Evaluation of Groundwater Storage Variations Estimated from GRACE Data Assimilation and State-of-the-Art Land Surface Models in Australia and the North China Plain

The accurate knowledge of the groundwater storage variation (ΔGWS) is essential for reliable water resource assessment, particularly in arid and semi-arid environments (e.g., Australia, the North China Plain (NCP)) where water storage is significantly affected by human activities and spatiotemporal...

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Main Authors: Natthachet Tangdamrongsub, Shin-Chan Han, Siyuan Tian, Hannes Müller Schmied, Edwin H. Sutanudjaja, Jiangjun Ran, Wei Feng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-03-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/3/483
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author Natthachet Tangdamrongsub
Shin-Chan Han
Siyuan Tian
Hannes Müller Schmied
Edwin H. Sutanudjaja
Jiangjun Ran
Wei Feng
author_facet Natthachet Tangdamrongsub
Shin-Chan Han
Siyuan Tian
Hannes Müller Schmied
Edwin H. Sutanudjaja
Jiangjun Ran
Wei Feng
author_sort Natthachet Tangdamrongsub
collection DOAJ
description The accurate knowledge of the groundwater storage variation (ΔGWS) is essential for reliable water resource assessment, particularly in arid and semi-arid environments (e.g., Australia, the North China Plain (NCP)) where water storage is significantly affected by human activities and spatiotemporal climate variations. The large-scale ΔGWS can be simulated from a land surface model (LSM), but the high model uncertainty is a major drawback that reduces the reliability of the estimates. The evaluation of the model estimate is then very important to assess its accuracy. To improve the model performance, the terrestrial water storage variation derived from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission is commonly assimilated into LSMs to enhance the accuracy of the ΔGWS estimate. This study assimilates GRACE data into the PCRaster Global Water Balance (PCR-GLOBWB) model. The GRACE data assimilation (DA) is developed based on the three-dimensional ensemble Kalman smoother (EnKS 3D), which considers the statistical correlation of all extents (spatial, temporal, vertical) in the DA process. The ΔGWS estimates from GRACE DA and four LSM simulations (PCR-GLOBWB, the Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE), the Water Global Assessment and Prognosis Global Hydrology Model (WGHM), and World-Wide Water (W3)) are validated against the in situ groundwater data. The evaluation is conducted in terms of temporal correlation, seasonality, long-term trend, and detection of groundwater depletion. The GRACE DA estimate shows a significant improvement in all measures, notably the correlation coefficients (respect to the in situ data) are always higher than the values obtained from model simulations alone (e.g., ~0.15 greater in Australia, and ~0.1 greater in the NCP). GRACE DA also improves the estimation of groundwater depletion that the models cannot accurately capture due to the incorrect information of the groundwater demand (in, e.g., PCR-GLOBWB, WGHM) or the unavailability of a groundwater consumption routine (in, e.g., CABLE, W3). In addition, this study conducts the inter-comparison between four model simulations and reveals that PCR-GLOBWB and CABLE provide a more accurate ΔGWS estimate in Australia (subject to the calibrated parameter) while PCR-GLOBWB and WGHM are more accurate in the NCP (subject to the inclusion of anthropogenic factors). The analysis can be used to declare the status of the ΔGWS estimate, as well as itemize the possible improvements of the future model development.
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spelling doaj.art-ad84980ddeff40e5b1c5121dcdd3d6b22022-12-22T04:14:33ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922018-03-0110348310.3390/rs10030483rs10030483Evaluation of Groundwater Storage Variations Estimated from GRACE Data Assimilation and State-of-the-Art Land Surface Models in Australia and the North China PlainNatthachet Tangdamrongsub0Shin-Chan Han1Siyuan Tian2Hannes Müller Schmied3Edwin H. Sutanudjaja4Jiangjun Ran5Wei Feng6School of Engineering, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, AustraliaSchool of Engineering, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, AustraliaResearch School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, AustraliaInstitute of Physical Geography, Goethe-University Frankfurt, 60438 Frankfurt , GermanyDepartment of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The NetherlandsState Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430077, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430077, ChinaThe accurate knowledge of the groundwater storage variation (ΔGWS) is essential for reliable water resource assessment, particularly in arid and semi-arid environments (e.g., Australia, the North China Plain (NCP)) where water storage is significantly affected by human activities and spatiotemporal climate variations. The large-scale ΔGWS can be simulated from a land surface model (LSM), but the high model uncertainty is a major drawback that reduces the reliability of the estimates. The evaluation of the model estimate is then very important to assess its accuracy. To improve the model performance, the terrestrial water storage variation derived from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission is commonly assimilated into LSMs to enhance the accuracy of the ΔGWS estimate. This study assimilates GRACE data into the PCRaster Global Water Balance (PCR-GLOBWB) model. The GRACE data assimilation (DA) is developed based on the three-dimensional ensemble Kalman smoother (EnKS 3D), which considers the statistical correlation of all extents (spatial, temporal, vertical) in the DA process. The ΔGWS estimates from GRACE DA and four LSM simulations (PCR-GLOBWB, the Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE), the Water Global Assessment and Prognosis Global Hydrology Model (WGHM), and World-Wide Water (W3)) are validated against the in situ groundwater data. The evaluation is conducted in terms of temporal correlation, seasonality, long-term trend, and detection of groundwater depletion. The GRACE DA estimate shows a significant improvement in all measures, notably the correlation coefficients (respect to the in situ data) are always higher than the values obtained from model simulations alone (e.g., ~0.15 greater in Australia, and ~0.1 greater in the NCP). GRACE DA also improves the estimation of groundwater depletion that the models cannot accurately capture due to the incorrect information of the groundwater demand (in, e.g., PCR-GLOBWB, WGHM) or the unavailability of a groundwater consumption routine (in, e.g., CABLE, W3). In addition, this study conducts the inter-comparison between four model simulations and reveals that PCR-GLOBWB and CABLE provide a more accurate ΔGWS estimate in Australia (subject to the calibrated parameter) while PCR-GLOBWB and WGHM are more accurate in the NCP (subject to the inclusion of anthropogenic factors). The analysis can be used to declare the status of the ΔGWS estimate, as well as itemize the possible improvements of the future model development.http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/3/483groundwater storageAustraliaNorth China PlainGRACEdata assimilationEnKS 3DPCR-GLOBWBCABLEWGHMW3
spellingShingle Natthachet Tangdamrongsub
Shin-Chan Han
Siyuan Tian
Hannes Müller Schmied
Edwin H. Sutanudjaja
Jiangjun Ran
Wei Feng
Evaluation of Groundwater Storage Variations Estimated from GRACE Data Assimilation and State-of-the-Art Land Surface Models in Australia and the North China Plain
Remote Sensing
groundwater storage
Australia
North China Plain
GRACE
data assimilation
EnKS 3D
PCR-GLOBWB
CABLE
WGHM
W3
title Evaluation of Groundwater Storage Variations Estimated from GRACE Data Assimilation and State-of-the-Art Land Surface Models in Australia and the North China Plain
title_full Evaluation of Groundwater Storage Variations Estimated from GRACE Data Assimilation and State-of-the-Art Land Surface Models in Australia and the North China Plain
title_fullStr Evaluation of Groundwater Storage Variations Estimated from GRACE Data Assimilation and State-of-the-Art Land Surface Models in Australia and the North China Plain
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of Groundwater Storage Variations Estimated from GRACE Data Assimilation and State-of-the-Art Land Surface Models in Australia and the North China Plain
title_short Evaluation of Groundwater Storage Variations Estimated from GRACE Data Assimilation and State-of-the-Art Land Surface Models in Australia and the North China Plain
title_sort evaluation of groundwater storage variations estimated from grace data assimilation and state of the art land surface models in australia and the north china plain
topic groundwater storage
Australia
North China Plain
GRACE
data assimilation
EnKS 3D
PCR-GLOBWB
CABLE
WGHM
W3
url http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/3/483
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