5 ms·

Where is the water going, though? Isn't water a zero-sum game in the sense that Earth is a closed system?

wernercd 9y ago
Aliens are sucking the water up... caught in rare footage: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/581619/UFO-footage-Algeria-sucking-water-oceans-world-alien-expert-video https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/581619/UFO-foota...
goldenkey 9y ago
Not exactly. Ocean water isn't usable without removing the salt and other solutes. When a lake or river dries up, it may lose its bedrock and therefore, even when it rains again, the river no longer holds water. So you end up with the water spread out over land, which is useless - because we don't have tree-like roots to just suck low density water out of the ground. We rely on large pools to be efficient.
echevil 9y ago
See levels are rising
- Someone 9y ago
  Yes, but it is only a small contribution. Most of Earth’s liquid water already is in oceans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth#Distribution_of_saline_and_fresh_water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth#Di...: - Oceans 96,5% - Antarctic ice sheet 1,56% - Lakes 0,013% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_ice_sheet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_ice_sheet: “Approximately 61 percent of all fresh water on the Earth is held in the Antarctic ice sheet, an amount equivalent to about 58 m of sea-level rise.” ⇒ completely emptying all lakes in the world into the sea would rise sea levels by half a meter or so.
anvandare 9y ago
Just like energy and entropy, it becomes harder to harvest efficiently. There's still just as much water, it's just not easily accessible. The difference between the water in your glass and the water in the cubic foot of earth after you spill your glass on it. You can't drink from the latter. The water cycle does the collection for us (lakes, rivers, aquifers) but we're draining them faster than they can recharge, particularly problematic are the melting glaciers (in the Himalayas) and the aquifers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/03/alarming-research-says-humans-are-using-up-far-more-water-than-previously-thought/?utm_term=.129e41e12062 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/20... http://lcluc.umd.edu/hotspot/glacial-retreat-himalayas http://lcluc.umd.edu/hotspot/glacial-retreat-himalayas https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/11-percent-of-disappearing-groundwater-used-to-grow https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/11-percent-of-disa... https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4626 https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4626
- joncrane 9y ago
  Thank you.

Aliens are sucking the water up... caught in rare footage: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/581619/UFO-footage-Algeria-sucking-water-oceans-world-alien-expert-video https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/581619/UFO-foota...

goldenkey 9y ago

Not exactly. Ocean water isn't usable without removing the salt and other solutes. When a lake or river dries up, it may lose its bedrock and therefore, even when it rains again, the river no longer holds water. So you end up with the water spread out over land, which is useless - because we don't have tree-like roots to just suck low density water out of the ground. We rely on large pools to be efficient.

echevil 9y ago

See levels are rising

Someone 9y ago
Yes, but it is only a small contribution. Most of Earth’s liquid water already is in oceans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth#Distribution_of_saline_and_fresh_water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth#Di...: - Oceans 96,5% - Antarctic ice sheet 1,56% - Lakes 0,013% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_ice_sheet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_ice_sheet: “Approximately 61 percent of all fresh water on the Earth is held in the Antarctic ice sheet, an amount equivalent to about 58 m of sea-level rise.” ⇒ completely emptying all lakes in the world into the sea would rise sea levels by half a meter or so.

anvandare 9y ago

Just like energy and entropy, it becomes harder to harvest efficiently. There's still just as much water, it's just not easily accessible. The difference between the water in your glass and the water in the cubic foot of earth after you spill your glass on it. You can't drink from the latter. The water cycle does the collection for us (lakes, rivers, aquifers) but we're draining them faster than they can recharge, particularly problematic are the melting glaciers (in the Himalayas) and the aquifers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/03/alarming-research-says-humans-are-using-up-far-more-water-than-previously-thought/?utm_term=.129e41e12062 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/20... http://lcluc.umd.edu/hotspot/glacial-retreat-himalayas http://lcluc.umd.edu/hotspot/glacial-retreat-himalayas https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/11-percent-of-disappearing-groundwater-used-to-grow https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/11-percent-of-disa... https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4626 https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4626

joncrane 9y ago
Thank you.