Groundwater provides drinking water for up to 50% of the global population 24 and accounts for 43% of all water used for irrigation; therefore, monitoring its changes 25 and the factors that affect it is of great importance. Although the influence of natural fac-26 tors on groundwater is well-recognized, the impact of human activities, despite being a 27 major contributor to its change, has been less explored due to the challenges in measuring 28 such effects. To address this gap, our study employed an integrated approach using re-29 mote sensing and the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud-free platform to analyze the ef-30 fects of various anthropogenic factors such as built-up areas, cropland, and surface water 31 on groundwater storage in the Lake Urmia Basin (LUB), Iran. Key anthropogenic variables 32 and groundwater data were pre-processed and analyzed in GEE for the period from 2000 33 to 2022. The results were then exported to XLSTAT software, and statistical analysis was 34 conducted using the Mann–Kendall (MK) non-parametric trend test on the variables to 35 investigate the potential relationships between these variables and groundwater storage. 36 The results revealed a strong negative correlation between built-up areas and groundwa-37 ter storage, with a correlation coefficient of -1.00. Similarly, a notable negative correlation 38 was found between cropland area and groundwater storage (correlation coefficient: -39 0.85). Conversely, surface water availability showed a strong positive correlation with 40 groundwater storage, with a correlation coefficient of 0.87, highlighting the direct impact 41 of surface water reduction on groundwater storage. Furthermore, our findings demon-42 strated a reduction of 168.21 mm in groundwater storage from 2003 to 2022.
Monitoring the Impacts of Human Activities on Groundwater Storage Changes Using an Integrated Approach of Remote Sensing and Google Earth Engine
Teodosio Lacava
2025
Abstract
Groundwater provides drinking water for up to 50% of the global population 24 and accounts for 43% of all water used for irrigation; therefore, monitoring its changes 25 and the factors that affect it is of great importance. Although the influence of natural fac-26 tors on groundwater is well-recognized, the impact of human activities, despite being a 27 major contributor to its change, has been less explored due to the challenges in measuring 28 such effects. To address this gap, our study employed an integrated approach using re-29 mote sensing and the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud-free platform to analyze the ef-30 fects of various anthropogenic factors such as built-up areas, cropland, and surface water 31 on groundwater storage in the Lake Urmia Basin (LUB), Iran. Key anthropogenic variables 32 and groundwater data were pre-processed and analyzed in GEE for the period from 2000 33 to 2022. The results were then exported to XLSTAT software, and statistical analysis was 34 conducted using the Mann–Kendall (MK) non-parametric trend test on the variables to 35 investigate the potential relationships between these variables and groundwater storage. 36 The results revealed a strong negative correlation between built-up areas and groundwa-37 ter storage, with a correlation coefficient of -1.00. Similarly, a notable negative correlation 38 was found between cropland area and groundwater storage (correlation coefficient: -39 0.85). Conversely, surface water availability showed a strong positive correlation with 40 groundwater storage, with a correlation coefficient of 0.87, highlighting the direct impact 41 of surface water reduction on groundwater storage. Furthermore, our findings demon-42 strated a reduction of 168.21 mm in groundwater storage from 2003 to 2022.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
