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Project Code [2018-W-DS-33]
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Project title
GRACE Monitoring of Groundwater over Ireland
Primary Funding Agency
Environmental Protection Agency
Co-Funding Organisation(s)
Geological Survey Of Ireland (GSI)
Lead Organisation
National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG)
Project Abstract
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment-Follow On (GRACE-FO) mission utilise a pair of co-orbiting spacecraft whose variation in position between them as they track the same orbit meridian allows researchers to map gravitational anomalies on the Earth's surface. Over land, once corrected for geological and atmospheric effects, the dominant anomaly signature is from variations in terrestrial ground water bodies, and the GRACE missions have been incredibly successful in characterising changes in large/continental scale aquifers. Application to more local aquifer bodies are limited by GRACE spatial resolution, roughly 1 square degree at the equator. Given sufficiently sampled ground well levels within GRACE resolution scale, combined with local climatic and soil data, mapping of ground water storage changes at 10s of km spatial scale have been achieved, using machine learning techniques. The GRAIL project proposes to assess the feasibility of such an approach for the island of Ireland, using GRACE data products and similar climatic/soil/ground water level information provided by existing and on-going EPA/GSI programmes.
Grant Approved
�87,648.60
Research Theme
Ireland's Future Climate, its Impacts, and Adaptation Options
Initial Projected Completion Date
31/01/2020