Data in Action: GRACE and GRACE-FO are used by California’s Dept. of Water Resources for Groundwater Management Info.

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Groundwater is the water stored beneath Earth's surface in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock, and is recharged by precipitation from rain and snow. It is the largest source of usable freshwater on Earth, used mostly to irrigate crops and as drinking water. Using groundwater at a higher rate than its recharge rate is more and more common as demand increases under climate change conditions and can cause problems over the long-term such as (1) reduced ground and surface water supplies, (2) land subsidence due to a loss of support below the ground, which can damage infrastructures, (3) water quality degradation, and (4) lowering of the water table causing wells to run dry and increasing the cost of water pumping1. Water resources have been under considerable stress around the world2,3, however it is very challenging to monitor groundwater storage around the globe effectively.

To fill this observational gap, the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission, a collaboration of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and German Aerospace Center space agencies (NASA and DLR, respectively), was launched in 2002, followed by the GRACE-FO (GRACE Follow-On) mission, a collaboration between ....

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https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/DataAction-2024-08-13-GRACE-and-GRACE-FO-are-used-by-CA-Dept-of-Water-Resources-for-Groundwater-Management-Information