Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2017

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department (Legacy)

Department of Geography and Geosciences

Degree Program

Geography (Applied), MS

Committee Chair

Day, Andrew

Committee Member

Mountain, Keith

Committee Member

French, Mark

Author's Keywords

geography; hydrology; groundwater; Utah; snowpack; watersheds

Abstract

This thesis examined what type of relationship existed between snow water equivalence (SWE) volume and groundwater elevation within six sub-watersheds in Utah. Data was gathered on SWE from seventeen SNOTEL sites and groundwater elevation data was gathered from six continuously monitored groundwater wells. This data was gathered for January through May for 2011, 2013, and 2014 in order to represent the water conditions that were above average, below average, and average respectively. Using MLR formulas the total SWE for each sub-watershed was determined for each year/month. Afterwards a correlation analysis was performed to determine if any association existed between SWE volume and groundwater elevation. It was determined that there were strong negative correlations between SWE volume and groundwater elevation in April and May and that a decrease in SWE volume across one month would result in an increase of groundwater elevation for the subsequent month.

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