Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Exploiting Earth Observations to Enable Groundwater Modeling in the Data-Sparse Region of Goulbi Maradi, Niger

Sergio A. Barbosa
ORCID logo ,
Norman L. Jones
* ORCID logo ,
Gustavious P. Williams
,
Bako Mamane
ORCID logo ,
Jamila Begou
,
E. James Nelson
,
Daniel P. Ames
ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 29 August 2023 / Approved: 29 August 2023 / Online: 30 August 2023 (14:05:34 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Barbosa, S.A.; Jones, N.L.; Williams, G.P.; Mamane, B.; Begou, J.; Nelson, E.J.; Ames, D.P. Exploiting Earth Observations to Enable Groundwater Modeling in the Data-Sparse Region of Goulbi Maradi, Niger. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 5199. Barbosa, S.A.; Jones, N.L.; Williams, G.P.; Mamane, B.; Begou, J.; Nelson, E.J.; Ames, D.P. Exploiting Earth Observations to Enable Groundwater Modeling in the Data-Sparse Region of Goulbi Maradi, Niger. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 5199.

Abstract

Groundwater modeling is a useful tool for assessing sustainability in water resources planning. However, groundwater models are difficult to construct in regions with limited data availability. We illustrated how remote sensing data can be used leverage limited in situ data to build and calibrate a regional groundwater model in the Goulbi Maradi alluvial aquifer in Southern Niger in Western Africa. We used data from the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission to estimate recharge rates, the primary source of water to the aquifer. Additionally, we incorporated groundwater storage changes obtained from GRACE data from 2009 to 2021 to establish an overall water budget from which we could back-calculate groundwater withdrawals from pumping in the region. This approach allowed us to calibrate the model and then convert it to a predictive tool to analyze the impact of various assumptions about future recharge and groundwater extraction patterns associated with the development of groundwater infrastruction in the region. The results indicate that the Goulbi Maradi alluvial aquifer is sustainable, even an increase of groundwater extraction up to 28%.

Keywords

Groundwater Modeling; MODFLOW; West Africa; GRACE; Sustainability

Subject

Engineering, Civil Engineering

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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