The GRACE satellites can detect the movement and depletion of water supplies at and below Earth’s surface.
Published Sep 20, 2012
At the surface, moisture is more abundant than in 2012. But time will tell if it seeps down to restore aquifers parched by drought.
Published Jun 18, 2013
Dry conditions at the surface in the continental United States are mirrored underground in many places.
Published Jul 24, 2014
Though a series of winter storms provided some relief, a pair of satellites operated by NASA shows that groundwater supplies remained unusually low in many parts of the country.
Published Jan 19, 2013
Long-term rainfall deficits, heat waves, and increased evaporation have depleted some of the groundwater supply beneath central and eastern Europe.
Published Jun 25, 2020
Groundwater supplies are decreasing across much of the world.
Published Nov 1, 2013
The failure of the summer monsoon and other moisture carrying systems has parched more than 90 percent of some states.
Published Aug 13, 2020
Twin satellites are assessing the state of soil moisture and groundwater on the continent and around the world.
Published Apr 6, 2020
Harvey dropped buckets of rain on areas that were already very dry or very wet.
Published Aug 31, 2017
The continental United States recently finished its wettest twelve months in 124 years of modern recordkeeping.
Published May 24, 2019
Satellite sensors uncover a global view of the water hidden between soil particles.
Published Nov 12, 2015
In mid-September 2015, water stored near the surface and underground in the U.S. West was far-below-normal.
Published Sep 18, 2015
Views from the ground and from space are helping scientists understand how soil moisture affects U.S. agriculture.
Published Nov 25, 2015
These images show how terrestrial water storage in the four major sub-basins of the United States’ Mississippi River basin differed from average in January and July 2005.
Published Jan 26, 2007
See where shallow groundwater has responded to the unusually wet conditions this year.
Published Dec 20, 2018
Scientists have developed a new way to measure water cycle intensity over time.
Published Jul 26, 2019
If no significant rain falls in May 2020, the country could face a drought for the third summer in a row.
Published May 1, 2020
A new web tool designed by NASA applied scientists could help the tribe anticipate and respond to drought.
Published Apr 20, 2020
About one third of Earth’s large groundwater basins are being rapidly depleted by human consumption even though we have little accurate data about how much water remains in them.
Published Jul 24, 2015
Eastern Australia has been hit particularly hard by drought, taking a toll on the region’s soil moisture and agriculture.
Published Aug 9, 2018Image of the Day Land Water Drought Human Presence Remote Sensing
By late February 2018, an estimated 55 percent of the continental U.S. was classified as abnormally dry.
Published Mar 2, 2018
In much of the world, differences in seasonal precipitation—and in how that water gets stored on land—are big enough to affect Earth’s gravity field.
Published Oct 22, 2010
Temperatures across much of the region in 2018 have been well above the norms, while precipitation has been well below—a recipe for struggling farmers and concerned forest fire managers.
Published Jun 12, 2018
An arid region grew even drier between 2003 and 2009 due to human consumption of water for drinking and agriculture.
Published Mar 13, 2013
The U.S. Drought Monitor reports its lowest levels in 17 years.
Published May 5, 2017
Severe drought has taken a serious toll on vegetation and farmers in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
Published Jul 27, 2011
An extreme rainfall event saturated the soil along the U.S. East Coast.
Published Oct 8, 2015
The Brazos River reached record-high water levels west of Houston.
Published Jun 3, 2016Image of the Day Land Water Floods Severe Storms Human Presence
Reservoirs, lakes, and mountainsides are brimming with water and snow, though scientists caution that underground aquifers are a long way from having the same bounty.
Published Apr 21, 2017
After years of drought, Texas, Oklahoma, and other states are now coping with persistent flooding rains.
Published May 22, 2015
The proportion of sand, silt, and clay contained in soil across the U.S. affects the amount of water it can hold.
Published Jan 9, 2016
This vegetation map reveals the impact severe drought was having on plants in Texas in April 2011.
Published Apr 27, 2011
The water stored naturally underground appears to be rebounding in the western and southern parts of India.
Published Sep 22, 2017
The Aquarius instrument was designed to study ocean salinity, but it is also making an important contribution to studies of the water cycle on land.
Published Jul 15, 2014
Wet landscapes are getting wetter and dry areas are getting drier due to a variety of factors, including water management, climate change, and natural cycles.
Published May 23, 2018
New maps show the fluctuating river and lake levels in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Published Jul 16, 2016
