Abstract

PEREIRA, Ayelén; CORNERO, Cecilia; PACINO, Ma. Cristina  and  OLIVEIRA CANCORO DE MATOS, Ana C. Using geotechnologies for mapping water storage changes in the Pampeana region from GRACE data. Geoacta [online]. 2014, vol.39, n.1, pp.1-10. ISSN 1852-7744.

The Earth’s gravity field does not remain constant but changes over time depending on several factors such as redistribution of the masses due to hydrological cycles. The GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission provides time-variable readings of variations in the Earth’s gravity field at a spatial resolution of ~400 km. Because of the direct relationship between mass and gravity, it is possible to obtain the related changes in water storage from the Equivalent Water Height (EWH). The aim of this work is to analyze the regional changes in water storage from a representation of the spatio-temporal EWH variations obtained from GRACE solutions for the period 2003-2010 in the Salado river basin, located in the Pampeana Region of Argentina. The GMT (Generic Mapping Tools) open-source software was used for this representation, as it allows for simplification and automation of the mapping process using scripts to create maps all within a single application. Afterwards, GRACE results were validated by comparison with GPCP (Global Precipitation Climatology Project) rainfall data as well as GLDAS (Global Land Data Assimilation System) soil moisture and hydrometric heights of the Picasa Lagoon in the Salado River basin. This mission detected significant EWH variations in the period under study, which could be associated with maximum and minimum precipitations that occurred in the region. The EWH and hydrometric height signals both showed a similar behavior and a negative trend within the period 2002-2009. The correlation between both signals was greater than 75%, showing a good adjustment between different geophysical variables.

Keywords : Time-variable gravity from GRACE mission; Equivalent water height; Salado River basin; La Picasa Lagoon.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )