Identifying Climate-Induced Groundwater Depletion in GRACE Observations.

ABSTRACT: Depletion of groundwater resources has been identified in numerous global aquifers, suggesting that extractions have exceeded natural recharge rates in critically important global freshwater supplies. Groundwater depletion has been ascribed to groundwater pumping, often ignoring influences of direct and indirect consequences of climate variability. Here, we explore relations between natural and human drivers and spatiotemporal changes in groundwater storage derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites using regression procedures and dominance analysis. Changes in groundwater storage are found to be influenced by direct climate variability, whereby groundwater recharge and precipitation exhibited greater influence as compared to groundwater pumping. Weak influ

SUBMITTER: Thomas BF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6411996 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature