Increased water storage in North America and Scandinavia from GRACE gravity data

Wang, Hansheng; Jia, Lulu; Steffen, Holger; Wu, Patrick; Jiang, Liming; Hsu, Houtse; Xiang, Lu; Wang, Zhiyong; Hu, Bo

doi:10.1038/ngeo1652

Cited by 76 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Examples of other regions of the cryosphere concerned with documented linear trends include Alaskan mountain glacier melting (Chen et al 2006a;Arendt et al 2013;Larsen et al 2015) and icefield melting in Patagonia (Chen et al 2007b;Ivins et al 2011). Strong linear trends located close to the Hudson Bay have been related to glacial isostatic adjustment (Tamisiea et al 2007), and recent studies focusing on Arctic regions showed that both isostatic and hydrological trends contribute to the observed signals (Frappart et al 2011a;Wang et al 2013). …”

Section: Linear Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Global Water Storage Variability from GRACE: Trends, Seasonal Cycle, Subseasonal Anomalies and Extremes

Humphrey

Gudmundsson

Seneviratne

2016

Remote Sensing and Water Resources

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Throughout the past decade, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has given an unprecedented view on global variations in terrestrial water storage. While an increasing number of case studies have provided a rich overview on regional analyses, a global assessment on the dominant features of GRACE variability is still lacking. To address this, we survey key features of temporal variability in the GRACE record by decomposing gridded time series of monthly equivalent water height into linear trends, inter-annual, seasonal, and subseasonal (intra-annual) components. We provide an overview of the relative importance and spatial distribution of these components globally. A correlation analysis with precipitation and temperature reveals that both the inter-annual and subseasonal anomalies are tightly related to fluctuations in the atmospheric forcing. As a novelty, we show that for large regions of the world high-frequency anomalies in the monthly GRACE signal, which have been partly interpreted as noise, can be statistically reconstructed from daily precipitation once an adequate averaging filter is applied. This filter integrates the temporally decaying contribution of precipitation to the storage changes in any given month, including earlier precipitation. Finally, we also survey extreme dry anomalies in the GRACE record and relate them to documented drought events. This global assessment sets regional studies in a broader context and reveals phenomena that had not been documented so far.

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Section: Linear Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Global Water Storage Variability from GRACE: Trends, Seasonal Cycle, Subseasonal Anomalies and Extremes

Humphrey

Gudmundsson

Seneviratne

2016

Remote Sensing and Water Resources

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“…Based on the propagation law [57], the error variance of the estimated mass balance could be written as:…”

Section: Uncertainty Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

Zhang

Jiang

et al. 2018

Remote Sensing

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Glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) play a crucial role in regulating agriculture irrigation, river discharge and the regional/global climate system. However, mass balance records of TP glaciers have remained scarce due to challenging mountainous terrain and harsh weather conditions, which limits our understanding of the influence of melting glaciers on local water resources and responses to climate change. Here, we present and assess an albedo-based method to derive annual mass balance for three glaciers in the interior TP from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo data during 2000-2016. A strong linear correlation (R 2 = 0.941, P < 0.001) is found between annual minimum-averaged glacier-wide albedo (AMGA) values and annual mass balance measurements on the Xiao Dongkemadi glacier. Furthermore, the 17-year-long annual mass balance series of the Xiao Dongkemadi glacier and the Geladandong mountain region glaciers, and the Purogangri ice cap are reconstructed for the first time, with a mass loss rate of 535 ± 63 mm w.e.a −1 , 243 ± 66 mm w.e.a −1 and 113 ± 68 mm w.e.a −1 , respectively. The results are verified by geodetic estimates, with relative error ranging from 4.55% to 11.80%, confirming that the albedo-based method can be used to estimate specific mass budgets for interior TP glaciers. A strong correlation between the mass balance series and air temperature infers that increasing summer air temperature may be one of main reasons for glacier shrinkage of the three studied glaciers.

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“…Kienzle, 2006; Marengo et al, 2008), remotely sensed (e.g. Wang et al, 2013;Chew and Small, 2014), or experimental catchment data (e.g. Miller et al, 1997;Lange and Hansler, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic assessment of drought termination in the United Kingdom

Parry

Wilby

Prudhomme

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Drought termination can be associated with dramatic transitions from drought to flooding. Greater attention may be given to these newsworthy and memorable events, but drought terminations that proceed gradually also pose challenges for water resource managers. This paper defines drought termination as a distinctive phase of the event. Using observed river flow records for 52 UK catchments, a more systematic and objective approach for detecting drought terminations is demonstrated. The parameters of the approach are informed by a sensitivity analysis that ensures a focus on terminations of multi-season to multi-year droughts. The resulting inventory of 467 drought terminations provides an unprecedented historical perspective on this phenomenon in the UK. Nationally and regionally coherent drought termination events are identifiable, although their characteristics vary both between and within major episodes. Contrasting drought termination events in 1995-1998 and 2009-2012 are examined in greater depth. The data are also used to assess potential linkages between metrics of drought termination and catchment properties. The duration of drought termination is moderately negatively correlated with elevation (r s = −0.47) and catchment average rainfall (r s = −0.42), suggesting that wetter catchments in upland areas of the UK tend to experience shorter drought terminations. More urbanized catchments tend to have gradual drought terminations (contrary to expectations of flashy hydrological response in such areas), although this may also reflect the type of catchments typical of lowland England. Significant correlations are found between the duration of the drought development phase and both the duration (r s = −0.29) and rate (r s = 0.28) of drought termination. This suggests that prolonged drought development phases tend to be followed by shorter and more abrupt drought terminations. The inventory helps to place individual events within a long-term context. The drought termination phase in 2009-2012 was, at the time, regarded as exceptional in terms of magnitude and spatial footprint, but the Thames river flow record identifies several comparable events before 1930. The chronology could, in due course, provide a basis for exploring the complex drivers, long-term variability, and impacts of drought termination events.

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Increased water storage in North America and Scandinavia from GRACE gravity data

Cited by 76 publications

References 27 publications

Assessing Global Water Storage Variability from GRACE: Trends, Seasonal Cycle, Subseasonal Anomalies and Extremes

Assessing Global Water Storage Variability from GRACE: Trends, Seasonal Cycle, Subseasonal Anomalies and Extremes

Annual Glacier-Wide Mass Balance (2000–2016) of the Interior Tibetan Plateau Reconstructed from MODIS Albedo Products

A systematic assessment of drought termination in the United Kingdom

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