Identifying water storage changes in the Parana River Basin from GRACE/FO and its connection with ENSO events

PEREIRA, AYELEN; CORNERO, CECILIA; ANA CRISTINA OLIVEIRA CANCORO DE MATOS; PACINO, MARÍA CRISTINA

Workshop; ICC IAG Workshop Geodesy for climate research; 2023

International Association of Geodesy

The Parana river basin is the major contribution to the La Plata basin in South America, and the fifth largest hydrographic system in the world. Moreover, it constitutes the most dynamic area of Argentina in economic terms, being also a region of great hydrological significance and sensitive to extreme events.In the last 20 years, this basin has had episodes of extraordinary floods with human losses and property damages, as well as severe situations of water storage deficit. Gravimetric satellite missions can monitor water mass distributions in the Earth system, which is closely related to the consequences of climate change.In this work, data from GRACE and GRACE FO were used to analyze the water mass variation in the Middle-Low Parana river basin. Interpretation of results was carried out by associating the mass anomalies derived from GRACE/FO data with satellite and terrestrial information, like global rainfall models and hydrometric heights; and linked to ENSO events that occurred in the period 2003-2022.The results indicate that most of the water storage variations are related to climate extreme events (e.g. the floods that occurred in the 2015-2017 period, and the 2009 and 2019-2022 drought), and also to El Niño and La Niña episodes.