| Abstract: | A late-winter cyclone classified as one of the most intense of the 20th century moved across the Southeastern states of Georgia and South Carolina and onto the Northeast during March 12-14, 1993. Record low barometric pressures were recorded in Augusta, Georgia (28.93 inches of mercury) and Columbia, South Carolina (28.63 inches of mercury) on March 13,1993, and pressures returned to normal values (near 3D inches of mercury) within one day following these record lows. This relatively unusual event provided an opportunity to examine the attendant water-level response in continuously monitored ground-water wells in regional Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Blue Ridge aquifers in the Southeast. Water levels in all wells examined responded inversely to the short duration, extreme drop in barometric pressure. Barometric efficiencies (??ground-water level/??barometric-pressure level) calculated were dependent on depth to screened- or open-interval midpoint (highest correlation coefficient, r2 = 0.89) and, to a lesser extent, total thickness of confining material above the aquifer tapped (highest r2 = 0.65). Wells in crystalline-rock aquifers had a correlation with depth to open-interval midpoint (r2 = 0.89) similar to the sedimentary aquifers examined. The magnitude of barometric efficiency was also strongly related to a well‘s increased distance from aquifer outcrop areas in the Cretaceous aquifers in South Carolina (r2 = 0.95) and the upper Brunswick aquifer in Georgia (r2 = 0.90), because these aquifers are more deeply buried toward the coast. This relation between barometric efficiency, well depth, and extent of confinement suggests that barometric efficiency determinations can provide useful information to hydrologists concerned with examining an aquifer‘s degree of confinement and corresponding isolation from land surface, particularly when the aquifer is used as a source for public supply. |
| Genre: | Article |
| ProdID: | 70018153 |
| Citation Author: | Landmeyer, J. E. |
| Citation Contributing Office: | |
| Citation Datum: | |
| Citation Day: | |
| Citation Edition: | |
| Citation Editor: | |
| Citation End Page: | 924 |
| Citation Issue: | 5 |
| Citation Keywords: | |
| Citation Language: | English |
| Citation Larger Work Title: | Ground Water |
| Citation LatN: | |
| Citation LatS: | |
| Citation LonE: | |
| Citation LonW: | |
| Citation Month: | |
| Citation No Pagination: | |
| Citation Number Of Pages: | 8 |
| Citation Online Only Flag: | |
| Citation Phsyical Description: | |
| Citation Projection: | |
| Citation Public Comments: | |
| Citation Publisher: | |
| Citation Series: | |
| Citation Series Code: | |
| Citation Series Number: | |
| Citation Search Results Text: | Aquifer Response to Record Low Barometric Pressures in the Southeastern United States; 1996; Article; Journal; Ground Water; Landmeyer, J. E. |
| Citation Start Page: | 917 |
| Citation Volume: | 34 |
| Citation Year: | 1996 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Aquifer Response to Record Low Barometric Pressures in the Southeastern United States; 1996; Article; Journal; Ground Water; Landmeyer, J. E. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg |
| Date Other: | Mon, 1 Jan 1996 00:00 -0600 |
| Publisher: | |
