Abstract Rising atmospheric and ocean temperatures have caused substantial changes in terrestrial water circulation and land surface water fluxes, such as precipitation and evapotranspiration, potentially leading to abrupt shifts in terrestrial water storage. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis v5 (ERA5) soil moisture (SM) product reveals a sharp depletion during the early 21st century. During the period 2000 to 2002, soil moisture declined by approximately 1614 gigatonnes, much larger than Greenland’s ice loss of about 900 gigatonnes (2002–2006). From 2003 to 2016, SM depletion continued, with an additional 1009-gigatonne loss. This depletion is supported by two independent observations of global mean sea level rise (~4.4 millimeters) and Earth’s pole shift (~45 centimeters). Precipitation deficits and stable evapotranspiration likely caused this decline, and SM has not recovered as of 2021, with future recovery unlikely under present climate conditions.
FRESH WATER POLLUTION RESOURCES
http://mishkahenner.com/filter/works/Feedlots
(3) http://www.charitywater.org/
(4) http://www.projectaware.org/
(5) http://www.dropinthebucket.org/
(6) http://www.nrdc.org/water/
(7) http://eschooltoday.com/pollution/water-pollution/causes-of-water-pollution.html
(8) (http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/water/Water-Warrior/)
(9) http://marinebio.org/oceans/conservation/moyle/ch11.asp
(10) http://water.unl.edu/lakes
(11) http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=161407&CultureCode=en (How biodiversity -- meaning cleaner waterways/lake means more variety of species is necessary to increase/maintain fish stocks which over 2 billion people depend on).
(13) A very interesting website on plastics: https://globalplasticwatch.org/map?site=8f8a45d29b356b3
𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐫𝐞:
𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐑𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲:
Water is essential for life but is scarce. The majority of Earth's freshwater is inaccessible, trapped in glaciers or deep underground. Lakes and rivers, which are humans' main freshwater source, constitute only 0.01% of the total water.
𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡'𝐬 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫:
- Oceans hold 1.3 billion cubic kilometers (km³) of water.
- Ice caps and glaciers contain 24.1 million km³.
- Groundwater amounts to 23.4 million km³.
- Lakes and rivers hold 178.5 thousand km³.
𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬:
The graphic shows a projection of people living under water stress in the year 2000 versus a 2050 baseline scenario (assuming no new policies are introduced). The categories of water stress are severe, medium, low, and no water stress.
𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝:
- South Asia is projected to experience the 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬 of s𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬.
- East Asia & Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Developed Countries show a 𝐦𝐢𝐱 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬.
- Latin America & the Caribbean, the Middle East & North Africa, and the Russian Region & Central Asia also display 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬.
The bottom of the infographic notes that water scarcity in a region depends on geographic landscape, population density and economic activities. It is predicted that 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬.
🔗 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐲 & 𝐔𝐍 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫.