Contribution of global groundwater depletion since 1900 to sea-level rise

Konikow, Leonard F.

doi:10.1029/2011gl048604

Cited by 395 publications

(325 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…According with Konikow (2011), global groundwater depletion during 1900-2008 is estimated on ∼ 4,500 km3, and may explain 12.6 mm of sea level rise. There is fairly literature on recent regional estimates of groundwater depletion from GRACE (started in 2002), but scarce long-term data series are available and a more local scale data is needed for model calibration (Konikow, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Groundwater intensive use and mining in south-eastern peninsular Spain: Hydrogeological, economic and social aspects

Custódio

Andreu-Rodes

Aragón

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Groundwater intensive use and mining in south-eastern peninsular Spain: Hydrogeological, economic and social aspects

Custódio

Andreu-Rodes

Aragón

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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“…The previous work suggests that a rapid increase in the contribution of GWD to SLR has occurred in recent decades (0.31-0.57 mm yr −1 ) [7][8][9] . An increasing contribution from land waters to SLR is in fact noted in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5) 4 ; however, the uncertainty remains substantially large.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The method also ignores the compensating effects of pumping in other hydrologic fluxes, such as groundwater recharge and discharge, and as such does not represent a net contribution to SLR. Alternatively, a volumebased study 8 estimated a smaller global GWD of 145 (±39) km 3 yr −1 (0.41 ± 0.1 mm yr −1 ) during [2000][2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008]. This method used direct evidence of groundwater storage changes from in situ groundwater-level observations, calibrated groundwater modelling and GRACE satellite-based water storage data [23][24][25] Table 1).…”

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confidence: 99%

Fate of water pumped from underground and contributions to sea-level rise

et al. 2016

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The contributions from terrestrial water sources to sea-level rise, other than ice caps and glaciers, are highly uncertain and heavily debated 1-5 . Recent assessments indicate that groundwater depletion (GWD) may become the most important positive terrestrial contribution 6-10 over the next 50 years, probably equal in magnitude to the current contributions from glaciers and ice caps 6 . However, the existing estimates assume that nearly 100% of groundwater extracted eventually ends up in the oceans. Owing to limited knowledge of the pathways and mechanisms governing the ultimate fate of pumped groundwater, the relative fraction of global GWD that contributes to sea-level rise remains unknown. Here, using a coupled climate-hydrological model 11,12 simulation, we show that only 80% of GWD ends up in the ocean. An increase in runo to the ocean accounts for roughly two-thirds, whereas the remainder results from the enhanced net flux of precipitation minus evaporation over the ocean, due to increased atmospheric vapour transport from the land to the ocean. The contribution of GWD to global sea-level rise amounted to 0.02 (±0.004) mm yr −1 in 1900 and increased to 0.27 (±0.04) mm yr −1 in 2000. This indicates that existing studies have substantially overestimated the contribution of GWD to global sea-level rise by a cumulative amount of at least 10 mm during the twentieth century and early twenty-first century. With other terrestrial water contributions included, we estimate the net terrestrial water contribution during the period 1993-2010 to be +0.12 (±0.04) mm yr −1 , suggesting that the net terrestrial water contribution reported in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report report is probably overestimated by a factor of three.Sea-level rise (SLR) is a direct effect of climate change, through the thermal expansion of ocean waters and the contribution of melt water from ice sheets, ice caps and glaciers. In an initial assessment 13 , the net contribution of sub-polar terrestrial water storage change to global sea-level variation was highly uncertain and heavily debated [14][15][16][17][18]

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“…By using fossil energy, human societies are virtually using ancient water similar to the way some regions of the world are relying on groundwater depletion [e.g., Wada et al, 2010;Konikow, 2011]. In both cases, water either from a recent past or from geological times is mined unsustainably.…”

Section: 1002/2017ef000544mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Groundwater depletion [Konikow, 2011] 0.14 × 10 12 [2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008] Water cost of fossil fuel extraction and processing (this study) 4.64 × 10 8 2013…”

Section: -2005mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient water supports today's energy needs

et al. 2017

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The water footprint for fossil fuels typically accounts for water utilized in mining and fuel processing, whereas the water footprint of biofuels assesses the agricultural water used by crops through their lifetime. Fossil fuels have an additional water footprint that is not easily accounted for: ancient water that was used by plants millions of years ago, before they were transformed into fossil fuel. How much water is mankind using from the past to sustain current energy needs? We evaluate the link between ancient water virtually embodied in fossil fuels to current global energy demands by determining the water demand required to replace fossil fuels with biomass produced with water from the present. Using equal energy units of wood, bioethanol, and biodiesel to replace coal, natural gas, and crude oil, respectively, the resulting water demand is 7.39 × 1013 m3 y−1, approximately the same as the total annual evaporation from all land masses and transpiration from all terrestrial vegetation. Thus, there are strong hydrologic constraints to a reliance on biofuel energy produced with water from the present because the conversion from fossil fuels to biofuels would have a disproportionate and unsustainable impact on the modern water. By using fossil fuels to meet today's energy needs, we are virtually using water from a geological past. The water cycle is insufficient to sustain the production of the fuel presently consumed by human societies. Thus, non‐fuel‐based renewable energy sources are needed to decrease mankind's reliance on fossil fuel energy without placing an overwhelming pressure on global freshwater resources.

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Contribution of global groundwater depletion since 1900 to sea-level rise

Cited by 395 publications

References 27 publications

Groundwater intensive use and mining in south-eastern peninsular Spain: Hydrogeological, economic and social aspects

Groundwater intensive use and mining in south-eastern peninsular Spain: Hydrogeological, economic and social aspects

Fate of water pumped from underground and contributions to sea-level rise

Ancient water supports today's energy needs

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