This is truly scary.
It might be another example of Mother Nature saying: FAFO, you fools.
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An international team of scientists using observations from satellites found evidence that Earth's total amount of freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has remained low ever since. The researchers say the shift could indicate Earth's continents have entered a persistently drier phase.
From 2015 through 2023, satellite measurements showed that the average amount of freshwater stored on land — that includes liquid surface water like lakes and rivers, plus water in aquifers underground — was 290 cubic miles (1,200 cubic km) lower than the average levels from 2002 through 2014. According to Matthew Rodell, one of the study's authors, "That's two and a half times the volume of Lake Erie lost."
It remains to be seen whether global freshwater will rebound to pre-2015 values, hold steady, or resume its decline. Considering that the nine warmest years in the modern temperature record coincided with the abrupt freshwater decline, Rodell said, "We don't think this is a coincidence, and it could be a harbinger of what's to come."
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FULL ARTICLE -- https://phys.org/news/2024-11-nasa-satellites-reveal-abrupt-global.html
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
It might be another example of Mother Nature saying: FAFO, you fools.
__________________________________
An international team of scientists using observations from satellites found evidence that Earth's total amount of freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has remained low ever since. The researchers say the shift could indicate Earth's continents have entered a persistently drier phase.
From 2015 through 2023, satellite measurements showed that the average amount of freshwater stored on land — that includes liquid surface water like lakes and rivers, plus water in aquifers underground — was 290 cubic miles (1,200 cubic km) lower than the average levels from 2002 through 2014. According to Matthew Rodell, one of the study's authors, "That's two and a half times the volume of Lake Erie lost."
It remains to be seen whether global freshwater will rebound to pre-2015 values, hold steady, or resume its decline. Considering that the nine warmest years in the modern temperature record coincided with the abrupt freshwater decline, Rodell said, "We don't think this is a coincidence, and it could be a harbinger of what's to come."
__________________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://phys.org/news/2024-11-nasa-satellites-reveal-abrupt-global.html
#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
NASA satellites reveal abrupt drop in global freshwater levels
An international team of scientists using observations from NASA-German satellites found evidence that Earth's total amount of freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has remained low ever since.James R. Riordon (Phys.org)
