Humanity is rapidly depleting water and much of the world is getting drier

For more than two decades, satellites have tracked the amount of water held in glaciers, borneol, lakes, rivers, soils and the world’s vast natural storage rooms (aquifers) in glaciers, lakes, rivers, soils, soils and the world’s vast natural storage. An extensive analysis of this data now shows that freshwater disappears rapidly under most of human feet and most of the earth is emitting.

Scientists have seen huge and expanded “giant warfare” areas – one from the western United States to Mexico to Central America, and the other extends throughout the Middle East to Morocco to France.

There are two main reasons for drying: the increase in temperature released by using oil and gas, and the excessive downpour of heavy water, which took thousands of years underground.

“These findings may convey the most alarming message about the impact of climate change on our water resources,” said Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist and professor at Arizona State University. “The rapid water cycle changes that the Earth has experienced over the past decade have released a wave of rapid drying.”

Since 2002, satellites have measured changes in the Earth’s gravity field to track changes in frozen and liquid water. What they sent back shows that nearly 6 billion people (three-quarters of human beings) live in 101 countries with lost water.

Each year, these dry areas are expanding about twice as much as California.

In Canada and Russia, a large amount of ice and permafrost are melting and are losing the largest freshwater. The temperature rises in the United States, Iran and India and the long-term overuse of groundwater.

Farms and cities are using high-capacity pumps to pull up a lot of water so that most of the water evaporates, eventually causing sea levels to rise as rain falls on the ocean.

The study was published in the journal Science Advancesfound that these water losses now contribute more to sea level rise than the melting of wider mountain glaciers or Antarctic or Greenland ice sheets.

Even for scientists, the amazingly rapid expansion of dry areas is surprising. This will worsen in many areas, leading to “widespread aridification and desertification”, Famiglietti said.

“We are seeing a huge growth in the world’s extremely arid land areas,” Famiglietti said. “Only the tropical regions are getting wetter. The land areas in the rest of the world are drying.”

The dry wave has prompted many people in many food-growing areas around the world to drill more wells and rely more on pumped groundwater.

Researchers estimate that 68% of the continent’s water loss does not include melted glaciers. Most of the water is used to irrigate crops.

Where the levels of the aquifer drop, wells and faucets are increasingly sputtering and drying, people will drill deeper, and as the underground space collapses, the land will sink.

The loss may be irreversible, making the water for the present and future generations less.

The potential long-term consequences are terrible: Farmers will work to grow as much food as possible, economic growth will be threatened, and more and more people will flee dry areas, Water conflict Already increasing, more governments will be unstable in unprepared countries.

Researchers estimate that dry regions of the world have been losing 368 billion tons of water each year. This is the number of Lake Tahoe, 10 times that of Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States.

All the water has become Sea level riseexpected to cause worsening losses in the coming decades.

Previous studies have shown Decrease groundwater levelsdry area Gets drier These water losses lead to Sea level rise. But new research shows that these changes occur faster than before.

“It’s very shocking,” said Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar, an Arizona State research scientist. “Water touches everything in life. The impact of its irreversible decline will inevitably drip into everything.”

He compared the global situation as family members overspending and lowered their savings accounts.

“Our bank balances have been falling. This is inherently unsustainable,” Chandanpurkar said.

He said groundwater drainage is often invisible and it hides how many arid areas are lowering their reserve accounts. “Once these trust funds dry up, the imminent water goes bankrupt.”

Researchers examined data from two US-German satellite missions called Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiments (GRACE) and Grace period.

Scientists ranked California’s Central Valley as the fastest region with groundwater depletion, followed by parts of Russia, India and Pakistan.

exist Other researchscientists have found that in western North America, the driest in at least 1,200 years.

Groundwater losses have accelerated over the past decade Crossing the Colorado River Basin.

Agriculture areas that appeared in satellite data a decade ago were hot spots for drought and groundwater depletion, such as the Central Valley of California and the Ogallala aquifer under the High Plains in the southwest, passing through Mexico and Central America.

Chandanpurkar said satellite data showed that these and others would transfer to drier conditions on average and that they did not “live within their water volume.”

“The fact is that water has no valuation and long-term reserves are used for short-term profits,” he said.

He said he hopes the findings will prompt action to address the long-term overuse of water.

In the study, the researchers wrote: “Although slow climate change efforts may be splashing,” there is a desperate need to take steps to protect groundwater. They call on national and global efforts to manage groundwater and “reserve this valuable resource for future generations.”

In many fields Groundwater levels are fallingwell organized or how much limit can land owners draw, no fees. Typically, well owners don’t even need to install meters or report how much water is used.

In California, farms, fruits and other crops that produce large amounts of nuts have aquifers so large that thousands of rural households have wells Dry For the past decade, the ground has been Sink up to 1 foot per yeardestroy canals, bridges and embankments.

The state adopted landmarks in 2014 Groundwater method This requires local institutions to curb widespread overtilt. However, their exhaustion problem will not be solved until 2040, and the water level has Continue to decline.

State officials and local agencies have begun investing in capturing more rainwater and Supplement the aquifer.

Arizona attempted to protect groundwater in urban areas through 1980 laws, but in much of the state there are still no restrictions on drilling holes or how much water can be pumped. Over the past decade, out-of-state companies and investors have drilled deep wells, Expanded large-scale agricultural action Grow hay and other crops in the desert.

Famiglietti, formerly a senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has studied extensively groundwater depletion around the world. He said he believes leaders in most countries are unaware of or prepare for a worsening crisis.

“One of all the disturbing discoveries we reveal in our research, one of the things that humans can really change quickly is the decision to better manage groundwater and protect it for future generations,” Famiglietti said. “Groundwater will become the most important natural resource in the world’s dry areas. We need to protect it carefully.”