GRACE and GRACE-FO for Hydrological Assessment in India: a Systematic Review of Terrestrial Water Storage, Groundwater, Hydrological Extremes, and Data-Driven Approaches
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Abstract
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its successor, GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO), have revolutionized large-scale hydrological monitoring by enabling satellite-based observation of terrestrial water storage (TWS) variability. In India, where groundwater depletion, monsoon variability, rapid urbanization, and growing water demand threaten long-term water security, satellite gravimetry has become an essential tool for basin-scale hydrological assessment. This systematic review critically synthesizes 130 peer-reviewed studies on GRACE and GRACE-FO applications in India using the PRISMA 2020 framework. The review combines bibliometric analysis with a comprehensive evaluation of gravity-field products, processing techniques, hydrological component separation, validation methods, uncertainty sources, and emerging data-driven approaches. The literature demonstrates that GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage anomalies have significantly improved the assessment of groundwater depletion, drought evolution, flood-induced storage variability, glacier mass change, land subsidence, and regional water balance. Recent advances increasingly integrate GRACE observations with hydrological models, remote sensing products, geodetic measurements, and machine-learning techniques for downscaling, gap filling, forecasting, and enhanced spatial interpretation. Despite these advances, coarse spatial resolution, signal leakage, reliance on ancillary model outputs, and limited in situ observations remain major challenges for local-scale applications. Future research should emphasize multi-product validation, high-resolution data fusion, physically informed machine learning, and stronger integration with next-generation Earth observation missions. This review provides an India-focused framework for advancing satellite-based groundwater monitoring, hydrological assessment, and sustainable water-resources management.
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