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MODFLOW-NWT model used to simulate water-table and freshwater/saltwater interface response to climate-change-driven sea-level rise and changes in recharge at Fire Island National Seashore, New York

Metadata Updated: October 1, 2025

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service (NPS), developed a three-dimensional groundwater-flow model to simulate climate-change-related changes in depth to the water table and depth to freshwater/saltwater interfaces for the Fire Island National Seashore, New York. An existing SEAWAT three-dimensional variable-density groundwater flow and transport model (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20095259) was converted to a MODFLOW–NWT three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater model with the Seawater Intrusion (SWI2) package and recalibrated using the UCODE_2005 automatic calibration software. A management goal for the Fire Island National Seashore is to increase the resiliency and capacity of coastal habitat and infrastructure to withstand storms and reduce the amount of damage caused by major storms. To facilitate management of ecohydrological effects and to increase understanding of the relation between sea-level rise and groundwater, as it relates to the ecology of the maritime forests and other vegetated areas on the island, the NPS requires hydrologic information. Accelerated sea-level rise, storms, rising temperatures, and changes in patterns of precipitation are all expected to drive considerable ecological changes. This model was used to evaluate three sea-level rise scenarios with 0.2-, 0.4-, and 0.6-meter increases above the 2015 level, applied to the existing topography. An additional high-recharge scenario, with the 0.6-meter increase, was created by increasing 2015 recharge rates by 10 percent. Understanding the possible effects of sea-level rise and changes in recharge on groundwater resources will allow the NPS to allocate scarce resources to best prepare for and manage climate-change-driven changes in the groundwater system and the subsequent effects on seashore ecosystems. This USGS data release contains all of the input and output files for the simulations described in the associated model documentation report (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20205117).

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 September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 1, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 1, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-6ec10aa3-6f43-4fcc-8121-2de42d126e00
Data Last Modified 2021-07-12T00:00:00Z
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://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-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 5c91367b-e014-4646-a97b-5fb2879344f7
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -73.318739, 40.588691 , -72.739250 , 40.785228
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 8d4a423a4989ec9455f098a32d942a1fe2746c08cab9659ede47c1d8dad8d070
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -73.318739, 40.588691 , -73.318739, 40.785228, -72.739250 , 40.785228, -72.739250 , 40.588691 , -73.318739, 40.588691 }

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