Using data provided by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On or GRACE-FO, which consists of a collaborative project between NASA and the German geoscience research center, we will present some analyzes that help with monitoring and decision-making in water management in the Brazil . According to NASA, the project aims to measure changes in the way mass is redistributed, both between and within the atmosphere, in the oceans, in ice sheets, in water storage, in changes in the levels of rivers and mares. and even within the Earth itself.
The GRACE mission performs such measurements every month, and considering that the addition or subtraction of water changes the gravitational field, these data, integrated with other terrestrial observations, are quite necessary for study and monitoring, especially with regard to dry.
According to NASA, rainfall in the summer of 2020, especially in March, was below normal in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo and Paraná, with dry weather and excessive heat. Furthermore, the US national environmental information centers recorded the hottest period in the last 110 years in South America between December and February.
The mineral research and resources company, CPRM, identified a significant reduction in groundwater levels of two to four meters in 2014 in the Brazilian states of São Paulo, Mato Grosso and Paraná compared to the same time in 2011. In addition, the data presented by CPRM also show that the intense exploitation of aquifers can lead to the depletion of water reserves. One of the largest aquifers in the world, the Guarani, with 1.2 million kilometers and an estimated volume of 37 thousand km3, is explored by around 4 thousand artesian wells that extend across the states of São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande from the South to Mato Grosso do Sul. In the north of the country, the Alter do Chão aquifer, which is more than 500 thousand kilometers long and has an estimated volume of 86.4 thousand km3, which guarantees its world leadership in water reserves, is also suffering with overexploitation, another aggravating point is the contamination of water by landfills, service stations, cemeteries and sewers, especially in capitals.
Therefore, monitoring soil water is extremely important for maintaining soil moisture, as the management of agricultural crops, whether small, such as family farming, or large, such as those used for food export, are essential for maintaining groundwater, quantity and quality of water, especially with dry periods intensified by climate change.
References:
Carlowicz, Michael, and Joshua Stevens. “Measuring Drought in South America.” Earthobservatory.nasa.gov, 5 Apr. 2020, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/imag
Fioravanti, Carlos. “Groundwater Seen from Space.” Revistapesquisa.fapesp.br, 2018, revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/en/g
NASA. “LIFTOFF! – NASA.” NASA, 23 May 2018, www.nasa.gov/image-article/lif
