Space-based natural and human-induced water storage change quantification

Understanding water availability and its response to climate change and water extraction is crucial for sustainable water management in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin. This study introduces a space-based method that quantifies the natural and human-induced impact on changes in terrestrial water storage. It reveals an impact of 17% due to water extraction for irrigation over the past two decades, with 84% of this extraction coming from surface water and 16% from groundwater. The human-induced impact varies spatially with higher values in the southern Murray (up to 5.6%) and smaller values in the northern Darling (down to 0.2%). Data-model fusion of the satellite-based water storage changes into a hydrological model, which does not simulate water extraction, man-made reservoirs and wetlands, improved the representation of water storage variability and intensified trends in drying and wetting periods. This study adds valuable findings to better understand natural and human-induced impacts on the regional water resources under changing climate and to better represent these impacts (80% and 20% respectively) within hydrological models after data-model fusion.