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Water storage loss in central and south Asia from GRACE satellite gravity: correlations with climate data

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Abstract

Recent decrease of water supply in central Asia and south Asia affects billions of people here. By filtering the errors at higher frequency components and correcting for the contaminated components, we enhance the monthly GRACE gravity fields to improve the determination of change in equivalent water height (EWH). The water storage changes from GRACE and the GLDAS hydrology model all show decreasing trends in this region. At the annual and inter-annual time scales, significant correlations between the variations in EWH and the variations in temperature, precipitation and snow equivalent height are found, especially at high altitude stations, suggesting that climate change is the driving factor for the water depletion in central Asia and south Asia.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the National Science Council, and the National Space Organization (NSPO), Taiwan, under the 2010 project “Precise orbit determination and analysis of earth’s gravity field from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC GPS data.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, 1001 University Road, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan

    Natthachet Tangdamrongsub, Cheinway Hwang & Yu-Chi Kao

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  1. Natthachet Tangdamrongsub
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  3. Yu-Chi Kao
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Correspondence to Cheinway Hwang.

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Tangdamrongsub, N., Hwang, C. & Kao, YC. Water storage loss in central and south Asia from GRACE satellite gravity: correlations with climate data. Nat Hazards 59, 749–769 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-9793-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-9793-9

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