DGFI-TUM - Hydrological Mass Variations

Hydrological Mass Variations

Mass transports and redistributions within the System Earth are caused by a huge number of processes, such as circulations in the oceans and the atmosphere, water fluxes between terrestrial water storages, river discharge or sea level changes. In the past, it was rather difficult or even impossible to observe changes of the mass distribution. Today, however, simultaneously operating satellite gravity and altimetry missions allow for the detection of mass transports and redistributions. Consequently, satellite gravity missions such as GRACE are sensitive to the hydrological cycle. The hydrological cycle describes the continuous water transport on, above, and below the surface of the Earth. Freshwater represents only about 3% of all water on Earth. Around 68% of the freshwater is stored as snow and ice on Antarctica and Greenland; 30% are stored as ground water. Lakes, streams and rivers account for only 0.3% of the Earth's freshwater.

According to the IPCC 2007 report the continental hydrology is still the most imprecise determined part of the global water cycle. Consequently improved models of the continental hydrology and its storage components have to developed. Since March 2002 the satellite mission GRACE allows for the first time to estimate total continental water storage change at large scales. In addition altimetry measurements over lakes, reservoirs and wetlands can be used to calculate water masses over continents. Remote sensing data can be used for the detection and floodings.

Selected Publications

Schwatke C., Dettmering D., Seitz F.: Volume Variations of Small Inland Water Bodies from a Combination of Satellite Altimetry and Optical Imagery. Remote Sensing, 12(10), 1606, 10.3390/rs12101606, 2020

(Open Access)

Singh A., Seitz F., Eicker A., Güntner A.: Water budget analysis within the surrounding of prominent lakes and reservoirs from multi-sensor Earth observation data and hydrological models: case studies of the Aral Sea and Lake Mead. Remote Sensing, 8(11), 953, 10.3390/rs8110953, 2016

(Open Access)

Abelen S., Seitz F., Abarca-del-Rio R., Güntner A.: Droughts and floods in the La Plata basin in soil moisture data and GRACE. Remote Sensing 7(6): 7324-7349, 10.3390/rs70607324, 2015

(Open Access)

Singh A., Kumar U., Seitz F.: Remote sensing of storage fluctuations of poorly gauged reservoirs and state space model (SSM)-based estimation. Remote Sensing 7(12): 17113-17134, 10.3390/rs71215872, 2015

(Open Access)

Seitz F., Schmidt M., Shum C.K.: Signals of extreme weather conditions in Central Europe in GRACE 4D hydrological mass variations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 268(1-2): 165-170, 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.01.001, 2008

Schmidt M., Seitz F., Shum C.K.: Regional four-dimensional hydrological mass variations from GRACE, atmospheric flux convergence, and river gauge data. Journal of Geophysical Research 113(B10), B10402, 10.1029/2008JB005575, 2008 (Open Access)

Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Florian Seitz

Technische Universität München
Arcisstraße 21
80333 München