Today I’m thinking of you daffodilians in Texas and the other drought
stricken states. May the coming months bring you much-needed rain.
Melissa
Here’s a link and some “teaser text” from a NASA page. They show a
map illustrating current groundwater in aquifers compared to the
long-term average since 1948. It shows that we in California are
among the lucky ones this time.
m
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=76575&src=nha
“The record-breaking
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id=50329drought
in Texas that has fueled
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id=52029wildfires,
decimated crops, and forced the sale of cattle herds has also reduced
levels of groundwater to the lowest levels observed in more than 63
years. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthgw.htmlGroundwater is
moisture trapped in pores in the soil and in underground gaps in
rock, often known as http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/aquiferbasics/aquifers.
The map above depicts the amount of groundwater stored underground in
the continental United States on November 28, 2011, as compared to
the long-term average from 1948 to 2011. Deep reds reveal the most
depletion, with deep blues representing aquifers and soils that are
nearly full. The maroon shading over eastern Texas, for example,
shows that the ground has been this dry less than two percent of the
time between 1948 and the present.
At the end of November 2011, groundwater supplies were extremely
depleted in more than half of Texas, as well as parts of New Mexico,
Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. The northeastern states and the High
Plains appear saturated with water heading into winter months. ”