Researchers compared trends in global water storage between 2002 and 2014 derived from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data with calculated trends from seven global hydrology models and report that the models generally underestimate the GRACE-derived trends for both decreasing trends, which tend to occur in heavily irrigated areas, and increasing trends, which occur primarily in nonirrigated areas, suggesting that model projections of climate and human-induced water-storage changes might be underestimated.
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Article #17-04665: "Global models underestimate large decadal declining and rising water storage trends relative to GRACE satellite data," by Bridget R. Scanlon et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Bridget R. Scanlon, University of Texas at Austin, TX; tel: 512-471-8241; e-mail: bridget.scanlon@beg.utexas.edu
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences