Monday, December 5, 2011

NASA Watches Texas Aquifers

As we all know Texas is in a major drought. With only receiving 12 inches of rain this year, they are down 15.5 inches. This is a big event. Texas aquifers (ground water supply) is at a record low. There is very little rain in Texas and the more people use the aquifers, the supply lessens. The aquifers haven't been this low for more than 2% of the time since 1948.
The NASA satellites measure gravity based on mass variation. He was able to put this data together with data about the rain Texas got, and is able to see the aquifers are dangerously low. This time of year is a very dry year for Texas. The next hope for rain won't be until spring.

I found this article to be very interesting. It really makes me think of 'water water everywhere but not a drop to drink.' This drought has been going on in Texas for almost a year. Most likely it will take a very long time and lots of rain to refill the aquifers to their normal level. I don't know how this will happen or how likely this is because Texas is usually in times of drought.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/nasa-texas-drought_2011-12-01

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