Groundwater depletion in the Middle East from GRACE with implications for transboundary water management in the Tigris-Euphrates-Western Iran region
By K. Voss, James S. Famiglietti, M. Lo, C. Linage, Matthew Rodell, S. Swenson. Water Resources Research, 2013
750 citations recorded by the source corpus.
In this study, we use observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission to evaluate freshwater storage trends in the north‐central Middle East, including portions of the Tigris and Euphrates River Basins and western Iran, from January 2003 to December 2009. GRACE data show an alarming rate of decrease in total water storage of approximately −27.2±0.6 mm yr−1 equivalent water height, equal to a volume of 143.6 km3 during the course of the study period. Additional remote‐sensing information and output from land surface models were used to identify that groundwater losses are the major source of this trend. The approach used in this study provides an example of “best current capabilities” in regions like the Middle East, where data access can be severely limited. Results indicate that the region lost 17.3±2.1 mm yr−1 equivalent water height of groundwater during the study period, or 91.3±10.9 km3 in volume. Furthermore, results raise important issues regarding water use in transboundary river basins and aquifers, including the necessity of international water use treaties and resolving discrepancies in international water law, while amplifying the need for increased monitoring for core components of the water budget.
Subfields: Environmental Engineering, Geochemistry and Petrology, Oceanography
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6729603fa548836e4d7c54c66277edf9f17c7121
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Citations in the corpus
- Sustainability of global water use: past reconstruction and future projections (2014, background): “…rate over intensely irrigated regions including the Indus, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Northeastern China, the southwestern and Central USA, and Northern Mexico (Rodell et al 2009, Tiwari et al 2009, Famiglietti et al 2011, Konikow 2011, Scanlon et al 2012a, 2012b, Cao et al 2013, Voss et al 2013).”
- Non-renewable groundwater use and groundwater depletion: a review (2019, background): “…total terrestrial water storage changes Middle East andNorth Africa (MENA) Foster and Loucks (2006) 26.8 Contemporary Literature Country statistics Voss et al (2013) 13.0 (±1.6) 2003–2009 Cumulative 91.3 (±10.9) km3 for 2003–2009 GRACE-derived total terrestrial water storage…”