GRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States

Abstract Changes in the climate and population growth will critically impact the future supply and demand of water, leading to large uncertainties for sustainable resource management. In the absence of on-the-ground measurements to provide spatially continuous, high-resolution information on water s...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Kurt C. Solander, John T. Reager, Yoshihide Wada, James S. Famiglietti, Richard S. Middleton
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7af0f6de94904852bbf9a4e5ceb4115c
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:7af0f6de94904852bbf9a4e5ceb4115c
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7af0f6de94904852bbf9a4e5ceb4115c2021-12-02T16:06:24ZGRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States10.1038/s41598-017-07450-y2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/7af0f6de94904852bbf9a4e5ceb4115c2017-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07450-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Changes in the climate and population growth will critically impact the future supply and demand of water, leading to large uncertainties for sustainable resource management. In the absence of on-the-ground measurements to provide spatially continuous, high-resolution information on water supplies, satellite observations can provide essential insight. Here, we develop a technique using observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite to evaluate the sustainability of surface water and groundwater use over the continental United States. We determine the annual total water availability for 2003–2015 using the annual variability in GRACE-derived total water storage for 18 major watersheds. The long-term sustainable water quantity available to humans is calculated by subtracting an annual estimate of the water needed to maintain local ecosystems, and the resulting water volumes are compared to reported consumptive water use to determine a sustainability fraction. We find over-consumption is highest in the southwest US, where increasing stress trends were observed in all five basins and annual consumptive use exceeded 100% availability twice in the Lower Colorado basin during 2003–2015. By providing a coarse-scale evaluation of sustainable water use from satellite and ground observations, the established framework serves as a blueprint for future large-scale water resource monitoring.Kurt C. SolanderJohn T. ReagerYoshihide WadaJames S. FamigliettiRichard S. MiddletonNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Kurt C. Solander John T. Reager Yoshihide Wada James S. Famiglietti Richard S. Middleton GRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States
description	Abstract Changes in the climate and population growth will critically impact the future supply and demand of water, leading to large uncertainties for sustainable resource management. In the absence of on-the-ground measurements to provide spatially continuous, high-resolution information on water supplies, satellite observations can provide essential insight. Here, we develop a technique using observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite to evaluate the sustainability of surface water and groundwater use over the continental United States. We determine the annual total water availability for 2003–2015 using the annual variability in GRACE-derived total water storage for 18 major watersheds. The long-term sustainable water quantity available to humans is calculated by subtracting an annual estimate of the water needed to maintain local ecosystems, and the resulting water volumes are compared to reported consumptive water use to determine a sustainability fraction. We find over-consumption is highest in the southwest US, where increasing stress trends were observed in all five basins and annual consumptive use exceeded 100% availability twice in the Lower Colorado basin during 2003–2015. By providing a coarse-scale evaluation of sustainable water use from satellite and ground observations, the established framework serves as a blueprint for future large-scale water resource monitoring.
format	article
author	Kurt C. Solander John T. Reager Yoshihide Wada James S. Famiglietti Richard S. Middleton
author_facet	Kurt C. Solander John T. Reager Yoshihide Wada James S. Famiglietti Richard S. Middleton
author_sort	Kurt C. Solander
title	GRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States
title_short	GRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States
title_full	GRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States
title_fullStr	GRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States
title_full_unstemmed	GRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States
title_sort	grace satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the united states
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/7af0f6de94904852bbf9a4e5ceb4115c
work_keys_str_mv	AT kurtcsolander gracesatelliteobservationsrevealtheseverityofrecentwateroverconsumptionintheunitedstates AT johntreager gracesatelliteobservationsrevealtheseverityofrecentwateroverconsumptionintheunitedstates AT yoshihidewada gracesatelliteobservationsrevealtheseverityofrecentwateroverconsumptionintheunitedstates AT jamessfamiglietti gracesatelliteobservationsrevealtheseverityofrecentwateroverconsumptionintheunitedstates AT richardsmiddleton gracesatelliteobservationsrevealtheseverityofrecentwateroverconsumptionintheunitedstates
_version_	1718385033144696832

GRACE satellite observations reveal the severity of recent water over-consumption in the United States

Ejemplares similares