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Evapotranspiration Input Data for the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM)

Metadata Updated: February 29, 2024

This digital dataset contains monthly reference evapotranspiration (ETo) data for the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM). The Central Valley encompasses an approximate 50,000 square-kilometer region of California. The complex hydrologic system of the Central Valley is simulated using the USGS numerical modeling code MODFLOW-FMP (Schmid and others, 2006b). This simulation is referred to here as the CVHM (Faunt, 2009). Utilizing MODFLOW-FMP, the CVHM simulates groundwater and surface-water flow, irrigated agriculture, land subsidence, and other key processes in the Central Valley on a monthly basis from 1961-2003. The total active modeled area is 20,334 square-miles on a finite-difference grid comprising 441 rows and 98 columns. Slightly less that 50 percent of the cells are active. The CVHM grid has a uniform horizontal discretization of 1x1 square mile and is oriented parallel to the valley axis, 34 degrees west of north (Faunt, 2009). The main climatic contributors to the CVHM are ETo and precipitation. Data from Parameter-Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) (Climate Source, 2006) provide the temperature and precipitation on a monthly basis for a 2-kilometer grid. Mapping land-use type and distribution is integral to calculating the crop irrigation demand and, ultimately, the water use in the Central Valley. For a given land use, the demand can be calculated from two variables: crop coefficient (Kc) and reference evapotranspiration (ETo). For the CVHM, ETo is calculated from the daily minimum and maximum air temperatures derived from PRISM data and the extraterrestrial solar radiation (Faunt, 2009, p. 151). The CVHM is the most recent regional-scale model of the Central Valley developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The CVHM was developed as part of the USGS Groundwater Resources Program (see "Foreword", Chapter A, page iii, for details).

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date February 29, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date February 29, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/879365669c6a8c3836e7dab3c2b98dda
Identifier USGS:f67e9683-884b-4a89-a444-19351293ed08
Data Last Modified 20201117
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id d902a6df-4b63-402a-9fd9-92d39ef84fc7
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -123.831528,34.519871,-117.916328,40.748631
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 41f405d0e0445138e1ea60a3847641ab5ac4e733d220fc95f4c33f003f35b6e1
Source Schema Version 1.1
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