Assessment of Physical Water Scarcity in Africa Using GRACE and TRMM Satellite Data
The critical role of water in enabling or constraining human well-being and socioeconomic activities has led to an interest in quantitatively establishing the status of water (in)sufficiency over space and time. Falkenmark introduced the first widely accepted measure of water status, the Water Scarc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-04-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/8/904 |
| _version_ | 1828128701952294912 |
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| author | Emad Hasan Aondover Tarhule Yang Hong Berrien Moore |
| author_facet | Emad Hasan Aondover Tarhule Yang Hong Berrien Moore |
| author_sort | Emad Hasan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The critical role of water in enabling or constraining human well-being and socioeconomic activities has led to an interest in quantitatively establishing the status of water (in)sufficiency over space and time. Falkenmark introduced the first widely accepted measure of water status, the Water Scarcity Index (WSI), which expressed the status of the availability of water resources in terms of vulnerability, stress, and scarcity. Since then, numerous indicators have been introduced, but nearly all adopt the same basic formulation; water status is a function of “available water„ resource—by the demand or use. However, the accurate assessment of “available water„ is difficult, especially in data-scarce regions, such as Africa. In this paper, therefore, we introduce a satellite-based Potential Available Water Storage indicator, PAWS. The method integrates GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite Total Water Storage (TWS) measurements with the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation estimates between 2002 and 2016. First, we derived the countries’ Internal Water Storage (IWS) using GRACE and TRMM precipitation data. Then, the IWS was divided by the population density to derive the PAWS per capita. Following the Falkenmark thresholds, 54% of countries are classified in the same water vulnerability status as the AQUASTAT Internal Renewable Water Resources (IRWR) method. Of the remaining countries, PAWS index leads to one or two categories shift (left or right) of water status. The PAWS index shows that 14% (~160 million people) of Africa’s population currently live under water scarcity status. With respect to future projections, PAWS index suggests that a 10% decrease in future water resources would affect ~37% of Africa’s 2025 population (~600 million people), and 57% for 2050 projections (~1.4-billion people). The proposed approach largely overcomes the constraints related to the data needed to rapidly and robustly estimate available water resources by incorporating all stocks of water within the country, as well as underscores the recent water storage dynamics. However, the estimates obtained concern potential available water resources, which may not be utilizable for practical, economic, and technological issues. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:09:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-460bfc6ad90d4a17b8063783f73eb64f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T16:09:25Z |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-460bfc6ad90d4a17b8063783f73eb64f2022-12-22T04:14:44ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922019-04-0111890410.3390/rs11080904rs11080904Assessment of Physical Water Scarcity in Africa Using GRACE and TRMM Satellite DataEmad Hasan0Aondover Tarhule1Yang Hong2Berrien Moore3Department of Geography, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY 10002, USADepartment of Geography, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY 10002, USAHydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (HyDROS) Laboratory, Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC), University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USACollege of Atmospheric & Geographic Sciences, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USAThe critical role of water in enabling or constraining human well-being and socioeconomic activities has led to an interest in quantitatively establishing the status of water (in)sufficiency over space and time. Falkenmark introduced the first widely accepted measure of water status, the Water Scarcity Index (WSI), which expressed the status of the availability of water resources in terms of vulnerability, stress, and scarcity. Since then, numerous indicators have been introduced, but nearly all adopt the same basic formulation; water status is a function of “available water„ resource—by the demand or use. However, the accurate assessment of “available water„ is difficult, especially in data-scarce regions, such as Africa. In this paper, therefore, we introduce a satellite-based Potential Available Water Storage indicator, PAWS. The method integrates GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite Total Water Storage (TWS) measurements with the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation estimates between 2002 and 2016. First, we derived the countries’ Internal Water Storage (IWS) using GRACE and TRMM precipitation data. Then, the IWS was divided by the population density to derive the PAWS per capita. Following the Falkenmark thresholds, 54% of countries are classified in the same water vulnerability status as the AQUASTAT Internal Renewable Water Resources (IRWR) method. Of the remaining countries, PAWS index leads to one or two categories shift (left or right) of water status. The PAWS index shows that 14% (~160 million people) of Africa’s population currently live under water scarcity status. With respect to future projections, PAWS index suggests that a 10% decrease in future water resources would affect ~37% of Africa’s 2025 population (~600 million people), and 57% for 2050 projections (~1.4-billion people). The proposed approach largely overcomes the constraints related to the data needed to rapidly and robustly estimate available water resources by incorporating all stocks of water within the country, as well as underscores the recent water storage dynamics. However, the estimates obtained concern potential available water resources, which may not be utilizable for practical, economic, and technological issues.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/8/904AfricaGRACETRMMwater resourceswater scarcity |
| spellingShingle | Emad Hasan Aondover Tarhule Yang Hong Berrien Moore Assessment of Physical Water Scarcity in Africa Using GRACE and TRMM Satellite Data Remote Sensing Africa GRACE TRMM water resources water scarcity |
| title | Assessment of Physical Water Scarcity in Africa Using GRACE and TRMM Satellite Data |
| title_full | Assessment of Physical Water Scarcity in Africa Using GRACE and TRMM Satellite Data |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of Physical Water Scarcity in Africa Using GRACE and TRMM Satellite Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of Physical Water Scarcity in Africa Using GRACE and TRMM Satellite Data |
| title_short | Assessment of Physical Water Scarcity in Africa Using GRACE and TRMM Satellite Data |
| title_sort | assessment of physical water scarcity in africa using grace and trmm satellite data |
| topic | Africa GRACE TRMM water resources water scarcity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/8/904 |
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