Monitoring Groundwater Storage Depletion Using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Data in the Semi-Arid Catchments

Abstract

Abstract. The Bakhtegan catchment, an important agricultural region in south-western Iran, has suffered groundwater depletion in recent years. As groundwater is considered the main source of fresh water in the catchment, especially for agriculture, monitoring groundwater responses to irrigation is important. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data can help determine water mass changes in catchments and assess water volume changes, but have been under-used to date in water resources management. In this study, we compared GRACE-derived water mass data against groundwater volume variations measured in situ. We also assessed the efficiency of GRACE-derived data in catchments smaller than the 200,000 km2 recommended area when using GRACE. For the study period (January 2002 through December 2011), the GRACE data showed a 7.6 mm annual decline in groundwater level, with a total volume loss of 2.6 km3 during the period. The in situ monthly measurements of groundwater level showed an average depletion of 10 m in catchment aquifers during the study period. This depletion rate was supported by the recorded decrease in precipitation volume, especially in the post-drought period after 2007. These results demonstrate that GRACE can be useful in groundwater resources management of catchments facing groundwater depletion and increasing water demand.

Aquifer Depletion in the Arlit Mining Area (Tim Mersoï Basin, North Niger)

“…It is then essential to explore indirect and reliable methods for understanding the impact of rainfall and pumping on groundwater storage changes. GRACE has been demonstrated to be useful to develop insights into how groundwater storage varies [9,39,65,71,72]. In the present study, GRACE allowed more or less correct assessments of the dynamics of TWS in the TMB, a semi-arid area with scarce data.…”

“…Without ground data covering the TMB, it is impossible to make a comparison between GRACE data and ground measurements, which does not correspond to any of the objectives of this study. This issue has been widely discussed in the literature, and the majority of the authors find a good match between GRACE and in-situ measurements [9,31,[50][51][52].…”

“…Besides, the lower bound on its resolution means that GRACE cannot also determine precisely where the mass change within the region is coming from. Even though the recommended area when using GRACE is 200,000 km 2 , studies, such as [9], showed the efficiency of GRACE-derived data in smaller catchments.…”

“…Globally, stresses on groundwater resources due to urban, agricultural, and industrial water demands have increased under continual population growth and climatic variability. Impacts of industrial and agricultural activities on groundwater resources have been widely reported [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Mining activities highly modify the stability of the groundwater scheme, having, therefore, an impact on the hydrology of the surrounding areas [11].…”

Investigation of Groundwater Depletion in the State of Qatar and Its Implication to Energy Water and Food Nexus

“…A recent study in Saudi Arabia found an annual decreasing trend of 1 cm per year in the groundwater thickness using GRACE data [42]. Similarly, a groundwater thickness reduction of 0.76 cm per year was found in Bakhtegan catchment of Iran [24]. Groundwater is mainly used for agriculture purposes, as the majority of the domestic and industrial water demand is fulfilled by desalination.…”