Vital Sign Monitoring: Groundwater Dynamics
Description & Rational
The National Park Service working with the U.S. Geological Survey to assess groundwater at American Memorial Park
Ground water is the primary source of water for ecologically significant and often rare habitats in the PACN, including wetlands, anchialine pool systems, and springs and seeps, and for municipal and agricultural water supplies. Volcanic and carbonate rock aquifers in the Pacific are highly permeable and unconfined making them vulnerable to contamination. Accordingly, seawater intrusion into ground-water aquifers along the coastal margins of the islands is commensurately high, and is the primary limitation to the development of ground-water resources. There are numerous potential threats and stressors that could, individually and/or collectively, negatively affect ground-water-dependent habitats and ecosystems by increasing ground-water salinity in the nearshore environment. Long-term ground-water monitoring data are necessary to predict responses of island aquifers and natural ecosystems to changes in sea level, climate change, groundwater withdrawals, and land use related to urban development. These data can be used to establish trends and to develop models that predict future conditions, and potentially detect groundwater-supply problems for ecosystems, habitats, and species that have a relationship to ground-water supply (both quantity and spatial extent). This information is critical to park resource managers for protecting and managing wetlands and other groundwater-dependent resources.
Brief Monitoring Questions & Objectives
Question: What are the seasonal trends in ground-water levels and salinity?
Question: What are the long-term trends in ground-water levels and salinity?
Objectives:The primary objective of the ground-water monitoring is to collect data necessary to define seasonal and long-term changes in water levels and salinity of aquifers that underlie PACN parks. Salinity monitoring is a critical element as changes in salinity can signal potential impacts to water supplies and biota. Data will be collected from existing monitoring wells at selected sites within and near PACN parks. Sea-level rise, climate change, and urbanization affect ground water in different ways and on different time scales. Protocols for the collection and analysis of ancillary data necessary to determine the effects of sea-level rise, climate change, and urbanization on ground water and aquatic ecosystems are to be initiated at a later date.
Vital Sign Monitoring Status & Trends
The Ground-Water Hydrology monitoring protocol is in peer review.
Groundwater measurement equipment being installed for monitoring
Products and Related Links:
- Protocol Documents (in development)
Education and Outreach:
- Ground-Water Hydrology Monitoring Movie – Coming Soon!
- Ground-Water Hydrology Photo Gallery - Coming Soon!
Contact Information
Project Manager
Tahzay Jones, Aquatic Ecologist
Pacific Islands Network, I&M Program
National Park Service
PO Box 52, Hawaii National Park, HI 96718
Tahzay_Jones <at> nps.gov
