Benefits and Pitfalls of GRACE Data Assimilation: a Case Study of Terrestrial Water Storage Depletion in India.

ABSTRACT: This study investigates some of the benefits and drawbacks of assimilating Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) into a land surface model over India. GRACE observes TWS depletion associated with anthropogenic groundwater extraction in northwest India. The model, however, does not represent anthropogenic groundwater withdrawals and is not skillful in reproducing the interannual variability of groundwater. Assimilation of GRACE TWS introduces long-term trends and improves the interannual variability in groundwater. But the assimilation also introduces a negative trend in simulated evapotranspiration whereas in reality evapotranspiration is likely enhanced by irrigation, which is also unmodeled. Moreover, in situ measurements of

SUBMITTER: Girotto M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5889943 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature