Inter-annual water mass variations from GRACE in central Siberia

authored by: Sibylle Vey, Holger Steffen, Jürgen Müller, Julia Boike
Abstract: Our study analyses satellite and land-based observations of the Yakutsk region centred at the Lena watershed, an area characterised mainly by continuous permafrost. Using monthly solutions of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment satellite mission, we detect a mass increase over central Siberia from 2002 to 2007 which reverses into a mass decrease between 2007 and 2011. No significant mass trend is visible for the whole observation period. To further quantify this behaviour, different mass signal components are studied in detail: (1) inter-annual variation in the atmospheric mass, (2) a possible effect of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA), and (3) hydrological mass variations. In standard processing the atmospheric mass signal is reduced based on the data from numerical weather prediction models. We use surface pressure observations in order to validate this atmospheric reduction. On inter-annual time scale the difference between the atmospheric mass signal from model prediction and from surface pressure observation is <4 mm in equivalent water height. The effect of GIA on the mass signal over Siberia is calculated using a global ice model and a spherically symmetric, compressible, Maxwell-viscoelastic earth model. The calculation shows that for the investigated area any effect of GIA can be ruled out. Hence, the main part of the signal can be attributed to hydrological mass variations. We briefly discuss potential hydrological effects such as changes in precipitation, river discharge, surface and subsurface water storage.
Organisation(s): Institute of Geodesy
External Organisation(s): Lantmäteriet - The Swedish Mapping, Cadastral, and Land Registration Authority
Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Type: Review article
Journal: Journal of geodesy
Volume: 87
Pages: 287-299
No. of pages: 13
ISSN: 0949-7714
Publication date: 31.12.2013
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Geophysics, Geochemistry and Petrology, Computers in Earth Sciences
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 13 - Climate Action
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-012-0597-9 (Access: Unknown)
: Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@article{65db9eb2f9b5497691959cdc48aa107b,
title = "Inter-annual water mass variations from GRACE in central Siberia",
abstract = "Our study analyses satellite and land-based observations of the Yakutsk region centred at the Lena watershed, an area characterised mainly by continuous permafrost. Using monthly solutions of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment satellite mission, we detect a mass increase over central Siberia from 2002 to 2007 which reverses into a mass decrease between 2007 and 2011. No significant mass trend is visible for the whole observation period. To further quantify this behaviour, different mass signal components are studied in detail: (1) inter-annual variation in the atmospheric mass, (2) a possible effect of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA), and (3) hydrological mass variations. In standard processing the atmospheric mass signal is reduced based on the data from numerical weather prediction models. We use surface pressure observations in order to validate this atmospheric reduction. On inter-annual time scale the difference between the atmospheric mass signal from model prediction and from surface pressure observation is <4 mm in equivalent water height. The effect of GIA on the mass signal over Siberia is calculated using a global ice model and a spherically symmetric, compressible, Maxwell-viscoelastic earth model. The calculation shows that for the investigated area any effect of GIA can be ruled out. Hence, the main part of the signal can be attributed to hydrological mass variations. We briefly discuss potential hydrological effects such as changes in precipitation, river discharge, surface and subsurface water storage.",
keywords = "Earth's system, GRACE, Hydrology, Mass transport, Permafrost",
author = "Sibylle Vey and Holger Steffen and J{\"u}rgen M{\"u}ller and Julia Boike",
year = "2013",
month = dec,
day = "31",
doi = "10.1007/s00190-012-0597-9",
language = "English",
volume = "87",
pages = "287--299",
journal = "Journal of geodesy",
issn = "0949-7714",
publisher = "Springer Verlag",
number = "3",
}