Observing groundwater depletion in Northern Iraq from space: A comparitive study between catchment hydrology and the GRACE satellite mission

Observing groundwater depletion in Northern Iraq from space: A comparitive study between catchment hydrology and the GRACE satellite mission

Mulder, G.

Olsthoorn, T.N. (mentor)
Al-Manmi, D.A.M. (mentor)
Schrama, E.J.O. (mentor)
Smidt, E.H. (mentor)

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Water Management

Geohydrology

2013-12-19

Mass changes derived from GRACE satellite data indicate that there is a large water mass loss in Northern Iraq between 2006 and 2009. In the same period Northern Iraq suffered a severe drought , which is likely to be the main driving factor behind those water mass losses. But where does this mass change exactly come from? Is it groundwater or surface water? Is it natural variation or caused by human interference? In this thesis a method is developed to obtain reliable data on mass change from GRACE and address the mass changes using different satellite data sets and ground measurements. In a step-wise approach mass changes of lakes, snow, natural groundwater variation and groundwater pumping are indicated and quantified. From the results can be concluded that more than half of the total mass variations is caused by lake mass changes and more than twenty five percent by natural variation. The large influence of natural variation could mainly be linked to fast groundwater discharge from karstic aquifers and shows the sensitivity of the groundwater system to dry periods.

GRACE
remote sensing
TRMM
rainfall runoff
lake volume

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4842ebeb-eb02-4c40-8418-5421f8c05ec4

2014-01-09

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2013 Mulder, G.