Thursday, August 21, 2014

Measuring Depth Of US West Drought, Climate Change Effect

I'd say 63 trillion gallons of lost groundwater should get everyone's attention: 
The ongoing drought in the western United States has caused so much loss of groundwater that the Earth, on average, has lifted up about 0.16 inches over the last 18 months, according to a new study...
Researchers from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the groundwater loss from the start of 2013 to be 63 trillion gallons — the equivalent of flooding four inches of water across the United States west of the Rocky Mountains.
And to add insult to injury:
That’s also about how much ice is lost from the Greenland ice cap every year from global warming.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Wisconsin Repubs are following meteorologist/Assemblyman Jim Ot on this one. I never thought I would see a scientist give up his science to ALEC/money driven ideology. It shows the power that both ALEC and Walker have over the Republican legislators in Wisconsin. They will deny the scientific evidence of global warming to shill for their corporate masters!

A. Wag said...

Otts AND Botts. Too many of both!

Anonymous said...

Ott is a meteorologist, not a climatologist. One predicts local weather, the other studies the science of climate. He's no expert.
AnonyBob