Arifin et al. (2025) Plausibility Criteria for GRACE‐Derived Groundwater Storage Changes From Aquifers Globally

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-20
• Authors: Arifin Arifin, Mohammad Shamsudduha, Agus M. Ramdhan, Ashraf Rateb, Bridget R. Scanlon, Taat Setiawan, Munib Ikhwatun Iman, Abdullah Husna, Richard G. Taylor
• DOI: 10.1029/2025gl118580

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Short Summary

This paper introduces a framework to evaluate the physical plausibility of groundwater storage change (ΔGWS) estimates derived from GRACE satellite data across 37 large global aquifer systems. The study demonstrates that excluding implausible estimates significantly improves the correlation of ΔGWS with total water storage and in situ observations, enhancing the reliability of groundwater monitoring.

Objective

• To present a framework for evaluating the physical plausibility of GRACE-derived groundwater storage change (ΔGWS) estimates.
• To demonstrate how the exclusion of implausible ΔGWS estimates improves their consistency with total water storage changes and in situ observations.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: 37 large global aquifer systems.
• Temporal Scale: Not explicitly stated, but implies a period of monitoring changes in groundwater storage.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Land surface models (specific models not named in the abstract).
• Data sources: GRACE satellite gravimetry missions (for total water storage changes), in situ observations (specifically mentioned for the Bengal Basin).

Main Results

• The proportion of plausible ΔGWS estimates per realization, derived from multiple GRACE products and land surface model combinations, varied significantly from less than 10% to greater than 60%.
• Exclusion of implausible estimates substantially improved correlations between ΔGWS and total water storage change (ΔTWS) (Pearson correlation coefficient r ≥ 0.9, p-value < 0.05) in most aquifers (31 out of 37).
• Improved correlations were also observed with in situ observations in the Bengal Basin (Pearson correlation coefficient r = 0.8, p-value < 0.05).

Contributions

• Development of a novel framework to assess the physical plausibility of GRACE-derived groundwater storage change estimates.
• Quantification of the variability in plausibility of ΔGWS estimates across different GRACE products and land surface model combinations.
• Demonstration of a method to significantly enhance the reliability and accuracy of GRACE-derived ΔGWS by filtering out implausible data, addressing a critical challenge in groundwater monitoring.

Funding

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Arifin2025Plausibility,
  author = {Arifin, Arifin and Shamsudduha, Mohammad and Ramdhan, Agus M. and Rateb, Ashraf and Scanlon, Bridget R. and Setiawan, Taat and Iman, Munib Ikhwatun and Husna, Abdullah and Taylor, Richard G.},
  title = {Plausibility Criteria for GRACE‐Derived Groundwater Storage Changes From Aquifers Globally},
  journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1029/2025gl118580},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl118580}
}