Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE
We use monthly measurements of time-variable gravity from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission to quantify changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) in the Lena river basin, Eurasia, during the period April 2002 to September 2010. We estimate a TWS increase of 32 10...
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Language: | English |
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ftcdlib:qt98w2h3k1 2023-05-15T17:07:38+02:00 Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE Velicogna, I Tong, J Zhang, T Kimball, JS 2012-05-01 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/98w2h3k1 english eng eScholarship, University of California qt98w2h3k1 http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/98w2h3k1 Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY Velicogna, I; Tong, J; Zhang, T; & Kimball, JS. (2012). Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE. Geophysical Research Letters, 39(9). doi:10.1029/2012GL051623. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/98w2h3k1 article 2012 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051623 2018-07-06T22:52:01Z We use monthly measurements of time-variable gravity from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission to quantify changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) in the Lena river basin, Eurasia, during the period April 2002 to September 2010. We estimate a TWS increase of 32 10 km 3 /yr for the entire basin, equivalent to an increase in water thickness of 1.3 0.4cm/yr over a basin of 2.4 million km 2 . We compare TWS estimates from GRACE with time series of precipitation (P) minus evapotranspiration (ET) from ERA-Interim reanalysis minus observational river discharge (R). We find an excellent agreement in annual and inter-annual variability between the two time series. Furthermore, we find that a bias of -20 10% in P-ET is sufficient to effectively close the water budget with GRACE. When we account for this bias, the time series of cumulative TWS from GRACE and climatological data agree to within 3.8 cm of water thickness, or 9% of the mean annual P. The TWS increase is not uniform across the river basin and exhibits a peak, over an area of 502,400 km 2 , centered at 118.5E, 62.5N, and underlain by discontinuous permafrost. In this region, we attribute the observed TWS increase of 68 19 km 3 to an increase in subsurface water storage. This large subsurface water signal will have a significant impact on the terrestrial hydrology of the region, including increased baseflow and alteration of seasonal runoff. © 2012 by the American Geophysical Union. Article in Journal/Newspaper lena river permafrost University of California: eScholarship Geophysical Research Letters 39 9 n/a n/a |
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Open Polar |
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University of California: eScholarship |
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ftcdlib |
language |
English |
description |
We use monthly measurements of time-variable gravity from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission to quantify changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) in the Lena river basin, Eurasia, during the period April 2002 to September 2010. We estimate a TWS increase of 32 10 km 3 /yr for the entire basin, equivalent to an increase in water thickness of 1.3 0.4cm/yr over a basin of 2.4 million km 2 . We compare TWS estimates from GRACE with time series of precipitation (P) minus evapotranspiration (ET) from ERA-Interim reanalysis minus observational river discharge (R). We find an excellent agreement in annual and inter-annual variability between the two time series. Furthermore, we find that a bias of -20 10% in P-ET is sufficient to effectively close the water budget with GRACE. When we account for this bias, the time series of cumulative TWS from GRACE and climatological data agree to within 3.8 cm of water thickness, or 9% of the mean annual P. The TWS increase is not uniform across the river basin and exhibits a peak, over an area of 502,400 km 2 , centered at 118.5E, 62.5N, and underlain by discontinuous permafrost. In this region, we attribute the observed TWS increase of 68 19 km 3 to an increase in subsurface water storage. This large subsurface water signal will have a significant impact on the terrestrial hydrology of the region, including increased baseflow and alteration of seasonal runoff. © 2012 by the American Geophysical Union. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Velicogna, I Tong, J Zhang, T Kimball, JS |
spellingShingle |
Velicogna, I Tong, J Zhang, T Kimball, JS Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE |
author_facet |
Velicogna, I Tong, J Zhang, T Kimball, JS |
author_sort |
Velicogna, I |
title |
Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE |
title_short |
Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE |
title_full |
Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE |
title_fullStr |
Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE |
title_sort |
increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the lena river basin, eurasia, detected from grace |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/98w2h3k1 |
genre |
lena river permafrost |
genre_facet |
lena river permafrost |
op_source |
Velicogna, I; Tong, J; Zhang, T; & Kimball, JS. (2012). Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE. Geophysical Research Letters, 39(9). doi:10.1029/2012GL051623. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/98w2h3k1 |
op_relation |
qt98w2h3k1 http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/98w2h3k1 |
op_rights |
Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051623 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
39 |
container_issue |
9 |
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n/a |
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1766063108400349184 |