Multidecadal Land Water and Groundwater Drought Evaluation in Peninsular India

To efficiently mitigate the multitude of direct and indirect impacts, basin-scale drought characterization is imperative, particularly for India, where water scarcity continually increasing. We jointly used GRACE gravity data, PCR-GLOBWB model outputs, in situ data to quantify deficits based on land storage (LWS) groundwater (GWS) Peninsular India 35 years from January 1980 December 2014. The results showed that study basins experienced high interannual variations despite minimal linear LWS trends (0.26–0.56 mm yr?1). GWS a slow but persistent response (longest deficit spanning ~6 years) seasonal hydrological fluxes remained major contributor LWS. demonstrated (1) potential analyze its segregated components beyond records, (2) LWS-based index as better indicator than traditional indices, (3) GRACE-LWS proxy real-time monitoring without relying upon intermittent observations. This underscores need revise allocation strategies irrigation systems maintain sustainability may serve holistic framework remotely beneath our feet, especially data-limited regions globally.