Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 33, Issue 19, Pages -Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1029/2006GL027070
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
GRACE satellite gravity data is used to estimate terrestrial (surface plus ground) water storage within the Congo Basin in Africa for the period of April, 2002-May, 2006. These estimates exhibit significant seasonal (30 +/- 6 mm of equivalent water thickness) and long-term trends, the latter yielding a total loss of similar to 280 km(3) of water over the 50-month span of data. We also combine GRACE and precipitation data sets (CMAP, TRMM) to explore the relative contributions of the source term to the seasonal hydrological balance within the Congo Basin. We find that the seasonal water storage tends to saturate for anomalies greater than 30-40 mm of equivalent water thickness. Furthermore, precipitation contributed roughly three times the peak water storage after anomalously rainy seasons, in early 2003 and 2005, implying a similar to 60-70% loss from runoff and evapotranspiration. Finally, a comparison of residual land water storage (monthly estimates minus best-fitting trends) in the Congo and Amazon Basins shows an anti-correlation, in agreement with the see-saw variability inferred by others from runoff data.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available