Local Groundwater Conditions — Rio Grande–Río Bravo

Groundwater conditions in the Rio Grande–Río Bravo basin were characterized using a historical dataset of monthly groundwater-head simulations. The dataset provides information on the spatial distribution and long-term variability of groundwater levels across the basin. The groundwater dataset is a regional subset of the GLOBGM historical reference simulation, forced with GSWP3-W5E5 meteorological data. The NetCDF dataset used in the BTT contains monthly groundwater-head data from January 1960 through December 2019, providing a total of 720 monthly time steps. Groundwater head is represented by the variable groundwater_head_above_mean_sea_level and is expressed in meters (m). The dataset has a spatial resolution of 0.083333° × 0.083333°, or approximately 10 km, and uses the WGS 84 longitude–latitude coordinate reference system.

The historical monthly groundwater-head series provides a consistent representation of groundwater conditions across the basin over a 60-year period.Groundwater head represents the simulated hydraulic head relative to mean sea level. Higher values indicate a higher hydraulic head, while lower values indicate a lower groundwater head.

Within the BTT, these data can be used to:

1 Interpretation

The groundwater-head values are model-based estimates rather than direct measurements from individual monitoring wells. The approximately 10-km grid provides a basin-scale representation of groundwater conditions and is therefore most appropriate for regional assessment and comparison.