HYBRID GRAVIMETRY FOR THE MONITORING OF WATER STORAGE CHANGES IN THE CRITICAL ZONE OF WEST AFRICA

Abstract:

Time-lapse gravimetry is known to be a powerful tool to monitor mass redistributions near the Earth’s surface and hence is of interest in various fields (volcanology, hydrology, glaciology, geothermics, C02 sequestration). Hybrid gravimetry relies on the combined use of different types of instruments measuring the earth’s gravity changes i.e. relative spring gravimeters (RG) and superconducting gravimeters (SG), as well as ballistic absolute gravimeters (AG) in a specific study.

We show here that hybrid gravimetry is able to provide new constraints on underground water storage changes. We will focus on two special cases in West Africa which were investigated in the frame of the GHYRAF (Gravity and Hydrology in Africa) project: one is located in the semi-arid Sahelian zone in Wankama (Niger) and another one in Djougou (Benin) in the humid, hard-rock basement zone.

In Wankama, both time-lapse AG and RG are available. In an innovative field survey during 3 months of the rainy season in 2009, we merged relative microgravimetry on a network of 12 stations, magnetic resonance soundings, and hydrological measurements to evaluate both surface and subsurface water storage variations. We show that most of the gravity variations originate from heterogeneities in the vadose zone highlighting the potential of time lapse microgravity surveys for detecting intraseasonal water storage variations in the critical zone.

In Djougou, we will present the hydrology results coming from the use of the hybrid gravimetry approach based on a continuous record of a GWR SG installed since 2010 complemented with FG5 AG episodic measurements (4 times a year between 2008 and 2011 then yearly). In addition we also set up repeated micro-gravimetric measurements with a Scintrex CG5 RG on a dense network (more than 100 surveys and 15 stations) around the base station. The continuous SG record allows to bring additional insight on the space and time variable gravity (and hence water storage changes) in the investigated zone which is retrieved by EOF (Empirical orthogonal function) decomposition of the gravity field as well as the hydrology measurements (neutron probes, piezometers).

We show the link existing between our local surface gravity measurements and the larger scale integrated observations from GRACE satellite gravimetry in West Africa.