Monitoring groundwater fluctuations over India during Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and Northeast monsoon using GRACE satellite: Impact on agriculture

Abstract

Since 2002, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite has provided monthly estimates of land water storage variations by monitoring time-variable components of earth's gravity field. We present GRACE satellite RL05 gravity data at 1° × 1° resolution to estimate terrestrial water storage change (surface water + groundwater) over India during Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and Northeast (NE) monsoon periods for the year 2015. As the NE monsoon was above normal in 2015, groundwater storage has increased significantly. By using GLDAS2.1 (1° × 1° resolution data) land surface state variables, we deduced as to how Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) is partitioned into canopy water and soil moisture components. By computing storage changes in GRACE TWS, Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) land surface state variables and by using a terrestrial-based water balance approach, we calculated changes in the groundwater storage. The GRACE data indicate the variation of 15 cm in the TWS during the ISM period over India and a gain of 2.35 cm NE season over Peninsular India. After the ISM season, the groundwater storage was increased by 13 cm over India and 6.45 cm during the NE monsoon over Peninsular India. We also observed a high run-off (sub-surface + surface) rate in both the monsoon periods. The accumulated rainfall over India was estimated as 76.58 cm out of which 33.8 cm was computed as run-off (ISM season). Similarly, the mean rainfall in Peninsular India was calculated as 8 cm out of which 3.86 cm was approximated as run-off (NE monsoon season).