Evaluation of Water Storage Changes in Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey, using GRACE and GLDAS

Abstract

With climatic changes, access to freshwater resources becomes more limited. Correspondingly, water monitoring methods in sensitive or critical areas in terms of groundwater amount are becoming increasingly important. The monitoring of the water levels in these regions, using appropriate methods and data sets, is highly effective in preventing possible future water crises. This paper aims estimated water storage changes with available tools and data in southeastern Anatolia, Turkey, where hydro-climatological studies are scarce due to limited observations. Data obtained from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite mission and the Global Land Data Assimilation System were used for the analysis of water storage changes in the study area. The results demonstrate that water storage shows a downward trend in all subareas, particularly in high-elevation regions. In addition, climatic changes have both short- and long-term impacts on water storage. Climatic variables (increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation) showed the highest correlation with water storage at 2-month lags. The monitoring of water storage is crucial for the region, and our results confirm the major role of such monitoring in decision-making processes and water resource management.