Zhao et al. (2026) Vertical Coherence Dominates Decadal Land Water Storage Change Despite Hydroclimatic Extremes and Groundwater Pumping

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

Identification

• Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-08-04
• Authors: Meng Zhao, Runze Zhang, G. A, Dara Entekhabi
• DOI: 10.1029/2026gl122946

Research Groups

• NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
• University of California, Irvine (UCI)

Short Summary

This study assesses the vertical organization of land water change across 78 million km² using satellite observations, finding that vertical coherence dominates but can be weakened by climatic and anthropogenic pressures.

Objective

• Investigate the relationship between surface and deeper water storage trends under climate extremes and human management.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global coverage (∼78 million km²)
• Temporal Scale: 2015–2025

Methodology and Data

• Models used: None mentioned, relying on satellite observations
• Data sources:
  • Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) for surface soil moisture
  • GRACE/FO for total terrestrial water storage

Main Results

• Vertical coherence dominates, with same-sign surface and total storage trends across >70% of the analyzed area.
• Divergence is spatially clustered and linked to repeated hydroclimatic extremes or intensive groundwater abstraction.

Contributions

• Provides the first global observational test of vertical coherence in land water storage change.
• Shows that vertical coherence remains dominant but can be weakened by depth-selective climatic and anthropogenic pressures.

Funding

• NASA's Earth Science Division (Grant #NNX16AC96G)

Citation

@article{Zhao2026Vertical,
  author = {Zhao, Meng and Zhang, Runze and A, G. and Entekhabi, Dara},
  title = {Vertical Coherence Dominates Decadal Land Water Storage Change Despite Hydroclimatic Extremes and Groundwater Pumping},
  journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2026gl122946},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2026gl122946}
}