Estimation of hydraulic conductivity of a coastal aquifer using satellite imagery

The northern Yucatan Peninsula is characterized by a young and dynamic karstic system that yields very high secondary porosity and permeability. However, we have little, if none, knowledge about the hydraulic conductivity and the amount of groundwater being discharged in to ocean. Here we present and estimation of the hydraulic conductivity and quantity of groundwater being discharged by the northern Yucatan Peninsula coastal aquifer into the Gulf of Mexico, using the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Images offshore the Yucatan coast, where we have detected a thermal anomaly that appears few hours after heavy rainfall in northern Yucatan. We associated these thermal anomalies of the SST to the groundwater being discharged into the ocean. To test our hypothesis we conducted a review of extreme rainfall events in the last 10 years; in parallel we used data from pressure and flow direction gauges installed in a known submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) to estimate the hydraulic conductivity and the quantity of groundwater being discharged. The satellite imagery and the rainfall data, allowed us to estimate the time lag between the rainfall and the SGD beginning, along with the hydraulic data from the gauges we have estimated the hydrogeological parameters of the coastal aquifer. This data is very important to contribute to the understanding the hydrogeological setting of the Yucatan coastal aquifer and its implications of the impact of human activities on the water quality. July 29th, 2005, NOAA's Sea Surface Temperature (SST) image of the Gulf of Mexico taken a week after hurricane Emily (2005). A thermal low is present offshore northern Yucatan.