US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Monitoring Large-Scale Water Storage Variability in Egypt

0115250 Wahr说明：本项目是为了支持科罗拉多博尔德市科罗拉多大学物理系John Wahr博士和埃及开罗Helwan国家天文学和地球物理学研究所太阳和空间研究系Mohammed Shaltout博士之间的合作研究项目。 这项研究的目标是开发一种方法，利用卫星重力测量和大气压力数据相结合的方法，监测整个埃及地下水和土壤湿度的大规模分布情况。 重力测量将来自GRACE，这是一个预计于2001年底发射的卫星使命。 GRACE将每30天绘制一次高精度的地球重力场图，因此将提供地球内部和地表或地表以上质量分布的逐月变化信息。 这将允许监测地球仪上几百公里范围内陆地上储存的水的分布变化。 这些水储存量估计的准确性预计将主要取决于用于从重力测量中去除大气质量贡献的大气压力场的误差。 建议的工作将加强现有的大气压力网络在埃及，使大气质量的贡献，重力可以准确地建模和删除的GRACE data.Scope：计划的研究是探索性的，旨在校准和提高精度的GRACE数据评估土壤中的水分。 这项工作对于预测地下水和其他形式土壤水分的可用性非常重要，因此有助于水文学家、农业专家以及社会和政治规划者的规划目的。 这两位科学家有着互补的经验。 他们可以获得项目所需的资源。 美国科罗拉多大学的一名女博士后将参与这项研究。 该项目由国际方案司和地球科学司资助。

0115250WahrDescription: This project is to support a cooperative research project between Dr. John Wahr, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado and Dr. Mosalam Shaltout, Solar and Space Research Department of the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Helwan, Cairo, Egypt. The goal of the research is to develop a method of monitoring the large-scale distribution of ground water and soil moisture throughout Egypt, by using a combination of satellite gravity measurements and atmospheric pressure data. The gravity measurements will come from GRACE, a satellite mission expected for launch in late 2001. GRACE will map the earth's gravity field with high accuracy every30 days, and so will provide information on month-to month variations in the distribution of mass within the Earth and on or above the surface. This will allow the monitoring of changes in the distribution of water stored on land, at a scale of few hundred kilometers, everywhere over the globe. The accuracy of these water storage estimates is expected to depend primarily on the errors in the atmospheric pressure fields used to remove atmospheric mass contributions from the gravity measurements. The work proposed will strengthen the existing atmospheric pressure network in Egypt so that the atmospheric mass contributions to gravity can be accurately modeled and removed from the GRACE data.Scope: The research planned is exploratory intended to calibrate and increase the accuracy of the GRACE data for assessing the moisture in soils. This effort can be of great importance to predicting availability of ground water and other forms of soil moisture and thus help with planning purposes for hydrologists, agriculture specialists and for social and political planners. The two scientists have complementary experiences. They have access to resources needed for the project. A female US post doctorate at the University of Colorado will participate in this research. The project is funded by the Division of International Programs and the Division of Earth Sciences.