Status of climate and water resources at Big Bend National Park: Water year 2019

Abstract

Climate and hydrology are major drivers of ecosystem structure and function, particularly in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Understanding changes in climate, groundwater, streamflow, and water quality is central to assessing the condition of park resources. This report combines data collected on climate, groundwater, and springs at Big Bend National Park (NP) to provide an integrated look at climate and water conditions during water year (WY) 2019 (October 2018–September 2019). However, this report does not address the Rio Grande or its tributaries. Annual precipitation was higher than normal (1981–2010) for Big Bend NP at four of the five National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Cooperative Observer Program weather stations: 111% of normal for Chisos Basin, 122% of normal for Panther Junction, 155% of normal for Persimmon Gap, and 124% of normal for Rio Grande Village. Castolon had 88% of normal annual precipitation. All five stations had higher than normal rainfall in October and December, while rainfall totals were substantially below normal at all stations in November, February, and March. Monthly precipitation totals for April through September were more variable from station to station. Mean monthly maximum air temperatures were below normal in the fall months, with Panther Junction as much as 7.5°F below normal in October. Monthly temperatures from January through July were more variable. Temperatures in August and September were warmer than normal at every station, up to +9.4°F at Rio Grande Village and +8.7°F at Chisos Basin in July. The reconnaissance drought index values indicate generally wetter conditions (based on precipitation and evaporative demand) at Chisos Basin since WY2016 and at Panther Junction and Persimmon Gap since WY2015, except for WY2017. This report presents the manual and automatic groundwater monitoring results at nine wells. Five wells had their highest water level in or just before WY2019: Panther Junction #10 peaked at 99.94 ft below ground surface (bgs) in September 2018, Contractor’s Well peaked at 31.43 ft bgs in November 2018, T-3 peaked at 65.39 ft bgs in December 2018, K-Bar #6 Observation Well peaked at 77.78 ft bgs in February 2019, and K-Bar #7 Observation Well peaked at 43.18 ft bgs in February 2019. This was likely in response to above normal rainfall in the later summer and fall 2018. The other monitoring wells did not directly track within-season precipitation. The last measurement at Gallery Well in WY2019 was 18.60 ft bgs. Gallery Well is located 120 feet from the river and closely tracked the Rio Grande stage, generally increasing in late summer or early fall following higher flow events. Water levels in Gambusia Well were consistently very shallow, though the manual well measurement collected in April was 4.25 ft bgs—relatively high for the monitoring record—and occurred outside the normal peak period of later summer and early fall. The last manual measurement taken at TH-10 in WY2019 was 34.80 ft bgs, only 0.45 ft higher than the earliest measurement in 1967, consistent with the lack of directional change in groundwater at this location, and apparently decoupled from within-season precipitation patterns. The last water level reading in WY2019 at Oak Springs #1 was 59.91 ft bgs, indicating an overall decrease of 26.08 ft since the well was dug in 1989. The Southwest Network Collaboration (SWNC) collects data on sentinel springs annually in the late winter and early spring following the network springs monitoring protocol. In WY2019, 18 sentinel site springs were visited at Big Bend NP (February 21, 2019–March 09, 2019). Most springs had relatively few indications of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Natural disturbances included recent flooding, drying, and wildlife use. Anthropogenic disturbances included flow modifications (e.g., springboxes), hiking trails, and contemporary human use. Crews observed one to seven facultative/obligate wetland plant...