7 ms·

Dumb question: where did the water go?

by makz 3y ago

xen2xen1 3y ago
We're changing the weather with greenhouse gases and whatnot, and we regularly pump it out to go to our homes, or even use it to make electricity with dams.
- flavius29663 3y ago
  Global warming means generally more water in the air and more rain, not less. Think of Jurassic Park, not Mad Max
  - ajmurmann 3y ago
    Yes, more total rain. A steady steam from the mountains is a much better source of water though to keep lakes, rivers and our water supply going. The rain isn't evenly distributed through both space and time. We might get a drought for years and then torrential rainfalls. We are already seeing this. It's happened in California and Germany. Both places I'm most tide to. So maybe it's sampling bias. At my parent's in Germany, most fir trees are dead from the multi-year drought and then in June 2021 half the village was destroyed by a flood.
    - edu 3y ago
      All over Europe, for sure. https://apnews.com/article/italy-floods-drought-59db3225a5d4b170a1cb03c0ab40b000 https://apnews.com/article/italy-floods-drought-59db3225a5d4...
aSockPuppeteer 3y ago
Depends how close farmers are to water sources. They run high speed pumps at night or camouflage them in streams to get by water restrictions. There’s the famous California telephone pole picture too. https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/themarinpost/emimg/1249/Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-11-43-07-AM.png https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/themarinpost/emimg/1249/S...
- peteradio 3y ago
  I don't understand that telephone pole picture, the ground did not move around the telephone pole surely. I don't understand the graphics either. 1ft/year generally, but slower than that in the most extreme?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - croes 3y ago
    They pump ground water that keads to sinking land, 1 foot per year. The pole is from 1977 or later but shows the historical land level of 1955 and 1925
  - voakbasda 3y ago
    When you remove the water from the ground, the drained soil compacts. The topmost sign on the pole pole shows where the ground level was 50 years earlier, caused by excessive taking of groundwater.
ajmurmann 3y ago
It's about sweet water. If it "goes away" it typically ends up in the ocean. Previously it was in lakes, groundwater it glaciers. Glaciers which ultimately kept rivers flowing all year around even when not much snow falls in a given winter. Once all the glaciers are melted, the rivers can dry up completely. The glacier water has already made it to the ocean and doesn't need to travel there anymore via river. With groundwater depleted, we cannot use that anymore to substitute and some sources of creeks will dry up.
- briantakita 3y ago
  Are there any studies on waterflow to/from underground oceans? It's difficult to understand how comprehensive a claim is without knowing the entire system. > The subducting slabs also carry deep-sea sediments piggyback into the Earth’s interior. These sediments can hold large quantities of water and CO2. But until now it was unclear just how much enters the transition zone in the form of more stable, hydrous minerals and carbonates – and it was therefore also unclear whether large quantities of water really are stored there. > The answer has now been provided by an international study. The research team analyzed a diamond from Botswana, Africa. It originated at a depth of 660 kilometers, directly at the interface between the transition zone and the lower mantle, where the dominant mineral is ringwoodite. Diamonds from this location are very rare, even among the extremely rare diamonds of super-deep origin, which account for just 1% of all diamonds. The studies found that the stone had a high water content due to the presence of many ringwoodite inclusions. The study team was also able to establish the chemical composition of the stone. https://scitechdaily.com/an-underground-ocean-scientists-discover-water-deep-within-earth/ https://scitechdaily.com/an-underground-ocean-scientists-dis...
swayvil 3y ago
Global warming. Warmer air holds more water.
- djfobbz 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - ROTMetro 3y ago
    So you point to a change in your local normal climate as showing there isn't... climate change? Just trying to clarify what you are trying to say here?
    - djfobbz 3y ago
      Climate has always changed…it’s a feature of the earth, not a bug…you being born is part of the climate change. When you decompose, that will also be part of the climate change. The magnitude of your so called calculations is minuscule compared to the life of earth and merely speculation just like stocks on Wall Street. Don’t try to control something you did not invent. You’re welcome!
      - sydbarrett74 3y ago
        Of course climate has always changed. It's just that in the past it changed over the course of thousands or millions of years rather than within the span of a human lifetime like we're now experiencing.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
dghlsakjg 3y ago
I think it’s pretty likely that the main cause is it’s being diverted for agricultural use. Things like diversions into cities will also contribute, but generally gets dwarfed by agricultural use. The Colorado river flow for example is 80% agricultural. 20% for all other uses, including the bare trickle that actually makes it to the ocean

Dumb question: where did the water go?

by makz 3y ago

Dumb question: where did the water go?

We're changing the weather with greenhouse gases and whatnot, and we regularly pump it out to go to our homes, or even use it to make electricity with dams.

flavius29663 3y ago
Global warming means generally more water in the air and more rain, not less. Think of Jurassic Park, not Mad Max
- ajmurmann 3y ago
  Yes, more total rain. A steady steam from the mountains is a much better source of water though to keep lakes, rivers and our water supply going. The rain isn't evenly distributed through both space and time. We might get a drought for years and then torrential rainfalls. We are already seeing this. It's happened in California and Germany. Both places I'm most tide to. So maybe it's sampling bias. At my parent's in Germany, most fir trees are dead from the multi-year drought and then in June 2021 half the village was destroyed by a flood.
  - edu 3y ago
    All over Europe, for sure. https://apnews.com/article/italy-floods-drought-59db3225a5d4b170a1cb03c0ab40b000 https://apnews.com/article/italy-floods-drought-59db3225a5d4...

aSockPuppeteer 3y ago

Depends how close farmers are to water sources. They run high speed pumps at night or camouflage them in streams to get by water restrictions. There’s the famous California telephone pole picture too. https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/themarinpost/emimg/1249/Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-11-43-07-AM.png https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/themarinpost/emimg/1249/S...

peteradio 3y ago
I don't understand that telephone pole picture, the ground did not move around the telephone pole surely. I don't understand the graphics either. 1ft/year generally, but slower than that in the most extreme?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- croes 3y ago
  They pump ground water that keads to sinking land, 1 foot per year. The pole is from 1977 or later but shows the historical land level of 1955 and 1925
- voakbasda 3y ago
  When you remove the water from the ground, the drained soil compacts. The topmost sign on the pole pole shows where the ground level was 50 years earlier, caused by excessive taking of groundwater.

ajmurmann 3y ago

It's about sweet water. If it "goes away" it typically ends up in the ocean. Previously it was in lakes, groundwater it glaciers. Glaciers which ultimately kept rivers flowing all year around even when not much snow falls in a given winter. Once all the glaciers are melted, the rivers can dry up completely. The glacier water has already made it to the ocean and doesn't need to travel there anymore via river. With groundwater depleted, we cannot use that anymore to substitute and some sources of creeks will dry up.

briantakita 3y ago
Are there any studies on waterflow to/from underground oceans? It's difficult to understand how comprehensive a claim is without knowing the entire system. > The subducting slabs also carry deep-sea sediments piggyback into the Earth’s interior. These sediments can hold large quantities of water and CO2. But until now it was unclear just how much enters the transition zone in the form of more stable, hydrous minerals and carbonates – and it was therefore also unclear whether large quantities of water really are stored there. > The answer has now been provided by an international study. The research team analyzed a diamond from Botswana, Africa. It originated at a depth of 660 kilometers, directly at the interface between the transition zone and the lower mantle, where the dominant mineral is ringwoodite. Diamonds from this location are very rare, even among the extremely rare diamonds of super-deep origin, which account for just 1% of all diamonds. The studies found that the stone had a high water content due to the presence of many ringwoodite inclusions. The study team was also able to establish the chemical composition of the stone. https://scitechdaily.com/an-underground-ocean-scientists-discover-water-deep-within-earth/ https://scitechdaily.com/an-underground-ocean-scientists-dis...

swayvil 3y ago

Global warming. Warmer air holds more water.

djfobbz 3y ago
[flagged]
- ROTMetro 3y ago
  So you point to a change in your local normal climate as showing there isn't... climate change? Just trying to clarify what you are trying to say here?
  - djfobbz 3y ago
    Climate has always changed…it’s a feature of the earth, not a bug…you being born is part of the climate change. When you decompose, that will also be part of the climate change. The magnitude of your so called calculations is minuscule compared to the life of earth and merely speculation just like stocks on Wall Street. Don’t try to control something you did not invent. You’re welcome!
    - sydbarrett74 3y ago
      Of course climate has always changed. It's just that in the past it changed over the course of thousands or millions of years rather than within the span of a human lifetime like we're now experiencing.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

dghlsakjg 3y ago

I think it’s pretty likely that the main cause is it’s being diverted for agricultural use. Things like diversions into cities will also contribute, but generally gets dwarfed by agricultural use. The Colorado river flow for example is 80% agricultural. 20% for all other uses, including the bare trickle that actually makes it to the ocean