream western end of the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW). A previously published hydrologic model of the SACVW for 1948–2018 was extended to...
Authors
Geoffrey Cromwell, Daniel Philip Culling, Matthew J. Young, Joshua Larsen
Next generation public supply water withdrawal estimation for the conterminous United States using machine learning and operational frameworks
Estimation of human water withdrawals is more important now than ever due to uncertain water supplies, population growth, and climate change. Fourteen percent of the total water withdrawal in the United States is used for public supply, typically including deliveries to domestic, commercial, and occasionally including industrial, irrigation, and thermoelectric water withdrawal. Stewards...
Authors
Ayman H. Alzraiee, Richard G. Niswonger, Carol L. Luukkonen, Joshua Larsen, Donald Martin, Deidre Mary Herbert, Cheryl A. Buchwald, Cheryl A. Dieter, Lisa D. Miller, Jana S. Stewart, Natalie A. Houston, Scott Paulinski, Kristen J. Valseth
Development and evaluation of public-supply community water service area boundaries for the conterminous United States
The water service area dataset, derived from the National Boundary Dataset for public-supply water systems in the United States, offers a detailed resolution surpassing county-level assessments, emphasizing water-centric land use. Crucial for linking populations and infrastructure to system withdrawals, it supports the creation of a national public-supply water-use model, enhancing...
Authors
Cheryl A. Buchwald, Natalie A. Houston, Jana S. Stewart, Ayman H. Alzraiee, Richard G. Niswonger, Joshua Larsen
An agricultural package for MODFLOW 6 using the Application Programming Interface
An agricultural water use package has been developed for MODFLOW 6 using the MODFLOW Application Programming Interface (API). The MODFLOW API Agricultural Water Use Package (API-Ag) was based on the approach to simulate irrigation demand in the MODFLOW-NWT and GSFLOW Agricultural Water Use (AG) Package. The API-Ag Package differs from the previous approach by implementing new features...
Authors
Joshua Larsen, Christian D. Langevin, Joseph D. Hughes, Richard G. Niswonger
FloPy workflows for creating structured and unstructured MODFLOW models
FloPy is a popular Python package for creating, running, and post-processing MODFLOW-based groundwater flow and transport models. FloPy functionality has expanded to support the latest version of MODFLOW (MODFLOW 6) including support for unstructured grids. FloPy can be used to download MODFLOW-based and other executables for Linux, MacOS, and Windows operating systems, which simplifies...
Authors
Joseph D. Hughes, Christian D. Langevin, Scott Paulinski, Joshua Larsen, David Brakenhoff
Heavy: Software for forward-modeling gravity change from MODFLOW output
Fortran software, named Heavy, was developed to simulate gravity change due to water-storage change in MODFLOW groundwater models. Heavy is compatible with MODFLOW-2005 and MODFLOW-NWT models using the layer-property flow or upstream weighting packages. All of the necessary information for the gravity calculation—the geometry of the model cells, the storage coefficient, and head change...
Authors
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Joshua Larsen
Predevelopment water levels, groundwater recharge, and selected hydrologic properties of aquifer materials, Hinkley and Water Valleys, California
Hydrologic and geophysical data were collected to support updates to an existing groundwater-flow model of Hinkley Valley, California, in the Mojave Desert about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. These data provide information on predevelopment (pre-1930) water levels, groundwater recharge, and selected hydrologic properties of aquifer materials.A predevelopment groundwater...
Authors
Krishangi D. Groover, John A. Izbicki, Whitney A. Seymour, Anthony A. Brown, E. Randall Bayless, Carole D. Johnson, Katherine L. Pappas, Gregory A. Smith, Dennis A. Clark, Joshua Larsen, Meghan C. Dick, Lorraine E. Flint, Christina Stamos-Pfeiffer, John G. Warden
Hydrogeology and simulation of groundwater flow in the Lucerne Valley groundwater basin, California
The Lucerne Valley is in the southwestern part of the Mojave Desert and is about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. The Lucerne Valley groundwater basin encompasses about 230 square miles and is separated from the Upper Mojave Valley groundwater basin by splays of the Helendale Fault. Since its settlement, groundwater has been the primary source of water for agricultural...
Authors
Christina Stamos-Pfeiffer, Joshua Larsen, Robert E. Powell, Jonathan C. Matti, Peter Martin
Integrated hydrologic model development and postprocessing for GSFLOW using pyGSFLOW
pyGSFLOW is a python package designed to create new GSFLOW integrated hydrologic models, read existing models, edit model input data, run GSFLOW models, process output, and visualize model data.
Authors
Joshua Larsen, Ayman H. Alzraiee, Richard G. Niswonger
Simulation of groundwater and surface-water resources of the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed, Santa Barbara County, California
In the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW), western Santa Barbara County, California, groundwater is the primary source of water for agricultural irrigation, the town of Los Alamos, and supplemental water to Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB). Groundwater pumpage has increased since the 1970s as non-irrigated agricultural land has been converted to irrigated land and as local...
Authors
Linda R. Woolfenden, John A. Engott, Joshua Larsen, Geoffrey Cromwell
Hydrogeologic characterization of the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed, Santa Barbara County, California
The San Antonio Creek Valley watershed (SACVW) is located in western Santa Barbara County, about 15 miles south of Santa Maria and 55 miles north of Santa Barbara, California. The SACVW is about 135 square miles and encompasses the San Antonio Creek Valley groundwater basin; the SACVW is separated from adjacent groundwater basins by the Casmalia and Solomon Hills to the north, and the...
Authors
Geoffrey Cromwell, Donald S. Sweetkind, Jill N. Densmore, John A. Engott, Whitney A. Seymour, Joshua Larsen, Christopher Palumbo Ely, Christina Stamos-Pfeiffer, Dianna M. Crilley
Improving groundwater model calibration with repeat microgravity measurements
Groundwater-flow models depend on hydraulic head and flux observations for evaluation and calibration. A different type of observation—change in storage measured using repeat microgravity—can also be used for parameter estimation by simulating the expected change in gravity from a groundwater model and including the observation misfit in the objective function. The method is demonstrated...
Authors
Jeffrey R. Kennedy, Libby M. Wildermuth, Jacob E. Knight, Joshua Larsen
Python for Hydrology Self Study Curriculum
This repository contains study materials for python programming for hydrologic applications and a focus on groundwater modeling with flopy. The materials are used in an in-person curriculum at the USGS and provided here for reference for the larger hydrologic community.
Heavy
Heavy is a Fortran program for calculating the change in gravity caused by the change in groundwater storage as predicted by a MODFLOW groundwater-flow model. Gravity change is calculated relative to the initial time step at user-specified locations (e.g., measurement locations). At each location, the gravitational attraction is the sum of the attraction caused by storage change...
pyGSFLOW v1.0.0
Python package software release for pyGSFLOW. pyGSFLOW is a python package to create, read, write, edit, and visualize GSFLOW models. Source code, examples, installation instructions, and documentation can be found at https://github.com/pygsflow/pygsflow