Water balance of the Arctic drainage system using GRACE gravimetry products

• Published in: International Journal of Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Frappart, Frédéric, Ramillien, Guillaume, S. Famiglietti, James
• Other Authors: Department of Earth System Science Irvine (ESS), University of California Irvine (UC Irvine), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), Dynamique terrestre et planétaire (DTP), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Arctic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00580544; https://hal.science/hal-00580544/document; https://hal.science/hal-00580544/file/Figures_Frappart_et_al_IJRS_2011_corr.pdf; https://hal.science/hal-00580544/file/Frappart_et_al_IJRS_2011_corr.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160903474954

International audience Land water and snow mass anomalies versus time were computed from the inversion of 50 GRACE geoids (August 2002 to February 2007) from the RL04 GFZ release and used to characterize the hydrology of the Arctic drainage system. GRACE-based time series have been compared to snow water equivalent and snow depth climatologies, and snowfall for validation purpose. Time series of regional averages of water volume were estimated for the 11 largest Peri-Arctic basins. Strong correlations were found between the snow estimates and river discharges in the Arctic basins (0.49 to 0.8). Then changes in land water storage were compared to precipitation minus evapotranspiration fluxes to determine which flux of the hydrological budget controls the Arctic hydrology. Results are very contrasted according to the basin. Trends of snow and land water masses were 20 also computed over the 2003-2006 period. Eurasian basins lose snow mass whereas North American basins are gaining mass.