Seasonally Frozen Ground and Groundwater Recharge
Seasonally, frozen ground covers approximately one‑third of the conterminous United States, causing increased winter runoff and reduced potential groundwater recharge. The temporal and spatial distribution of frozen ground is expected to change as the climate warms. The USGS Groundwater Resources Program combined satellite remote sensing and ground truth measurements to investigate seasonally frozen ground and recharge at local to regional scales in the Columbia Plateau, Washington and Oregon, and the Snake River Plain, Idaho.