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1. Substantial root-zone water storage capacity observed by GRACE and GRACE/FO

   https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2293-2025  

   Zhao, Meng; McCormick, Erica L; A, Geruo; Konings, Alexandra G; Li, Bailing (May 2025, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences)

   Abstract. Root-zone water storage capacity (Sr) – the maximum water volume available for vegetation uptake – bolsters ecosystem resilience to droughts and heatwaves, influences land–atmosphere exchange, and controls runoff and groundwater recharge. In land models, Sr serves as a critical parameter to simulate water availability for vegetation and its impact on processes like transpiration and soil moisture dynamics. However, Sr is difficult to measure, especially at large spatial scales, hindering an accurate understanding of many biophysical processes, such as photosynthesis, evapotranspiration, tree mortality, and wildfire risk. Here, we present a global estimate of Sr using measurements of total water storage (TWS) anomalies from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On satellite missions. We find that the median Sr value for global vegetated regions is at least 220±40 mm, which is over 50 % larger than the latest estimate derived from tracking storage change via water fluxes and 380 % larger than that calculated using a typical soil and rooting-depth parameterization. These findings reveal that plant-available water stores exceed the storage capacity of 2 m deep soil in nearly half of Earth's vegetated surface, representing a notably larger extent than previous estimates. Applying our Sr estimates in a global hydrological model improves evapotranspiration simulations compared to other Sr estimates across much of the globe, particularly during droughts, highlighting the robustness of our approach. Our study highlights the importance of continued refinement and validation of Sr estimates and provides a new observational approach for further exploring the impacts of Sr on water resource management and ecosystem sustainability. 

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2. Downscaled‐GRACE Data Reveal Anthropogenic and Climate‐Induced Water Storage Decline Across the Indus Basin

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035882  

   Arshad, Arfan; Mirchi, Ali; Taghvaeian, Saleh; AghaKouchak, Amir (July 2024, Water Resources Research)

   Abstract GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) has been widely used to evaluate terrestrial water storage (TWS) and groundwater storage (GWS). However, the coarse‐resolution of GRACE data has limited the ability to identify local vulnerabilities in water storage changes associated with climatic and anthropogenic stressors. This study employs high‐resolution (1 km²) GRACE data generated through machine learning (ML) based statistical downscaling to illuminate TWS and GWS dynamics across twenty sub‐regions in the Indus Basin. Monthly TWS and GWS anomalies obtained from a geographically weighted random forest (RF_gw) model maintained good consistency with original GRACE data at the 25 km²grid scale. The downscaled data at 1 km²resolution illustrate the spatial heterogeneity of TWS and GWS depletion within each sub‐region. Comparison with in‐situ GWS from 2,200 monitoring wells shows that downscaling of GRACE data significantly improves agreement with in‐situ data, evidenced by higher Kling‐Gupta Efficiency (0.50–0.85) and correlation coefficients (0.60–0.95). Hotspots with the highest TWS and GWS decline rate between 2002 and 2023 were Dehli Doab (−442, −585 mm/year), BIST Doab (−367, −556 mm/year), Rajasthan (−242, −381 mm/year), and BARI (−188, −333 mm/year). Based on a general additive model, 47%–83% of the TWS decline was associated with anthropogenic stressors mainly due to increasing trends of crop sown area, water consumption, and human settlements. The decline rate of TWS and GWS anomalies was lower (i.e., −25 to −75 mm/year) in upstream sub‐regions (e.g., Yogo, Gilgit, Khurmong, Kabul) where climatic factors (downward shortwave radiations, air temperature, and sea surface temperature) explained 72%–91% of TWS/GWS changes. The relative influences of climatic and anthropogenic stressors varied across sub‐regions, underscoring the complex interplay of natural‐human activities in the basin. These findings inform place‐based water resource management in the Indus Basin by advancing the understanding of local vulnerabilities. 

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3. Global groundwater droughts are more severe than they appear in hydrological models: An investigation through a Bayesian merging of GRACE and GRACE-FO data with a water balance model

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169476  

   Forootan, Ehsan; Mehrnegar, Nooshin; Schumacher, Maike; Schiettekatte, Leire Anne; Jagdhuber, Thomas; Farzaneh, Saeed; van Dijk, Albert I.J.M.; Shamsudduha, Mohammad; Shum, C.K. (February 2024, Science of The Total Environment)

   Zhang, Kai (Ed.)

   Realistic representation of hydrological drought events is increasingly important in world facing decreased freshwater availability. Index-based drought monitoring systems are often adopted to represent the evolution and distribution of hydrological droughts, which mainly rely on hydrological model simulations to compute these indices. Recent studies, however, indicate that model derived water storage estimates might have difficulties in adequately representing reality. Here, a novel Markov Chain Monte Carlo - Data Assimilation (MCMC-DA) approach is implemented to merge global Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) changes from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its Follow On mission (GRACE-FO) with the water storage estimations derived from the W3RA water balance model. The modified MCMC-DA derived summation of deep rooted soil and groundwater storage estimates is then used to compute 0.5∘ standardized groundwater drought indices globally to show the impact of GRACE/GRACE-FO DA on a global index-based hydrological drought monitoring system. Our numerical assessment covers the period of 2003–2021, and shows that integrating GRACE/GRACE-FO data modifies the seasonality and inter-annual trends of water storage estimations. Considerable increases in the length and severity of extreme droughts are found in basins that exhibited multiyear water storage fluctuations and those affected by climate teleconnections. 

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4. Congo Basin Water Balance and Terrestrial Fluxes Inferred From Satellite Observations of the Isotopic Composition of Water Vapor

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035092  

   Worden, Sarah; Bloom, A Anthony; Worden, John; Levine, Paul; Shi, Mingjie; Fu, Rong (July 2024, Water Resources Research)

   Abstract Large spatio‐temporal gradients in the Congo basin vegetation and rainfall are observed. However, its water‐balance (evapotranspiration minus precipitation, orET − P) is typically measured at basin‐scales, limited primarily by river‐discharge data, spatial resolution of terrestrial water storage measurements, and poorly constrainedET. We use observations of the isotopic composition of water vapor to quantify the spatio‐temporal variability of net surface water fluxes across the Congo Basin between 2003 and 2018. These data are calibrated at basin scale using satellite gravity and total Congo river discharge measurements and then used to estimate time‐varyingET − Pover four quadrants representing the Congo Basin, providing first estimates of this kind for the region. We find that the multi‐year record, seasonality, and interannual variability ofET − Pfrom both the isotopes and the gravity/river discharge based estimates are consistent. Additionally, we use precipitation and gravity‐based estimates with our water vapor isotope‐basedET − Pto calculate time and space averagedETand net river discharge within the Congo Basin. These quadrant‐scale moisture flux estimates indicate (a) substantial recycling of moisture in the Congo Basin (temporally and spatially averagedET/P > 70%), consistent with models and visible light‐basedETestimates, and (b) net river outflow is largest in the Western Congo where there are more rivers and higher flow rates. Our results confirm the importance ofETin modulating the Congo water cycle relative to other water sources. 

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5. Drying in the low-latitude Atlantic Ocean contributed to terrestrial water storage depletion across Eurasia

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29544-6  

   Shen, Zexi; Zhang, Qiang; Singh, Vijay P.; Pokhrel, Yadu; Li, Jianping; Xu, Chong-Yu; Wu, Wenhuan (December 2022, Nature Communications)

   Abstract Eurasia, home to ~70% of global population, is characterized by (semi-)arid climate. Water scarcity in the mid-latitude Eurasia (MLE) has been exacerbated by a consistent decline in terrestrial water storage (TWS), attributed primarily to human activities. However, the atmospheric mechanisms behind such TWS decline remain unclear. Here, we investigate teleconnections between drying in low-latitude North Atlantic Ocean (LNATO) and TWS depletions across MLE. We elucidate mechanistic linkages and detecte high correlations between decreased TWS in MLE and the decreased precipitation-minus-evapotranspiration (PME) in LNATO. TWS in MLE declines by ~257% during 2003-2017 due to northeastward propagation of PME deficit following two distinct seasonal landfalling routes during January-May and June-January. The same mechanism reduces TWS during 2031-2050 by ~107% and ~447% under scenarios SSP245 and SSP585, respectively. Our findings highlight the risk of increased future water scarcity across MLE caused by large-scale climatic drivers, compounding the impacts of human activities. 

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