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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: 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.