Improved groundwater monitoring through GRACE

Abstract

Groundwater monitoring The project, ‘Development and application of Global Navigational Satellite Systems (GNSS) methodology for groundwater resource assessment’ , was initiated by Umvoto Africa in 2008 as a collaborative study with the then Chief Directorate: Surveys and Mapping (CDSM, now National Geo-spatial Information), Hermanus Magnetic Observatory (HMO, now SANSA Space Science), and the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University in Indiana, USA. Continuously operating GPS (cGPS) stations were installed at three boreholes in the wellfield with the aim of quantifying any vertical and horizontal surface deformations associated with groundwater abstraction and seasonal rainfall, which would recharge the aquifer. TrigNet, the CDSM’s array of permanent cGPS stations distributed throughout the country, was used as the reference system, with the beacon at the HMO serving as the base station.

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