Publication Abstracts

Asoka et al. 2017

Asoka, A., T. Gleeson, Y. Wada, and V. Mishra, 2017: Relative contribution of monsoon precipitation and pumping to changes in groundwater storage in India. Nat. Geosci., 10, no. 2, 109-117, doi:10.1038/ngeo2869.

The depletion of groundwater resources threatens food and water security in India. However, the relative influence of groundwater pumping and climate variability on groundwater availability and storage remains unclear. Here we show from analyses of satellite and local well data spanning the past decade that long-term changes in monsoon precipitation are driving groundwater storage variability in most parts of India either directly by changing recharge or indirectly by changing abstraction. We find that groundwater storage has declined in northern India at the rate of 2 cm/yr and increased by 1 to 2 cm/yr in southern India between 2002 and 2013. We find that a large fraction of the total variability in groundwater storage in north-central and southern India can be explained by changes in precipitation. Groundwater storage variability in northwestern India can be explained predominantly by variability in abstraction for irrigation, which is in turn influenced by changes in precipitation. Declining precipitation in northern India is linked to Indian Ocean warming, suggesting a previously unrecognized teleconnection between ocean temperatures and groundwater storage.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{as07000h,
  author={Asoka, A. and Gleeson, T. and Wada, Y. and Mishra, V.},
  title={Relative contribution of monsoon precipitation and pumping to changes in groundwater storage in India},
  year={2017},
  journal={Nat. Geosci.},
  volume={10},
  number={2},
  pages={109--117},
  doi={10.1038/ngeo2869},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - as07000h
AU  - Asoka, A.
AU  - Gleeson, T.
AU  - Wada, Y.
AU  - Mishra, V.
PY  - 2017
TI  - Relative contribution of monsoon precipitation and pumping to changes in groundwater storage in India
JA  - Nat. Geosci.
VL  - 10
IS  - 2
SP  - 109
EP  - 117
DO  - 10.1038/ngeo2869
ER  -

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