TY - CHAP
T1 - Using Information from Remote Sensing to Estimate Groundwater
T2 - GRACE and Sentinel-1 Satellites
AU - Massoud, Elias
AU - Shaban, Amin
AU - Liu, Zhen
AU - Hage, Mhamad El
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Regions with high productivity of agriculture often rely on groundwater supplies for irrigation demand. Recent reports have indicated that groundwater consumption in these regions has been unsustainable, and quantifying rates of groundwater depletion has remained a challenge. Here, we utilize 15 years of data (June 2002–April 2017) from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission to show Total Water Storage (TWS) changes in Lebanon’s Beqaa Plain. We then obtain complimentary information on various hydrologic cycle variables, such as soil moisture storage, snow water equivalent, and canopy water storage from the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) model, and surface water data from the largest body of water in this region, the Qaraaoun Reservoir, to disentangle the TWS signal and calculate groundwater storage changes. After combining the information from the remaining hydrologic cycle variables, we determine that most of the losses in TWS are due to groundwater depletion in the Beqaa Plain. These results match what has been shown for various regions across the world, including California, Iran, and India. Results for the Beqaa Plain, Lebanon, show that the rate of groundwater storage change in the West Beqaa is nearly +0.08 cm/yr, in the Rashaya District is −0.01 cm/yr, and in the Zahle District the level of depletion is roughly −1.10 cm/yr. Results are confirmed using Sentinel-1 interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data, which provide high-precision measurements of land subsidence changes caused by intense groundwater usage. Furthermore, data from local monitoring wells are utilized to further showcase the significant drop in groundwater level that is occurring through much of the region. For monitoring groundwater storage changes, our recommendation is to combine various data sources, and in areas where groundwater measurements are lacking, we especially recommend the use of data from remote sensing.
AB - Regions with high productivity of agriculture often rely on groundwater supplies for irrigation demand. Recent reports have indicated that groundwater consumption in these regions has been unsustainable, and quantifying rates of groundwater depletion has remained a challenge. Here, we utilize 15 years of data (June 2002–April 2017) from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission to show Total Water Storage (TWS) changes in Lebanon’s Beqaa Plain. We then obtain complimentary information on various hydrologic cycle variables, such as soil moisture storage, snow water equivalent, and canopy water storage from the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) model, and surface water data from the largest body of water in this region, the Qaraaoun Reservoir, to disentangle the TWS signal and calculate groundwater storage changes. After combining the information from the remaining hydrologic cycle variables, we determine that most of the losses in TWS are due to groundwater depletion in the Beqaa Plain. These results match what has been shown for various regions across the world, including California, Iran, and India. Results for the Beqaa Plain, Lebanon, show that the rate of groundwater storage change in the West Beqaa is nearly +0.08 cm/yr, in the Rashaya District is −0.01 cm/yr, and in the Zahle District the level of depletion is roughly −1.10 cm/yr. Results are confirmed using Sentinel-1 interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data, which provide high-precision measurements of land subsidence changes caused by intense groundwater usage. Furthermore, data from local monitoring wells are utilized to further showcase the significant drop in groundwater level that is occurring through much of the region. For monitoring groundwater storage changes, our recommendation is to combine various data sources, and in areas where groundwater measurements are lacking, we especially recommend the use of data from remote sensing.
KW - GLDAS
KW - GRACE
KW - Groundwater
KW - Hydrology
KW - InSAR
KW - Lebanon
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140320247&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-15549-9_16
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-15549-9_16
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85140320247
T3 - Springer Water
SP - 273
EP - 286
BT - Springer Water
PB - Springer Nature
ER -
