Effects of climate change on groundwater system requires understanding the groundwater system in temporal and spatial scales through the long-term monitoring. In this study, the spatio-temporal variations of groundwater were analyzed through the continuous observation of water level, electrical conductivity (EC) and water temperature with automatic data-loggers and sampling in a Gwangneung catchment, Korea, for the four years from 2008 to 2011. Groundwater monitoring were performed at the nest-type wells, MW1 and MW2, located in upsteam and downstream of the catchment, respectively. During the survey period, both the total amount of annual precipitation and the frequency of concentrated rainfall have increased resulting in the elevation of runoff. Water level of MW1 showed no significant fluctuations even during the rainy season, indicating the confined groundwater system. In contrast, that of MW2 showed clear seasonal changes, indicating the unconfined system. The lag-time of temperature at both wells ranged from one to three months depending on the screened depths. Results of chemical analyses indicated that major water compositions were maintained constantly, except for the EC decreases due to the dilution effect. Values of the stable-isotope ratios for oxygen and deuterium were higher at MW2 than MW1, implying the confined system at the upstream area could be locally developed.
Keywords: Groundwater system;Long-term monitoring;Climate change;Stable isotope;Temporal variation;