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

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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.