Temporal and spatial variability of groundwater recharge on Jeju Island, Korea

- Baseline mean island-wide groundwater recharge was computed as 884 mm year−1.
- Baseline recharge rate was computed as 42% and below previous estimates of 44-48%.
- Recharge estimates are conservative and do not include irrigation or other sources.

SummaryEstimates of groundwater recharge spatial and temporal variability are essential inputs to groundwater flow models that are used to test groundwater availability under different management and climate conditions. In this study, a soil water balance analysis was conducted to estimate groundwater recharge on the island of Jeju, Korea, for baseline, drought, and climate-land use change scenarios. The Soil Water Balance (SWB) computer code was used to compute groundwater recharge and other water balance components at a daily time step using a 100 m grid cell size for an 18-year baseline scenario (1992-2009). A 10-year drought scenario was selected from historical precipitation trends (1961-2009), while the climate-land use change scenario was developed using late 21st century climate projections and a change in urban land use. Mean annual recharge under the baseline, drought, and climate-land use scenarios was estimated at 884, 591, and 788 mm, respectively. Under the baseline scenario, mean annual recharge was within the range of previous estimates (825-959 mm) and only slightly lower than the mean of 902 mm. As a fraction of mean annual rainfall, mean annual recharge was computed as only 42% and less than previous estimates of 44-48%. The maximum historical reported annual pumping rate of 241 × 106 m3 equates to 15% of baseline recharge, which is within the range of 14-16% computed from earlier studies. The model does not include a mechanism to account for additional sources of groundwater recharge, such as fog drip, irrigation, and artificial recharge, and may also overestimate evapotranspiration losses. Consequently, the results presented in this study represent a conservative estimate of total recharge.