A Python Tool for Linking Vadose and Saturated Zone Models

A significant issue in groundwater analyses is accounting for flow and transport in the vadose zone. Often, regional-scale groundwater models simplify vadose zone flow and transport processes by external calculation of a recharge rate. Alternatively, analyses can be carried out by modeling vadose zone processes separately from the saturated zone, but tools are needed to translate these fluxes for input into a saturated zone model. We have developed a python tool that translates fluxes simulated with the multiphase subsurface simulator, STOMP (Subsurface Transport Over Multiple Phases) to MODFLOW/MT3DMS. Releases at one or more sites (i.e. STOMP simulations) can be integrated in time and space and incorporated within a single recharge file for MODFLOW, and a single source/sink file for MT3DMS.