Assessment of spatiotemporal variability of water storage in Arabian countries using global datasets: implications for water resources management

ABSTRACT

The Arab region is characterized by water scarcity, extreme droughts and floods. This paper aims to utilize the global datasets of rainfall, evapotranspiration (ET), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites and Data Assimilation of GLDAS to assess the spatiotemporal variability of water resource components over the Arab region. The results indicate that the Terrestrial water storage (TWS) are declining in most of the countries over the analysis period (2002–2015). The long-term analysis indicates that 2008 was the driest year and a distinctive deflection point for a declining trend of TWS. Non-parametric trend analysis test of Man-Kendall showed that trend of rainfall, NDVI, ET are not statistically significant except in some regions. The highest TWS volume of about +1586.9 Million Cubic Meter was found in Sudan, evidenced by rainfall. The study provides a guide for stakeholders to manage water resources in all countries separately.

KEYWORDS:

• Water resources management
• GRACE
• GLDAS
• Arab region
• NDVI
• groundwater

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on achievements of the collaborative research program of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University 2017 Award (29L-03) and 2018 Award.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan [29L-03].