A GRACE-based assessment of interannual groundwater dynamics in the Community Land Model

We attribute the model's poor response to large wetting events to the lack of a finite lower boundary in the bulk aquifer model. We show that by removing the bulk aquifer model and adding a zero-flux boundary condition at the base of the soil column, good agreement with GRACE observations can be achieved. In addition, we examine the sensitivity of simulated total water storage to the depth at which the zero-flux boundary is applied, i.e., the thickness of the soil column.

Based on comparisons to GRACE, an optimal soil thickness map is constructed. Simulations using the modified CLM with the derived soil thickness map are shown to perform as well or better than standard CLM simulations. The improvements in simulated, climatically induced, long-period water storage variability will reduce the uncertainty in GRACE-based estimates of anthropogenic groundwater depletion.