Epic Drought in West is Literally Moving Mountains

[steven]

some parts of California’s mountains have been uplifted as much as 15 millimeters (about 0.6 inches) in the past 18 months because the massive amount of water lost in the drought is no longer weighing down the land, causing it to rise a bit like an uncoiled spring, a new study shows.

For the first time, scientists are now able to measure how much surface and groundwater is lost during droughts by measuring how much the land rises as it dries. Those are the conclusions of the new study published Aug. 21 in the journal Science by researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the the University of California-San Diego.

The drought that is devastating California and much of the West has dried the region so much that 240 gigatons worth of surface and groundwater have been lost, roughly the equivalent to a 3.9-inch layer of water over the entire West, or the annual loss of mass from the Greenland Ice Sheet, according to the study.

While some of California’s mountains have risen by about 0.6 inches since early 2013, the West overall has risen by an average of about 0.157 inches.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...enewables.html

[Save Us]

some parts of California’s mountains have been uplifted as much as 15 millimeters (about 0.6 inches) in the past 18 months because the massive amount of water lost in the drought is no longer weighing down the land, causing it to rise a bit like an uncoiled spring, a new study shows.

For the first time, scientists are now able to measure how much surface and groundwater is lost during droughts by measuring how much the land rises as it dries. Those are the conclusions of the new study published Aug. 21 in the journal Science by researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the the University of California-San Diego.

The drought that is devastating California and much of the West has dried the region so much that 240 gigatons worth of surface and groundwater have been lost, roughly the equivalent to a 3.9-inch layer of water over the entire West, or the annual loss of mass from the Greenland Ice Sheet, according to the study.

While some of California’s mountains have risen by about 0.6 inches since early 2013, the West overall has risen by an average of about 0.157 inches.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...enewables.html

You aint seen nothin yet....

Water will be the new oil only more valuable. Aquifers are drying up all over the planet, forcing populations to move.

[WNYresident]

As long as the powers that be don't pipe away the great lakes it may be an advantage for our area.

[Jeff]

As long as the powers that be don't pipe away the great lakes it may be an advantage for our area.

You mean the great lakes water supply that is annually filling with non filterable toxins due to unsustainable farming methods?

Or the water supplies being destroyed by fracking? http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarra...272249181.html

Or the oil contaminated water? http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...pill/14275195/

Or the water supplies be destroyed by coal ash spills?

[WNYresident]

Yes those Great Lakes

[Linda_D]

You mean the great lakes water supply that is annually filling with non filterable toxins due to unsustainable farming methods?

Or the water supplies being destroyed by fracking? http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarra...272249181.html

Or the oil contaminated water? http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...pill/14275195/

Or the water supplies be destroyed by coal ash spills?

Did you actually read those articles you cited? The one about fracking in Texas was about a drilling company illegally taking water from a small lake in a residential area for use in drilling. It wasn't actually about fracking destroying a water source, but about a private company doing something illegally. Since the area has been in drought for several years, the small lake hasn't been replenished, which is what has caused the water levels to drop.

You don't gain support for a viewpoint when you misinterpret the evidence you claim supports it.

[Dan Roman]

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact is a legally binding interstate compact among the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The compact details how the states manage the use of the Great Lakes Basin's water supply and builds on the 1985 Great Lakes Charter and its 2001 Annex. The compact is the means by which the states implement the governors' commitments under the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement that also includes the Premiers of Ontario and Quebec.

The Council of Great Lakes Governors serves as secretariat to the Governors' Compact Council created by the Compact.

[300miles]

^ Yea Team!

[Save Us]

In other words,,the great lakes may very well experience an increase in population as migration shifts away from water stressed areas. That's a bet I would take.