H2020 G3P
Mission
Develop a groundwater volume variation product for the Copernicus service
Satellites / Instruments
GRACE and GRACE-FO
HYFAA
Copernicus Services
Skills
Processing of gravity data
Use of existing Copernicus services
Hydrological modelling
Date
From 2020 to today
H2020 G3P project
Groundwater is one of the most important freshwater resources for humans and ecosystems. Because of its fundamental role in the Earth’s water and energy cycles, groundwater has been declared an essential climate variable (ECV) by GCOS, the Global Climate Observing System.
An ECV is a variable that is essential for characterising the climate system and its changes. ECV data provide the empirical evidence needed to understand and predict climate change, assess risks, guide adaptation measures, underpin climate services, etc.
However, Copernicus services do not yet provide data on groundwater variations. Nor are there any other data sources in the world that provide, in an operational and consistent manner, information on this variable based on observations and with global coverage. This gap will be filled by G3P, the Global Gravity-based Groundwater Product, which estimates groundwater volume changes using a linear operation involving the main continental reservoirs (Güntner et al., 2007):
The Earth Observation unit is in charge of producing water volume variations in rivers using the HYFAA platform, which assimilates altimetry data. For more details on the HYFAA platform, click here.
For more information on G3P project, click here.
The objectives of G3P
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- Process and make available the latest satellite gravity data (GRACE / GRACE-FO) as continental water stock products
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- Make G3P a cross-cutting application using a wide variety of the existing product portfolio of the three core Copernicus services
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- To evolve the existing Copernicus services products to meet the requirements of G3P development
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- Develop and evaluate a G3P-based groundwater drought index, with a use case for southern Spain
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- Assessment of global groundwater resources and the status of large aquifers around the world
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Key partners
University of Bern, CLIMERS, CLS, University of Zurich, EODC GmbH, Finnish meteorological Institute, Future Water SL, GFZ, IGRAC, Geodesy Institute, LEGOS
Key words
observation, satellite, earth, studies, hydrology, quality, water, groundwater, copernicus, g3p, climate change, cryosphere, gravimetry
SCIENCE FOR EARTH CARE
The Earth Observation Unit of Magellium is an expert in optical space missions and geophysical and biophysical applications. The EO unit provides high level of expertise and full capacity on the whole processing chain, enabling it to respond to all projects from the greatest space orders such as ESA and CNES.