First Evidence of Correlation Between Evapotranspiration and Gravity at a Daily Time Scale From Two Vertically Spaced Superconducting Gravimeters

Abstract

Estimating evapotranspiration (ET) is a primary challenge in modern hydrology. Hydrogravimetry is an integrative approach providing highly precise continuous measurement of gravity acceleration. However, large-scale effects (e.g., tides, polar motion, atmospheric loading) limit the fine time-scale interpretation of the gravity data and processing leads to residual signal noise. To circumvent this limitation, we exploited the difference between two superconducting gravimeters (SGs) vertically spaced by 512 m. The gravity difference allows to remove common large-scale effects. Daily variation of the gravity difference is significantly correlated with daily evapotranspiration as estimated using the water balance model SimpKcET (p-value = 4.10−10). However, this approach is effective only during rain-free periods. In the future, comparison with direct ET measurements (e.g., eddy-covariance, scintillometer) may confirm and strengthen our interpretation. Improved hydrogravimetric data processing could extend the proposed approach to other experimental sites equipped with a single SG.