Water resources have ceaselessly experienced the great pressure from humans, particularly in terms of global warming associated with unprecedented extreme weather events, which includes glacier retreat from Antarctic, Greenland, and Tibetan Plateau (TP), lake expansion of TP, lake shrinkage of Mongolia Plateau, decreasing groundwater due to irrigation and industrial consumption, as well as warming and drying in some arid and semi-arid regions.
Terrestrial water storage is defined as the summation of all kinds of water—such as lake, soil moisture, groundwater, and glacier—on the land surface and in the subsurface. Accurate estimation and attribution of terrestrial water storage change (TWSC) is pivotal for sustainability and conservation of water resources. With the great success of GRACE/GRACE-FO mission, satellite gravimetry has been employed to assess the TWSC at global or regional scales.
Extant studies—often implemented with the combination of hydrological models—showed the differences of TWSC from satellite gravity model solutions, the separation of TWSC components, the gap between two gravity satellite missions, and the spatiotemporal patterns of TWSC and corresponding mechanisms. Yet the evident limitations lie in the sufficiency and accuracy of multi-source satellite data. In this regard, the aim of this Research Topic is to present and disseminate recent advances in exploring physical mechanisms of TWSC and their driving causes with the application of satellite gravimetry.
Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to:
• Algorithm improvement and comparison of satellite gravimetry data processing
• Physical mechanisms of TWSC
• Estimation of groundwater or other TWSC components
• Relationship between TSWC and extreme precipitation
Water resources have ceaselessly experienced the great pressure from humans, particularly in terms of global warming associated with unprecedented extreme weather events, which includes glacier retreat from Antarctic, Greenland, and Tibetan Plateau (TP), lake expansion of TP, lake shrinkage of Mongolia Plateau, decreasing groundwater due to irrigation and industrial consumption, as well as warming and drying in some arid and semi-arid regions.
Terrestrial water storage is defined as the summation of all kinds of water—such as lake, soil moisture, groundwater, and glacier—on the land surface and in the subsurface. Accurate estimation and attribution of terrestrial water storage change (TWSC) is pivotal for sustainability and conservation of water resources. With the great success of GRACE/GRACE-FO mission, satellite gravimetry has been employed to assess the TWSC at global or regional scales.
Extant studies—often implemented with the combination of hydrological models—showed the differences of TWSC from satellite gravity model solutions, the separation of TWSC components, the gap between two gravity satellite missions, and the spatiotemporal patterns of TWSC and corresponding mechanisms. Yet the evident limitations lie in the sufficiency and accuracy of multi-source satellite data. In this regard, the aim of this Research Topic is to present and disseminate recent advances in exploring physical mechanisms of TWSC and their driving causes with the application of satellite gravimetry.
Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to:
• Algorithm improvement and comparison of satellite gravimetry data processing
• Physical mechanisms of TWSC
• Estimation of groundwater or other TWSC components
• Relationship between TSWC and extreme precipitation