Groundwater depletion in the Middle East from GRACE with implications for transboundary water management in the Tigris-Euphrates-Western Iran region
K. Voss,K. Voss,James S. Famiglietti,Min-Hui Lo,Min-Hui Lo,Caroline de Linage,Matthew Rodell,Sean Swenson +7 more
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TLDR
Observations from the GRACE satellite mission are used to evaluate freshwater storage trends in the north-central Middle East, including portions of the Tigris and Euphrates River Basins and western Iran, from January 2003 to December 2009 to indicate that groundwater losses are the major source of this trend.Abstract:
In this study, we use observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission to evaluate freshwater storage trends in the north-central Middle East, including portions of the Tigris and Euphrates River Basins and western Iran, from January 2003 to December 2009. GRACE data show an alarming rate of decrease in total water storage of approximately -27.2 plus or minus 0.6 millimeters per year equivalent water height, equal to a volume of 143.6 cubic kimometers during the course of the study period. Additional remote-sensing information and output from land surface models were used to identify that groundwater losses are the major source of this trend. The approach used in this study provides an example of ''best current capabilities'' in regions like the Middle East, where data access can be severely limited. Results indicate that the region lost 17.3 plus or minus 2.1 millimeters per year equivalent water height of groundwater during the study period, or 91.3 plus or minus 10.9 cubic kilometers in volume. Furthermore, results raise important issues regarding water use in transboundary river basins and aquifers, including the necessity of international water use treaties and resolving discrepancies in international water law, while amplifying the need for increased monitoring for core components of the water budget.read more
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Mapping groundwater level and aquifer storage variations from InSAR measurements in the Madrid aquifer, Central Spain
Marta Béjar-Pizarro,Pablo Ezquerro,Gerardo Herrera,Roberto Tomás,Carolina Guardiola-Albert,José M. Hernández,José A. Fernández Merodo,Miguel Marchamalo,Rubén Martínez +8 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and EU FEDER funds under projects TEC2011-28201-C02-02, TIN2014-55413-C2-2P and ESP2013-47780-C 2-2R, by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport through the project PRX14/00100 and by the project 15224/PI/10 from the Regional Agency of Science and Technology in Murcia.
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Adaptation of water resources systems to changing society and environment: a statement by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences
Serena Ceola,Alberto Montanari,Tobias Krueger,Fiona Dyer,Heidi Kreibich,Ida Westerberg,Gemma Carr,Christophe Cudennec,Amin Elshorbagy,Hubert H. G. Savenije,Pieter van der Zaag,Dan Rosbjerg,Hafzullah Aksoy,Francesco Viola,Guido Petrucci,Kit Macleod,Barry Croke,Daniele Ganora,Leon Hermans,María José Polo,Zongxue Xu,Marco Borga,Jörg Helmschrot,Elena Toth,Roberto Ranzi,Attilio Castellarin,Anthony Hurford,Mitija Brilly,Alberto Viglione,Günter Blöschl,Murugesu Sivapalan,Alessio Domeneghetti,Alberto Marinelli,Giuliano Di Baldassarre +33 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how to address the challenges of adaptation of water resources systems under changing conditions by supporting flexible, resilient and low-regret solutions, coupled with on-going monitoring and evaluation.
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Comparison of Groundwater Storage Changes From GRACE Satellites With Monitoring and Modeling of Major U.S. Aquifers
Ashraf Rateb,Bridget R. Scanlon,D. R. Pool,Alexander Y. Sun,Zizhan Zhang,Jianli Chen,Brian R. Clark,Claudia C. Faunt,Connor Haugh,Mary C. Hill,Christopher M. Hobza,Virginia L. McGuire,Meredith Reitz,Hannes Müller Schmied,Edwin Sutanudjaja,Sean Swenson,David N. Wiese,Youlong Xia,W. Zell +18 more
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A GRACE-based assessment of interannual groundwater dynamics in the Community Land Model
Sean Swenson,David M. Lawrence +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the response of the Community Land Model (CLM) aquifer model to transitions between low and high recharge inputs, and showed that the model simulates unrealistic long-period behavior relative to total water storage (TWS) observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE).
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Remote sensing and modelling analysis of the extreme dust storm hitting the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean in September 2015
Stavros Solomos,Albert Ansmann,Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri,Ioannis Binietoglou,Platon Patlakas,Eleni Marinou,Vassilis Amiridis +6 more
TL;DR: In this article, a combination of meteorological and surface processes is found, including the development of a thermal low in the area of Syria that results in unstable atmospheric conditions and dust mobilization in this area, the convective activity over northern Iraq that triggers the formation of westward-moving haboobs that merge with the previously elevated dust layer, and the changes in land use due to war in the areas of northern Iraq and Syria that enhance dust erodibility.
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