Speaker: Khosro Ghobadi-Far, assistant professor, Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, Fellow, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder

Seminar: Monitoring of Freshwater Resources using Space Geodesy Techniques

Abstract
A thorough quantification and understanding of the compounding impacts of climate change and humans on water resources is essential for sustainable management of freshwater resources. This requires a monitoring system capable of observing the surface as well as subsurface (e.g., groundwater) water resources at various temporal and spatial scales. Changes in water resources cause variations in gravity field and shape of the Earth, which can be observed accurately with space geodesy techniques. Integrating various space geodesy techniques (e.g., GRACE/GRACE Follow-On, GNSS, and InSAR) with physics-based models offers a unique opportunity to establish an adaptable decision-support system for water resources management with wide-ranging capabilities and benefits. In this seminar, I will present three novel applications of space geodesy techniques for quantification of water resources dynamics, particularly during extreme climate events: (1) Inferring dynamics of the exceptional 2020 monsoon flooding in Bangladesh from along-orbit analysis of the GRACE Follow-On satellites data, (2) Quantifying the impact of drought and evaluating the success of managed aquifer recharge on groundwater dynamics in the Santa Clara Valley aquifer-system using InSAR observations and poroelasticity theory, and (3) Understanding spatiospectral characteristics of seasonal terrestrial water storage in California using GRACE Follow-On time-variable gravity and GNSS measurements of elastic deformation of Earth’s crust.

Bio
 Dr. Khosro Ghobadi-Far is an assistant professor at the Smead Aerospace Department and a Fellow of CIRES at CU Boulder. He is an expert in satellite geodesy and Earth gravity field modelling. For his applied research, he integrates surface deformation from GNSS and InSAR and gravity changes from GRACE and GRACE-FO satellites with physics-based models to monitor water resources dynamics at various spatial and temporal scales. He is in particular interested in examining the impact of extreme climate events like droughts on freshwater resources.