The Latest Peer-Reviewed Data -- From Space, On What's Happening To Global (Surface) Fresh-Water Supplies: Not. Good. News.

As our custom graphic at right sensibly posits (based on the studies mentioned below), the correlation between rising global summer temperatures, and reduced surface-levelfreshwater reserves aroung the globe... is unmistakable. And alarming.

NASA, presiding over an international team of scientists using observations from joint effort German/US satellites found evidence that Earth’s total amount of freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has remained low ever since. Here is the latest:

. . .The decline in global freshwater reported in the study began with a massive drought in northern and central Brazil, and was followed shortly by a series of major droughts in Australasia, South America, North America, Europe, and Africa. Warmer ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific from late 2014 into 2016, culminating in one of the most significant El Niño events since 1950, led to shifts in atmospheric jet streams that altered weather and rainfall patterns around the world. However, even after El Niño subsided, global freshwater failed to rebound. In fact, Rodell and team report that 13 of the world’s 30 most intense droughts observed by GRACE occurred since January 2015. Rodell and colleagues suspect that global warming might be contributing to the enduring freshwater depletion.

Global warming leads the atmosphere to hold more water vapor, which results in more extreme precipitation, said NASA Goddard meteorologist Michael Bosilovich. While total annual rain and snowfall levels may not change dramatically, long periods between intense precipitation events allow the soil to dry and become more compact. That decreases the amount of water the ground can absorb when it does rain. . . .

It remains to be seen whether global freshwater will rebound to pre-2015 values, hold steady, or resume its decline. Considering that the nine warmest years in the modern temperature record coincided with the abrupt freshwater decline, Rodell said, “We don’t think this is a coincidence, and it could be a harbinger of what’s to come. . . .”

Indeed -- and we may soon have an "oil shale fracker in chief" at Interior, here in the US, if the Senate doesn't come together to confront the Tangerine cabal. Onward.

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