Land and Climate Seminar - Climate and Human Drivers of Global Water Storage Variations using Satellites, Modeling, and Monitoring

Speaker: Bridget Scanlon

Climate and Human Drivers of Global Water Storage Variations using Satellites, Modeling, and Monitoring

Increasing climate extremes, rising population, and related food demand underscore the need to optimize water management. Here we show how GRACE satellites track spatiotemporal variability in water storage globally, with satellite data evaluated using regional modeling and ground-based monitoring. GRACE data show declining total water storage trends in the Southwest US, Middle East, North Africa, NW India, and North China Plain. In contrast, total water storage has been rising in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, eastern US, and related regions. Understanding the causes of water storage variations is essential to develop appropriate solutions for sustainable water management.