Jim Butler from the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas provided a great presentation to close the symposium. Jim discussed work being done by the Kansas Geological Survey at monitoring wells that have been set up to collect continuous records of water level and barometric pressure. Although not the initial focus of their studies, they started looking at information that can be obtained from a more intensive look at the relationship between barometric pressure and the water level in a well.
Jim discussed how barometric efficiency has long been utilized to characterize short-term response of a well to changes in barometric pressure, and further, how the barometric response function can be an effective means to characterize longer-term response. “[BRF] characterizes the water-level response over time to a step change in barometric pressure”.
Using well data collected by the Kansas Geological Survey, Jim showed that a program of passive monitoring of water levels and barometric pressure is a promising approach to gaining valuable insights into site hydrostratigraphy, and for the development of important insights for a broad range of hydrogeologic applications.
