Satellite based estimates of terrestrial water storage variations in Turkey

In recent years, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has provided a new tool to study terrestrial water storage variations (TWS) at medium and large spatial scales, providing quantitative measures of TWS change. Linear trends in TWS variations in Turkey were estimated using GRACE observations for the period March 2003 to March 2009. GRACE showed a significant decrease in TWS in the southern part of the central Anatolian region up to a rate of 4 cm/year. The Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) model also captured this TWS decrease event but with underestimated trend values. The GLDAS model represents only a part of the total TWS variations, the sum of soil moisture (2 m column depth) and snow water equivalent, ignoring groundwater variations. Therefore, GLDAS model derived TWS variations were subtracted from GRACE derived TWS variations to estimate groundwater storage variations. Results revealed that decreasing trends of TWS observed by GRACE in the southern part of central Anatolia were largely explained by the decreasing trends of groundwater variations which were confirmed by the limited available well groundwater level data in the region.