Enhancing the groundwater storage estimates by integrating MT-InSAR, GRACE/GRACE-FO, and hydraulic head measurements in Henan Plain (China)

Aquifers supporting irrigated agriculture in Henan Plain in China (HNP) are under immense stress due to scarcity of surface water and over-pumping of groundwater. To assist in establishing a crop planting structure in this region that aligns more with the capacity of water resources, we have developed an enhanced methodology for estimating Groundwater Storage change (GWSC). This method integrates Multi-temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) inversion, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (and Follow-on)/Global Land Data Assimilation System (GRACE/GLDAS) modelling, and hydraulic head measurements. The time-series comparisons based on well water levels and residual statistics of equivalent water thickness (EWT) validate the reliability of both MT-InSAR- and GRACE/GLDAS-derived GWSC, exhibiting a mean R-square of 0.8288 and an RMSE of 7.5 cm. The corrected and integrated GWSC significantly enhances the equal lon-lat tile of 1/4-degree (∼27 km) from CSR GRACE/GRACE-FO Mascon solution (CSR-M) to within 1 km in aquifers with known prior hydrogeological information. Furthermore, the geographic patterns analysis of GWSC in HNP using standard deviational ellipse (SDE) reveals that the central regions in HNP between the Yellow River and the Huaihe River suffer the most severe regional groundwater depletion. The depletion center has shifted to the northwest by 87 km, showing a trend of easing in the north-south direction and expanding in the east-west direction.