Abstract
The third assessment report of the IPCC mentions changes of terrestrial water storage as a non negligible component contributing positively or negatively to sea level rise. However, in Assessment Report 4, no contributions from the land are included as estimates are perceived to be too uncertain. However, since then better estimates have become available (e.g., the impoundment of reservoirs) that warrant a re-appraisal of the land-storage contribution to sea level rise. In this study, we built on our earlier estimates of the global depletion of groundwater resources at half degree resolution, which confront simulated groundwater recharge with estimates of groundwater abstraction, and consider the uncertainty thereof. These estimates were corroborated using independent estimates and assessments with GRACE. Taking the year 2000 as reference, these results showed that groundwater depletion contributed a considerable amount of 0.8 (±0.1) mm a-1 to sea level rise. Here we present a reconstruction of groundwater depletion rates from 1960-2000 and preliminary results of projections for 2000-2100 under four socio-economic scenarios following IPCC SRES with and without the added impact of climate change. Using 20-year time slices, we show maps of regional groundwater depletion over the period 1960-2100 and graph its effect on global sea-level rise. We also compare the net contribution of groundwater depletion to sea-level rise to that of other factors, among which the extrapolated contributions from deforestation and impoundment by reservoirs
| Original language | English |
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| Pages | H14B-01 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 5 Dec 2011 |
| Event | American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, USA - San Fransisco Duration: 5 Dec 2011 → 9 Dec 2011 |
Conference
| Conference | American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, USA |
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| City | San Fransisco |
| Period | 5/12/11 → 9/12/11 |
