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GRACE storage-runoff hystereses reveal the dynamics of regional watersheds

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  • We characterize how regional watersheds function as simple, dynamic systems through a series of hysteresis loops using measurements from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites. These loops illustrate the temporal relationship between runoff and terrestrial water storage in three regional-scale watersheds (> 150 000 km²) of the Columbia River Basin, USA and Canada. The shape and size of the hysteresis loops are controlled by the climate, topography, and geology of the watershed. The direction of the hystereses for the GRACE signals moves in opposite directions from the isolated groundwater hystereses. The subsurface water (soil moisture and groundwater) hystereses more closely resemble the storage-runoff relationship of a soil matrix. While the physical processes underlying these hystereses are inherently complex, the vertical integration of terrestrial water in the GRACE signal encapsulates the processes that govern the non-linear function of regional-scale watersheds. We use this process-based understanding to test how GRACE data can be applied prognostically to predict seasonal runoff (mean Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency of 0.91) and monthly runoff during the low flow/high demand month of August (mean Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency of 0.77) in all three watersheds. The global nature of GRACE data allows this same methodology to be applied in other regional-scale studies, and could be particularly useful in regions with minimal data and in trans-boundary watersheds.
  • For a previous discussion paper please see: http://hdl.handle.net/1957/57160. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. The published article can be found at: http://www.hydrology-and-earth-system-sciences.net/. The Supplement related to this article is available onlineat doi:10.5194/hess-19-3253-2015-supplement.
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  • Sproles, E. A., Leibowitz, S. G., Reager, J. T., Wigington Jr, P. J., Famiglietti, J. S., & Patil, S. D. (2015). GRACE storage-runoff hystereses reveal the dynamics of regional watersheds. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 19(7), 3253-3272. doi:10.5194/hess-19-3253-2015
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  • 19
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  • 7
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  • GRACE terrestrial data were processed by Sean Swenson, supported by the NASA MEaSUREs Program, and are available at http://grace.jpl.nasa.gov. The information in this document has been funded entirely by the US Environmental Protection Agency, in part by an appointment to the Internship/Research Participation Program at the Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and EPA.
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