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Concept
Specific storage
Summary
In the field of hydrogeology, storage properties are physical properties that characterize the capacity of an aquifer to release groundwater. These properties are storativity (S), specific storage (Ss) and specific yield (Sy). According to Groundwater, by Freeze and Cherry (1979), specific storage, [m−1], of a saturated aquifer is defined as the volume of water that a unit volume of the aquifer releases from storage under a unit decline in hydraulic head.
They are often determined using some combination of field tests (e.g., aquifer tests) and laboratory tests on aquifer material samples. Recently, these properties have been also determined using remote sensing data derived from Interferometric synthetic-aperture radar.
Storativity or the storage coefficient is the volume of water released from storage per unit decline in hydraulic head in the aquifer, per unit area of the aquifer. Storativity is a dimensionless quantity, and is always greater than 0.
is the volume of water released from storage ([L3]);
is the hydraulic head ([L])
is the specific storage
is the specific yield
is the thickness of aquifer
is the area ([L2])
For a confined aquifer or aquitard, storativity is the vertically integrated specific storage value. Specific storage is the volume of water released from one unit volume of the aquifer under one unit decline in head. This is related to both the compressibility of the aquifer and the compressibility of the water itself. Assuming the aquifer or aquitard is homogeneous:
For an unconfined aquifer, storativity is approximately equal to the specific yield () since the release from specific storage () is typically orders of magnitude less ().
The specific storage is the amount of water that a portion of an aquifer releases from storage, per unit mass or volume of the aquifer, per unit change in hydraulic head, while remaining fully saturated.
Official source
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