Investigating the causes of changes in water reservoir levels on a local scale using GRACE satellite data and climate and statistical data(Case study area: East Azerbaijan Province - Iran)

Water reservoirs are very applicable in regions with hot and arid or semi-arid weather such as Iran. Among those water reservoirs are underground water sources. Underground water reservoirs are considered as the world’s sweet and drinkable water sources and economical-social developments. Hence, monitoring their changes in water resources management is of great significant. The results of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite in this study indicate 16 to 20 cm reduction of the water storage levels in East Azerbaijan Province during 2006-2016.The influential factors of the changes in the level of water reservoirs, especially climate changes such as the average of total amount of annual precipitation, the average annual temperature, and human contribution are investigated and it has been shown that the first two factors ( the average of total amount of annual precipitation and the average of annual temperature) have trivial effects on the reduction of water reservoirs level in this region, however; the main reason is human contribution in using underground waters. In a way that the amount of underground water depletion using deep and semi-deep wells in the region has risen from 886 million cubic meters in 2007 to 1311 million cubic meters in 2015. This way, with the constant influence of climatic factors, the most important role in reducing the water storage levels is the human contribution in the use of groundwater.

Investigating the causes of changes in water reservoir levels on a local scale using GRACE satellite data and climate and statistical data(Case study area: East Azerbaijan Province - Iran) Keywords:

Water Storage , GRACE , Annual Precipitation , Climate Changes , Temperature , East Azerbaijan Province