Groundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley accelerates during megadrought

Pang-Wei Liu; James S. Famiglietti; Adam J. Purdy; Kyra H. Adams; Avery L. McEvoy; John T. Reager; Rajat Bindlish; David N. Wiese; Cédric H. David; Matthew Rodell

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-35582-x

Nature Communications (Dec 2022)

Groundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley accelerates during megadrought

Pang-Wei Liu,
James S. Famiglietti,
Adam J. Purdy,
Kyra H. Adams,
Avery L. McEvoy,
John T. Reager,
Rajat Bindlish,
David N. Wiese,
Cédric H. David,
Matthew Rodell

Affiliations

Pang-Wei Liu: Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
James S. Famiglietti: Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan
Adam J. Purdy: Department of Applied Environmental Sciences, California State University Monterey Bay
Kyra H. Adams: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Avery L. McEvoy: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
John T. Reager: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Rajat Bindlish: Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
David N. Wiese: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Cédric H. David: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Matthew Rodell: Earth Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35582-x
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Liu et al. used the NASA GRACE/FO missions to show that since 2019, groundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley has accelerated by 31% compared to recent droughts, and has increased by a nearly a factor of 5 compared to the 60-year average.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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