Projects

According to the models' prediction, atmospheric water vapor is expected to rise with the intensification of the water cycle and climate change. However, regional observations often diverge from this “wet-get-wetter, dry-get-drier” paradigm. Moreover, it remains unclear whether modeled moisture fluxes into and out of watersheds balance with river discharge and terrestrial reservoirs (aquifers, soils, surface waters). To evaluate and improve these models, direct observations of changing water-cycle components are vital, given their profound impacts on heat waves, floods, droughts, wildfires, and water resources.

"Unravelling watershed fluxes to detect emerging changes of the water balance" Vidi project will tackle these gaps by jointly inverting satellite gravimetry and radar altimetry data to quantify watershed fluxes in the North Sea region and the Greater Horn of Africa. The approach will also integrate regional sea-level change and vertical land motion into the inversion, ensuring mass-consistent estimates of water storage and transfer.