GRACE‐derived terrestrial water storage depletion associated with the 2003 European heat wave

Abstract

The GRACE twin satellites reveal large inter‐annual terrestrial water‐storage variations between 2002 and 2003 for central Europe. GRACE observes a negative trend in regional water storage from 2002 to 2003 peaking at −7.8 cm in central Europe with an accuracy of 1 cm. The 2003 excess terrestrial water storage depletion observed from GRACE can be related to the record‐breaking heat wave that occurred in central Europe in 2003. We validate the measurements from GRACE using two independent hydrological estimates and direct gravity observations from superconducting gravimeters in Europe. All datasets agree well with the GRACE measurements despite the disparity of the employed information; the difference between datasets tends to be within GRACE margin of error. The April‐to‐August terrestrial water storage depletion is found to be significantly larger in 2003 than in 2002 from both models and observations.