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IGFS 2014 pp 171–178Cite as

An Investigation on the Closure of the Water Budget Methods Over Volta Basin Using Multi-Satellite Data

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Part of the book series: International Association of Geodesy Symposia ((IAG SYMPOSIA,volume 144))

Abstract

The terrestrial water budget over a particular hydrological domain (e.g., a drainage basin) plays an important role in understanding the interactions among the energy and water cycles. In this work, we assess the closure of the water budget methods [i.e., terrestrial water budget (TWB) and the coupled atmospheric-terrestrial water budget (ATWB)] as well as the control of total water storage gain over Volta Basin of West Africa. To achieve this, we explore the available satellite and data products: GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage changes (TWSC), satellite altimetry, TRMM-measured rainfall, MODIS-estimated evaporation, atmospheric moisture storage and divergence (ERA-Interim reanalysis data), and in situ discharge. The closure of water budgets are assessed by comparison with GRACE-derived TWSC. The results indicate that the closure of water budgets over the Basin, considering the agreement with GRACE-derived TWSC, present an RMSE of 33.72 and 48.22 mm/month for TWB and ATWB, respectively. This implies that the net precipitation (precipitation minus evaporation) computed from ERA-Interim reanalysis data presents high uncertainties over the Basin. Further, the significant accumulated water gain of 162.84 mm for the period of January 2003–December 2012, is 48% controlled by Lake Volta.

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Acknowledgements

V.G. Ferreira acknowledges the financial support provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41204016). Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Kusche is appreciated for providing the DDK filter coefficients. We would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief and the three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which improved this manuscript. We are grateful for the data used in this study as described in Section 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China

    Vagner G. Ferreira & Zibrila Asiah

Authors
  1. Vagner G. Ferreira
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  2. Zibrila Asiah
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Correspondence to Vagner G. Ferreira .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Shanghai, China

    Shuanggen Jin

  2. DICA, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Riccardo Barzaghi

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Ferreira, V.G., Asiah, Z. (2015). An Investigation on the Closure of the Water Budget Methods Over Volta Basin Using Multi-Satellite Data. In: Jin, S., Barzaghi, R. (eds) IGFS 2014. International Association of Geodesy Symposia, vol 144. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/1345_2015_137

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