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A new study provides the first global accounting of fluctuations in lake and reservoir water levels. The research shows 57 percent of the variability occurs in dammed reservoirs and other bodies of water managed by people, highlighting the dominant role humans now play in Earth s water cycle.
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Humans Have Completely Transformed How Water Is Stored on Earth
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A bathtub ring of light minerals shows the high water mark of the reservoir which has shrunk to its lowest point on the Colorado River, as seen from the Hoover Dam.
Photo: Richard Vogel (AP)
Human fingerprints are all over the world’s freshwater. A new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature shows that while human-controlled freshwater sources make up a minimal portion of the world’s ponds, lakes, and rivers, they are responsible more than half of all changes to the Earth’s water system.
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The study used new satellite laser technology to take a closer look at freshwater sources across the world and monitor their water levels through different seasons. Using NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite, researchers monitored more than 227,000 bodies of freshwater–ranging in size from the Great Lakes to tiny ponds over period spanning roughly a year and a half. Researchers found that 57% of global s
Credit: National Park Service
To investigate humans impact on freshwater resources, scientists have now conducted the first global accounting of fluctuating water levels in Earth s lakes and reservoirs - including ones previously too small to measure from space.
The research, published March 3 in the journal
Nature, relied on NASA s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2), launched in September 2018.
ICESat-2 sends 10,000 laser light pulses every second down to Earth. When reflected back to the satellite, those pulses deliver high-precision surface height measurements every 28 inches (70 centimeters) along the satellite s orbit. With these trillions of data points, scientists can distinguish more features of Earth s surface, like small lakes and ponds, and track them over time.