This project will develop and test innovative techniques for the prediction of terrestrial water storage, with a particular emphasis on soil moisture content, from ground- and satellite-based monitoring of variations in the time-dependent component of the Earth's gravity field. This will be achieved by assimilating ground- and satellite-based gravity measurements at the point- and regional-scale respectively, and by the combined assimilation of gravity and near-surface soil moisture measurements into a land surface model. Extensive ground-based monitoring of soil moisture and groundwater changes will be undertaken for (i) correlation with the ground- and satellite-based gravity measurements and (ii) validation of the modelling and data assimilation developments. The important field work required by this project will be in the Murrumbidgee catchment, where an extensive soil moisture monitoring program by the University of Melbourne is already in place.


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