ESGRS

Hydro-geodesy of the Arabian Peninsula
2025-10-28 10:00 - 11:00 (Asia/Dubai) | Virtual
Hydro-geodesy is an interdisciplinary scientific discipline that employs geodetic methodologies, primarily satellite-based techniques, to investigate the dynamics of water movement and the resultant land surface oscillations. The Arabian Peninsula is classified as a water-scarce region, characterized by limited precipitation, elevated evaporation rates, and excessive groundwater extraction. Additionally, it is surrounded by oceanic bodies that exhibit both seasonal fluctuations and long-term secular trends. These hydrological motions induce variations in stress on the Earth’s crust, potentially leading to both short-term seasonal movements and long-term subsidence. Our recent research findings indicate that winter atmospheric loading also contributes significantly to the seasonal crustal movements. Such crustal deformations can pose significant challenges to the sustainability of human settlements and infrastructure. In the context of climate change, increasing water demand, and sea level rise scenarios, a comprehensive understanding of hydro-geodesy within the Arabian Peninsula becomes crucial. Such knowledge is instrumental in addressing regional hydrological and infra-structural issues and in fostering sustainable development trajectories. In my talk, I will present our research results based on Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its Follow-On, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Non-Tidal Atmospheric Loading (NTAL), and satellite altimetry datasets, and discuss the groundwater decline rates, sea level variability, and the associated crustal movement in the Arabian Peninsula Region.

View Recording

Dr. Muhammad UsmanAssistant Professor at Zayed UniversityDr. Muhammad Usman completed his MS and PhD at Hokkaido University (Japan) with the Japanese Government’s MEXT Scholarship. He also has two years of postdoc research experience at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. He won the Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA) at the Japan Geoscience Union-American Geophysical Union (JpGU-AUG) joint meeting of 2017 in Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan. He won first prize in the “Student Paper Contest” at the Annual Technical Conference (ATC) 2011, which was organized by the Pakistan Association of Petroleum Geoscientists (PAPG). He studies the water cycle, ocean dynamics, geodetic hazards, geomorphology, climate change, and different physical parameters of the environment using remote sensing data and field surveys. He mainly uses Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Satellite, Satellite Altimetry, and various climatic data; Python, MATLAB, and Generic Mapping Tool (GMT) products.

No Results Found
