Taking into account the last statistics and analyses, Earth is running out of water, NASA warns. The administration has used satellite images to scan the surface of earth and was, thus, able to notice that many aquifers have significantly reduced their sizes in the past years.
The data was collected through a lengthy study during which scientists relied heavily on NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites. They were, thus, able to see that one third of earth’s water resources have been significantly diminished in the past years.
Although the means of investigation that scientists regularly use are incredibly reliable, there are, nevertheless, many areas that have remained unstudied. According to Jay Famiglietti, who is working as a senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the study requires additional means of research in order for them to be able to estimate the exact amount of water left on the surface of the Earth.
Famiglietti claims NASA experts should use more or less that same technology they normally utilize when looking for oil resources in the ground. Drilling is the only method that Famiglietti recommends for the identification of the aquifers and their water capacity.
Even if the recent satellite mappings are not very precise, NASA officials warn that the water basins on the surface of the earth pose great risks, as their size is now a lot smaller than it used to be before. He advises people to revise their behavior and water consumption; otherwise, humanity might confront itself with a massive lack of water in the future.
There are many factors that contribute to the depletion of water resources, but humanity is the main culprit in the matter. Scientists have underlined that humanity’s reckless water consumption as the main factor contributing to the rapid decrease in water resources.
Based on Alexandra Richey’s findings, the leader of the research group, the fast growing population of the world is causing the Earth to consume more water than it is actually producing. Environmental measures should be enacted in the future as climate changes, too, have had a negative impact on water resources in the past 11 years.
The study that Alexandra Richey and her team of scientists has conducted was carried out from 2002 to 2013. During this interval, researchers have closely watched the activity of the 37 biggest aquifers on Earth and discovered that 21 of them have already consumed great part of their capacity.
In the future, scientists will use other means of investigation, as well, to find out whether the water resources in the ground have also diminished or not.
Image Source: guim.co.uk
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