from the tracking-things-that-are-no-longer-there dept.
Throughout the western United States, a network of Global Positioning System (GPS) stations has been monitoring tiny movements in the Earth's crust, collecting data that can warn of developing earthquakes.
To their surprise, researchers have discovered that the GPS network has also been recording an entirely different phenomenon: the massive drying of the landscape caused by the drought that has intensified over much of the region since last year.
From the article:
Geophysicist Adrian Borsa of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and his colleagues report in this week's Science that, based on the GPS measurements, the loss of water from lakes, streams, snowpack, and groundwater totals some 240 billion metric tons—equivalent, they say, to a four-inch-deep layer of water covering the entire western U.S. from the Rockies to the Pacific."
The principle behind the new measurements is simple. The weight of surface water and groundwater deforms Earth's elastic crust, much as a sleeper's body deforms a mattress. Remove the water, and the crust rebounds.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by kaszz on Saturday August 23 2014, @02:36AM
Will the consequence be that some food farming will be finished and some cities depopulated? you could of course move elsewhere but if the same effect is everywhere there's going to be a problem!
If so there are slow but dire consequences ahead.
(Score: 5, Funny) by nyder on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:23AM
Well, if you need to move somewhere, do not move to Seattle. We lie about having rain all the time, it hardly rains here, we don't have lakes, and not enough water. Do NOT move here.
But yes, weed is legal.
(Score: 1) by Horse With Stripes on Saturday August 23 2014, @11:59AM
Hmm ... relocating a significant portion of the US's agriculture to other places that can't grow the same things or they already would be. And what to do with the people? The affected states are only about 20% of the US's population. Where do we have the available infrastructure and housing to support a quarter to a half of them? This sounds like a perfect undertaking for the US government. They're great at this big stuff. The plans will only take them 10 - 15 years and by that time either the rain will be back, or the die off and anarchy will have eliminated the need for action anyway.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by M. Baranczak on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:32PM
relocating a significant portion of the US's agriculture to other places that can't grow the same things or they already would be.
It's not a matter of "can't grow", it would just cost more. I live in upstate NY; there's a lot of farmland around here that was abandoned in the early 20th century, when it became more cost-effective to grow produce elsewhere and ship it in. This land is still here. Yeah, you can't grow oranges and kiwis up here, the growing season is shorter, etc. - but the point is, the US does not have a shortage of arable land.
(Score: 1) by Horse With Stripes on Saturday August 23 2014, @10:28PM
That is very true, but major cash crops like oranges and almonds can't grow in most places. With a lot of the California economy based on agriculture the drought will only be part of the problem.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:08AM
Obviously, we just recharge the aquifer! No problem, unless we are extracting faster than recharge. Oh, that is what is happening? Hmmm, not very conservative!
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:11AM
Party now, dried to death tomorrow! ;-)
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:17AM
Yes, looks again as a case liberalism running amok. Where's Reagan when you need him?
(ducks - don't shoot, I'm not even an US resident. Both your parties would be equally funny to me... if only what they are doing to you - and, to an extent, to all this world - wouldn't be that tragic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by Horse With Stripes on Saturday August 23 2014, @11:47AM
No problem! We can just start fracking in California. That shit pumps all sorts of water into the ground and it will find its way to the aquifer on its own! No modern tech required. Just mix some chemicals with some gasses and some water and some other stuff we can't (and won't) say and magic! You have water back in the ground.
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Saturday August 23 2014, @03:35AM
I don't think all that water can be going into crops and lawns. It's probably leaking down the fault lines to lubricate the big quake that will finally send everything east of the San Andres fault into the Atlantic Ocean.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 1) by tftp on Saturday August 23 2014, @04:20AM
It's probably leaking down the fault lines to lubricate the big quake that will finally send everything east of the San Andreas fault into the Atlantic Ocean.
I remember reading a short story about such a small technicality, east vs. west :-)
(Score: 3, Funny) by nyder on Saturday August 23 2014, @04:53AM
If you stop use Apple's Maps, you would probably find that the Pacific Ocean is off the west coast.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DECbot on Saturday August 23 2014, @05:50AM
And as I said, everything east will plunge into the Atlantic. Now, if you wish to dispute my claim and say everything west will plunge into the Pacific, well then we have an argument.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 23 2014, @04:19AM
https://i.imgur.com/OKfxxPG.gif [imgur.com]