Evaluation of groundwater storage monitoring with the GRACE satellite: Case study of the High Plains aquifer, central United States

Strassberg, Gil; Scanlon, Bridget R.; Chambers, D. P.

doi:10.1029/2008wr006892

Cited by 189 publications

(164 citation statements)

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“…Despite the large amount of groundwater withdrawn from the HPA, quantification of long-term groundwater depletion using GRACE has been more complicated, due to the irregular shape and south-north orientation of the aquifer and difficulty in accurate separation of HPA groundwater signal from surrounding TWS changes. However, a few previous studies (Strassberg et al 2009;Longuevergne et al 2010) show that GRACE-estimated GWS changes are highly correlated with those from detailed groundwater level monitoring data, indicating that GRACE is capable of detecting long-term GWS in the HPA region (Rodell and Famiglietti 2002). Through analyzing GRACE data and GLDAS Noah model estimates for the period 2003-2013, a recent study (Breña-Naranjo et al 2014) shows persistent declines in groundwater storage across the HPA at an average rate of 12.5 ± 0.4 km 3 /year.…”

Section: Groundwater Depletions In Other Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, GRACE measurements have indeed captured some interesting long-term regional groundwater changes over the world that can be verified by either in situ groundwater level data or analysis of precipitation data. GRACE-observed long-term regional groundwater changes include significant groundwater depletion in northwest and northern India (Rodell et al 2009;Tiwari et al 2009;Chen et al 2014), the Middle East Joodaki et al 2014), California's Central Valley Scanlon et al 2012a), and the southern MDB in Australia (Leblanc et al 2009Chen et al 2015a), and lower groundwater depletions in the NCP in China ) and HPA in the USA (Strassberg et al 2009;Scanlon et al 2012b;Famiglietti and Rodell 2013). (Geruo et al 2013).…”

Section: Groundwater Depletion From Gracementioning

confidence: 99%

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Groundwater Storage Changes: Present Status from GRACE Observations

Chen

Famigliett

Scanlon

et al. 2016

Space Sciences Series of ISSI

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Satellite gravity measurements from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) provide quantitative measurement of terrestrial water storage (TWS) changes with unprecedented accuracy. Combining GRACE-observed TWS changes and independent estimates of water change in soil and snow and surface reservoirs offers a means for estimating groundwater storage change. Since its launch in March 2002, GRACE time-variable gravity data have been successfully used to quantify long-term groundwater storage changes in different regions over the world, including northwest India, the High Plains Aquifer and the Central Valley in the USA, the North China Plain, Middle East, and southern Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, where groundwater storage has been significantly depleted in recent years (or decades). It is difficult to rely on in situ groundwater measurements for accurate quantification of large, regional-scale groundwater storage changes, especially at long timescales due to inadequate spatial and temporal coverage of in situ data and uncertainties in storage coefficients. The now nearly 13 years of GRACE gravity data provide a successful and unique complementary tool for monitoring and measuring groundwater changes on a global and regional basis. Despite the successful applications of GRACE in studying global groundwater storage change, there are still some major challenges limiting the application and interpretation of GRACE data. In this paper, we present an overview of GRACE applications in groundwater studies and discuss if and how the main challenges to using GRACE data can be addressed.

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Section: Groundwater Depletions In Other Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Groundwater Depletion From Gracementioning

confidence: 99%

Groundwater Storage Changes: Present Status from GRACE Observations

Chen

Famigliett

Scanlon

et al. 2016

Space Sciences Series of ISSI

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“…In the HP, estimated GWS changes from GRACE data are highly correlated with those from detailed groundwater level monitoring data (∼1,000 wells, r 2 from 0.7 to 0.8) (12,32). In the CV, GWS depletion during the late 2000s drought calculated from GRACE data (6-8 km 3 /y totaling 24-34 km 3 from April 2006 to March 2010) is similar or lower than depletions estimated from groundwater modeling for previous droughts (1976-1977; 12 km 3 /y; 1987-1992; 8 km 3 /y) (11,13,14).…”

Section: Comparison Of General Attributes Of the Hp-and Cvirrigated Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Groundwater depletion and sustainability of irrigation in the US High Plains and Central Valley

Scanlon

Faunt

Longuevergne

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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International audienceAquifer overexploitation could significantly impact crop production in the United States because 60% of irrigation relies on groundwater. Groundwater depletion in the irrigated High Plains and California Central Valley accounts for ∼50% of groundwater depletion in the United States since 1900. A newly developed High Plains recharge map shows that high recharge in the northern High Plains results in sustainable pumpage, whereas lower recharge in the central and southern High Plains has resulted in focused depletion of 330 km3 of fossil groundwater, mostly recharged during the past 13,000 y. Depletion is highly localized with about a third of depletion occurring in 4% of the High Plains land area. Extrapolation of the current depletion rate suggests that 35% of the southern High Plains will be unable to support irrigation within the next 30 y. Reducing irrigation withdrawals could extend the lifespan of the aquifer but would not result in sustainable management of this fossil groundwater. The Central Valley is a more dynamic, engineered system, with north/south diversions of surface water since the 1950s contributing to ∼7× higher recharge. However, these diversions are regulated because of impacts on endangered species. A newly developed Central Valley Hydrologic Model shows that groundwater depletion since the 1960s, totaling 80 km3, occurs mostly in the south (Tulare Basin) and primarily during droughts. Increasing water storage through artificial recharge of excess surface water in aquifers by up to 3 km3 shows promise for coping with droughts and improving sustainability of groundwater resources in the Central Valley

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“…The GLDAS LSMs have been most widely used to separate the GWS components from the GRACE TWS variations (see e.g. Yeh et al 2006;Rodell et al 2007Rodell et al , 2009Strassberg et al 2009;Tiwari et al 2009;Famiglietti et al 2011;Scanlon et al 2012;Huang et al 2012;Feng et al 2013;Huang et al 2015). They are arguably considered as the state-of-art LSM models.…”

Section: Land Surface Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main weakness of GRACE is the coarse spatial resolution of about 400 km, which makes it challenging to link GRACE estimation to point-scale ground observation. The GRACE measurements have shown good agreement with in-situ soil moisture and groundwater observations over large regions, and have been successfully used to study groundwater depletion trends in large water basins, sub-basins, regions and subregions worldwide (Yeh et al 2006;Rodell et al 2007Rodell et al , 2009Swenson et al 2008a;Strassberg et al 2009;Tiwari et al 2009;Wada et al 2010;Famiglietti et al 2011;Scanlon et al 2012;Feng et al 2013;Huang et al 2015). These studies are mostly based on monthly GRACE models.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping groundwater storage variations with GRACE: a case study in Alberta, Canada

et al. 2016

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The applicability of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) to adequately represent broad-scale patterns of groundwater storage (GWS) variations and observed trends in groundwater-monitoring well levels (GWWL) is examined in the Canadian province of Alberta. GWS variations are derived over Alberta for the period 2002-2014 using the Release 05 (RL05) monthly GRACE gravity models and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) land-surface models. Twelve mean monthly GWS variation maps are generated from the 139 monthly GWS variation grids to characterize the annual GWS variation pattern. These maps show that, overall, GWS increases from February to June, and decreases from July to October, and slightly increases from November to December. For 2002-2014, the GWS showed a positive trend which increases from west to east with a mean value of 12 mm/year over the province. The resulting GWS variations are validated using GWWLs in the province. For the purpose of validation, a GRACE total water storage (TWS)-based correlation criterion is introduced to identify groundwater wells which adequately represent the regional GWS variations. GWWLs at 36 wells were found to correlate with both the GRACE TWS and GWS variations. A factor f is defined to up-scale the GWWL variations at the identified wells to the GRACE-scale GWS variations. It is concluded that the GWS variations can be mapped by GRACE and the GLDAS models in some situations, thus demonstrating the conditions where GWS variations can be detected by GRACE in Alberta.

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Evaluation of groundwater storage monitoring with the GRACE satellite: Case study of the High Plains aquifer, central United States

Cited by 189 publications

References 31 publications

Groundwater Storage Changes: Present Status from GRACE Observations

Groundwater Storage Changes: Present Status from GRACE Observations

Groundwater depletion and sustainability of irrigation in the US High Plains and Central Valley

Mapping groundwater storage variations with GRACE: a case study in Alberta, Canada

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