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Challenges and Opportunities in GRACE-Based Groundwater Storage Assessment and Management: An Example from Yemen

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Abstract

Sustainable management of groundwater resources is often hampered by information asymmetries between abstracters and managers. At the same time, developments in satellite remote sensing, particularly estimates of groundwater storage using the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE), have dramatically improved water resource assessment. This study examines the potential for GRACE-based assessment of groundwater resources in the context of the persistent challenges of water management in Yemen, which suffers from acute groundwater depletion and water scarcity. By comparing GRACE estimates of groundwater storage change to observed well measurements in Yemen, this study indicates that GRACE can complement institutional water management reform by providing better water resources information, especially in combination with socioeconomic data visualized in a Geographic Information System (GIS). However, the case of Yemen also indicates that commonly accepted principles of water management must be adapted to harness the potential of GRACE-based groundwater storage assessment.

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Notes

  1. The authors are grateful to Professor James Famiglietti, University of California-Irvine, for this suggestion.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Famiglietti for discussions on the analysis; for M. Rodell helpfully clarifying issues related to SM and GLDAS; M. Lo for reviewing data and results; O. Ecker and C. Beringer for providing food security data; and finally the Environmental Change Institute and Merton College, Oxford University, for providing research funding. We are also grateful for the comments of two anonymous reviewers, which greatly improved this work.

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  1. Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Merton College, Oxford, OX1 4JD, UK

    Scott Moore

  2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA

    Joshua B. Fisher

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Moore, S., Fisher, J.B. Challenges and Opportunities in GRACE-Based Groundwater Storage Assessment and Management: An Example from Yemen. Water Resour Manage 26, 1425–1453 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-011-9966-z

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