Earth's continents are drying out at unprecedented rate, satellite data reveal | Spacehttps://www.space.com/science/climate-change/earths-continents-are-drying-out-at-unprecedented-rate-satellite-data-revealAs a result, 75% of the world's population now lives in areas suffering from fresh water loss, with repercussions on agriculture, sanitation, and climate change resilience. The trend is also likely to cause further desertification of areas already suffering from insufficient rainfall.
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The researchers said that the loss of continental water now contributes more to the global sea level rise than the melting of ice sheets.
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The study, led by researchers from Arizona State University, revealed that even areas that previously showed tendencies to increased wetness are now getting drier or at least not getting wetter at the previously detected pace.
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Overpumping groundwater is the largest contributor to the rates of terrestrial water storage decline in drying regions, significantly amplifying the impacts of increasing temperatures," the researchers wrote in the paper. "The continued overuse of groundwater, which in some regions like California, is occurring at an increasing, rather than at sustainable or decreasing rates, undermines regional and global water and food security."
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They added that the depleted groundwater won't get replenished "on human timescales," causing a "critical, emerging threat to humanity," which risks triggering a cascade of further calamities.
"[Groundwater] is an intergenerational resource that is being poorly managed, if managed at all by recent generations, at tremendous and exceptionally undervalued cost to future generations," the researchers wrote. "Protecting the world's groundwater supply is paramount in a warming world and on continents that we now know are drying."