Mass Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage over the Nile River Basin and Mega Aquifer System as Deduced from GRACE-FO Level-2 Products and Precipitation Patterns from GPCP Data
Changes in the terrestrial total water storage (TWS) have been estimated at both global and river basin scales from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission and are still being detected from its GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission. In this contribution, the sixth release of GRACE-F...
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Water |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/23/3920 |
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| author | Basem Elsaka Karem Abdelmohsen Fahad Alshehri Ahmed Zaki Mohamed El-Ashquer |
| author_facet | Basem Elsaka Karem Abdelmohsen Fahad Alshehri Ahmed Zaki Mohamed El-Ashquer |
| author_sort | Basem Elsaka |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Changes in the terrestrial total water storage (TWS) have been estimated at both global and river basin scales from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission and are still being detected from its GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission. In this contribution, the sixth release of GRACE-FO (RL06) level-2 products applying DDK5 (decorrelation filter) were used to detect water mass variations for the Nile River Basin (NRB) in Africa and the Mega Aquifer System (MAS) in Asia. The following approach was implemented to detect the mass variation over the NRB and MAS: (1) TWS mass (June 2018–June 2021) was estimated by converting the spherical harmonic coefficients from the decorrelation filter DDK 5 of the GRACE-FO Level-2 RL06 products into equivalent water heights, where the TWS had been re-produced after removing the mean temporal signal (2) Precipitation data from Global Precipitation Climatology Project was used to investigate the pattern of change over the study area. Our findings include: (1) during the GRACE-FO period, the mass variations extracted from the RL06-DDK5 solutions from the three official centers—CSR, JPL, and GFZ—were found to be consistent with each other, (2) The NRB showed substantial temporal TWS variations, given a basin average of about 6 cm in 2019 and about 12 cm in 2020 between September and November and a lower basin average of about −9 cm in 2019 and −6 cm in 2020 in the wet seasons between March and May, while mass variations for the MAS had a relatively weaker temporal TWS magnitude, (3) the observed seasonal signal over the NRB was attributed to the high intensity of the precipitation events over the NRB (AAP: 1000–1800 mm yr<sup>−1</sup>), whereas the lack of the seasonal TWS signal over the MAS was due to the low intensity of the precipitation events over the MAS (AAP:180–500 mm yr<sup>−1</sup>). |
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| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:28:06Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-8a0f0cf7d88742099f6c53dea8e1e79e2023-11-24T12:33:27ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412022-12-011423392010.3390/w14233920Mass Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage over the Nile River Basin and Mega Aquifer System as Deduced from GRACE-FO Level-2 Products and Precipitation Patterns from GPCP DataBasem Elsaka0Karem Abdelmohsen1Fahad Alshehri2Ahmed Zaki3Mohamed El-Ashquer4Astronomical, Physical and Mathematical Geodesy (APMG) Group, Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation, University of Bonn, 53117 Bonn, GermanyGeodynamics Department, National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan 11421, EgyptAbdullah Alrushaid Chair for Earth Science Remote Sensing Research, Geology and Geophysics Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi ArabiaCivil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Delta University for Science and Technology, Gamasa 11152, EgyptConstruction Engineering and Utilities Department, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, EgyptChanges in the terrestrial total water storage (TWS) have been estimated at both global and river basin scales from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission and are still being detected from its GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission. In this contribution, the sixth release of GRACE-FO (RL06) level-2 products applying DDK5 (decorrelation filter) were used to detect water mass variations for the Nile River Basin (NRB) in Africa and the Mega Aquifer System (MAS) in Asia. The following approach was implemented to detect the mass variation over the NRB and MAS: (1) TWS mass (June 2018–June 2021) was estimated by converting the spherical harmonic coefficients from the decorrelation filter DDK 5 of the GRACE-FO Level-2 RL06 products into equivalent water heights, where the TWS had been re-produced after removing the mean temporal signal (2) Precipitation data from Global Precipitation Climatology Project was used to investigate the pattern of change over the study area. Our findings include: (1) during the GRACE-FO period, the mass variations extracted from the RL06-DDK5 solutions from the three official centers—CSR, JPL, and GFZ—were found to be consistent with each other, (2) The NRB showed substantial temporal TWS variations, given a basin average of about 6 cm in 2019 and about 12 cm in 2020 between September and November and a lower basin average of about −9 cm in 2019 and −6 cm in 2020 in the wet seasons between March and May, while mass variations for the MAS had a relatively weaker temporal TWS magnitude, (3) the observed seasonal signal over the NRB was attributed to the high intensity of the precipitation events over the NRB (AAP: 1000–1800 mm yr<sup>−1</sup>), whereas the lack of the seasonal TWS signal over the MAS was due to the low intensity of the precipitation events over the MAS (AAP:180–500 mm yr<sup>−1</sup>).https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/23/3920total water storageprecipitation patternGRACE-FO (RL06) level-2 productsNile River BasinMega Aquifer System |
| spellingShingle | Basem Elsaka Karem Abdelmohsen Fahad Alshehri Ahmed Zaki Mohamed El-Ashquer Mass Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage over the Nile River Basin and Mega Aquifer System as Deduced from GRACE-FO Level-2 Products and Precipitation Patterns from GPCP Data Water total water storage precipitation pattern GRACE-FO (RL06) level-2 products Nile River Basin Mega Aquifer System |
| title | Mass Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage over the Nile River Basin and Mega Aquifer System as Deduced from GRACE-FO Level-2 Products and Precipitation Patterns from GPCP Data |
| title_full | Mass Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage over the Nile River Basin and Mega Aquifer System as Deduced from GRACE-FO Level-2 Products and Precipitation Patterns from GPCP Data |
| title_fullStr | Mass Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage over the Nile River Basin and Mega Aquifer System as Deduced from GRACE-FO Level-2 Products and Precipitation Patterns from GPCP Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mass Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage over the Nile River Basin and Mega Aquifer System as Deduced from GRACE-FO Level-2 Products and Precipitation Patterns from GPCP Data |
| title_short | Mass Variations in Terrestrial Water Storage over the Nile River Basin and Mega Aquifer System as Deduced from GRACE-FO Level-2 Products and Precipitation Patterns from GPCP Data |
| title_sort | mass variations in terrestrial water storage over the nile river basin and mega aquifer system as deduced from grace fo level 2 products and precipitation patterns from gpcp data |
| topic | total water storage precipitation pattern GRACE-FO (RL06) level-2 products Nile River Basin Mega Aquifer System |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/23/3920 |
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