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 ±...
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ScholarWorks at University of Montana
2012
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ftunivmontana:oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:ntsg_pubs-1253 2024-09-09T19:51:07+00:00 Increasing subsurface water storage in discontinuous permafrost areas of the Lena River basin, Eurasia, detected from GRACE Velicogna, I. Tong, J. Zhang, T. Kimball, John S 2012-05-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ntsg_pubs/254 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051623 https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ntsg_pubs/article/1253/viewcontent/Velicogna_GRL_012.pdf unknown ScholarWorks at University of Montana https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ntsg_pubs/254 doi:10.1029/2012GL051623 https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ntsg_pubs/article/1253/viewcontent/Velicogna_GRL_012.pdf © 2012 American Geophysical Union Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications text 2012 ftunivmontana https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051623 2024-06-20T05:32:53Z 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 km3/yr for the entire basin, equivalent to an increase in water thickness of 1.3 ± 0.4 cm/yr over a basin of 2.4 million km2. 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 km2, centered at 118.5°E, 62.5°N, and underlain by discontinuous permafrost. In this region, we attribute the observed TWS increase of 68 ± 19 km3 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. Text lena river permafrost University of Montana: ScholarWorks Geophysical Research Letters 39 9 n/a n/a |
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University of Montana: ScholarWorks |
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ftunivmontana |
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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 km3/yr for the entire basin, equivalent to an increase in water thickness of 1.3 ± 0.4 cm/yr over a basin of 2.4 million km2. 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 km2, centered at 118.5°E, 62.5°N, and underlain by discontinuous permafrost. In this region, we attribute the observed TWS increase of 68 ± 19 km3 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. |
format |
Text |
author |
Velicogna, I. Tong, J. Zhang, T. Kimball, John S |
spellingShingle |
Velicogna, I. Tong, J. Zhang, T. Kimball, John S 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, John S |
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 |
ScholarWorks at University of Montana |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ntsg_pubs/254 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL051623 https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ntsg_pubs/article/1253/viewcontent/Velicogna_GRL_012.pdf |
genre |
lena river permafrost |
genre_facet |
lena river permafrost |
op_source |
Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications |
op_relation |
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/ntsg_pubs/254 doi:10.1029/2012GL051623 https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/ntsg_pubs/article/1253/viewcontent/Velicogna_GRL_012.pdf |
op_rights |
© 2012 American Geophysical Union |
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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n/a |
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1809920420392992768 |