Kauaʻi record · KCA-EP-0050
Groundwater recharge
Open this record in the interactive AtlasAbout Groundwater recharge
Downward movement of infiltrated water that replenishes aquifers.
Names and classification
- Other names
- groundwater recharge
- Family
- Hydrology & Freshwater Flow
- Record type
- ecological_process
Habitat and ecology
- Ecological role
- Supports Atlas reasoning about ecosystem function, dependencies, threats, conservation leverage points and cross-module consequences.
Process and seasonal context
- Definition
- Downward movement of infiltrated water that replenishes aquifers.
- Drivers
- rainfall; fog; vegetation; soils; geology; extraction; climate
- Inputs
- rainfall; cloud water; stored water
- Outputs
- evapotranspiration; runoff; recharge; streamflow; groundwater discharge
- Spatial scales
- canopy → soil → aquifer → watershed → coast
- Temporal scales
- minutes → decades
- Validity and limits
- Context-specific; do not extrapolate across habitat, season, elevation, salinity or disturbance state without evidence.