Satellite images reveal shocking groundwater loss in California

[n2doc]

The severity of California’s drought continues to shock, with the latest example coming courtesy of NASA.

The space agency’s two Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, satellites have been been in orbit since 2002, making highly sensitive measurements of Earth’s gravity field. Variations in the gravity field can be caused by a number of factors, including the amount of water stored underground in soil and rocks.



This week, scientists working on the GRACE mission released a series of images that reflect the drastic loss of groundwater over the last dozen years.

The image on the left was taken in June 2002, just three months after GRACE was launched. The one in the middle was taken in June 2008, and the one on the right is from June 2014.

These are not satellite photographs. The colors indicate how much groundwater has been lost over time.
more
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-california-drought-groundwater-satellite-20141002-story.html

[tularetom]

1. Yeah but we have a million bazillion acres of almond trees that needed that water

And god knows how bad the world needs almonds.

And all the groundwater will be replaced in a million years so what's the problem?

[n2doc]

4. And vineyards too

Traveling though the valley outside of the bay area, it was amazing how many vineyards there were. All appeared to be recent, last decade or so. In Sonoma County every available hillside is being planted with grapes.

[tularetom]

5. Lots of wells going dry on the Central Coast too

So many acres of new vineyards have been planted in the Paso Robles area that they are seriously considered a ban on any more new wells. At last count I think there are something like 300 wineries in north SLO county.

[pscot]

9. That's the same model that led

to the dustbowl. Planting on spec because prices were up. They plowed from horizon to horizon until one year the rains quit. It all blew away.

[earthside]

2. The problem with this is ...

... that humans are too puny and insignificant to have that kind of effect on the earth.

And, of course, God wants there to be even more people populating the planet.
Did you know that the whole population of the world could fit inside the state of Texas with room to spare?

Besides, this report tries to tell us that 'science' can accurately provide us with important information, when all you really need is faith that Jesus died for your sins.

If you get thirsty, California, maybe it is because you let Democrats run your state ... did you ever think about that?

[FiveGoodMen]

6. The horrifying thing is that millions of Americans would agree with every word in your post

...except for 'sarcasm'

[oldandhappy]

3. Devastation

I drove the Central Valley in June -- devastation nearly total in the lower half. A lot of our food comes from there. Or did at one time.

[JDDavis]

7. We might as well admit it, much of the bounty from California

which is shipped by truck and plane to people all over America, (and the world), will soon be negligible.

We need to get back to back yard and local farm growing all over America. We need to train high school and college kids in the simple but difficult task of raising our own home-grown local vegetables.

Thankfully, we will still have our grains from the Midwest. We can all do with less beef in our diets, so more grains available for human consumption.

We can also save billions of gallons of fuel by eating from locally grown foods, not relying upon California to grow our veggies, nuts, and fruits. We can re-learn how to grow and preserve over winter our locally grown foods. Eating 1/10th of the foods we now ship more than 2000 miles to get to us will be a savings of a fossil fuel: gasoline.

Many techniques are available from other places in the world that cannot rely upon California for a bountiful diet. Yes, growing techniques and science and mini-greenhouses and a few other techniques supply literally hundreds of millions of people around the globe with a healthy diet.

I'm sorry that California will have massive area of thousands of square miles where no crops will grow any longer. I am sorry for the loss of jobs, both in growing, harvesting, and transport. But we have to be realistic, the clock is already ticking fast. We need to adapt, invent, (or re-invent) techniques for local food production, what everybody in the world used before there were trucks. We can and must go on.

[cstanleytech]

8. Or maybe the government of California should force the vineyards

farmers and other massive water users to pay for a massive number of solar powered desalination plants?
That way the state can still grow food yet they wouldnt have to drain the aquifers to to do it.