Theme: Freshwater

 

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Text, Viewspace. The show will continue in 15 seconds. Coming up: Explore Earth's freshwater resources with NASA satellites. 

 

The timer at top right counts down from 15 seconds. 

 

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The text appears on a background of stars which move slowly towards and past us. 

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Clouds over the ocean. Text, Freshwater is constantly being recycled in our environment.

 

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Water molecules are broken down and re-created, but this happens very slowly.

 

In fact, much of the water you drink today is the same water that dinosaurs drank 65 million years ago.

 

An animation depicts two dinosaurs.

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Text, Myth vs. Reality

 

Myth. The amount of freshwater on Earth fluctuates on a yearly basis.

 

Reality. The total amount of freshwater on Earth does not change significantly from year to year. As water evaporates, condenses, falls, and moves from place to place in the water cycle, the amount in any one form or location can change, but the total amount does not change significantly.

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Stars behind the Earth. Text, at-a-GLANCE, THREE PHASES OF WATER

 

On Earth, water exists as a solid, a liquid, and a gas.

 

A series of ocean waves

 

Molecular formations. Text, Solid, Liquid, Gas. The temperature and pressure on Earth allow water to change easily between these phases.

 

A red and blue arrow move through a cross-section of the landscape. Text, These changes are part of the water cycle.

 

Men on an ice floe. Text, Solid. Ice has a fixed shape and volume. The water molecules in ice are arranged in a specific pattern, forming crystals.

 

Blue water around a piece of land. Text, Liquid. Water has a definite volume, but not a fixed shape. It takes the shape of its container.

 

The molecules in liquid water are close together, but are not arranged in a specific pattern. They can slide easily past one another.

 

White clouds over the ocean. Text, Gas. Water vapor expands to fill the space around it.

 

The molecules in water vapor are far apart and move past one another easily.

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Text, Selenga River Delta , Lake Baikal, Russia. Fresh water is critical to life. 

 

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The Selenga River brings water to Lake Baikal, a World Heritage Site. 

 

The rivers wetlands are home to more than 170 species of birds and 70 rare or endangered species of plants and animals. 

 

It provides water for drinking, agriculture, industry, mining, Recreation, and tourism to both Mongolia and Russia.

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Droplets on a blade of grass. Text, Freshwater, a precious resource.

 

Earth. Text, Viewed from a distance, the blue hue is the first thing we notice about our home planet.

 

Ocean waves. Text, So much of our planet is water.

 

It covers 70 percent of Earth's surface. To all appearances, Earth has water in plenty.

 

But this is what Earth's water would look like if we could pull all the water off this globe and gather it together.

 

In an animation, blue dots stream off Earth. They form a blue orb, labeled All of Earth's Water. Text, And only about 2.5 percent of that water is usable, essential "freshwater." A smaller blue orb labeled, Usable Freshwater.

 

Great Lakes Region, USA-Canada. Freshwater, which is low in salts and dissolved solids, is critical to life on Earth.

 

Water empties into a bucket. Text, But human-caused pressures on the environment are endangering this precious resource.

 

Photos of bottled water, a water park, a golf course and farm irrigation. Text, The demand for water by both people and industry has doubled since 1960.

 

A city skyline. Text, Pollution, climate change, and lack of conservation are affecting the world's finite supply of freshwater.

 

Lake Valencia, Venezuela. Untreated wastewater from urban areas, farms, and industries causes swirling algae blooms like this one in Lake Valencia, the largest freshwater lake in Venezuela.

 

Lake Mead, Arizona-Nevada, USA. 1985. In 2016, Lake Mead the United States' largest reservoir, reached its lowest level since 1937.

 

2016. According to the US National Park Service, the water being removed and evaporating from Lake Mead has exceeded incoming water in recent years.

 

Lake Powell, Arizona-Utah, USA. 1999. In Utah and Arizona, the vital Lake Powell reservoir has been low for nearly two decades.

 

Water levels change between the years 2004 and 2010. Text, Severe drought and rising human and agricultural consumption have kept levels low.

 

In 2011, heavy snowfall in rainfall delivered extra water to the lake.

 

But by 2013, Lake Powell was again less than half full.

 

Water levels change between the years 2014 and 2019.

 

Glen Canyon Dam, Colorado River, USA. Climate change and the siphoning off of water for irrigation and dams have caused visible changes in the world's rivers.

 

Yellow River Delta, Dongying, China. 1995, and 2009. For the past 35 years, China 's immense Yellow River has frequently died off before reaching the ocean, victimized by irrigation and vanishing glaciers.

 

Water flows from a pipe. A man drinks from his hand. Text, The danger to our freshwater supply runs deeper than the visible damage.

 

An abundant supply of Earth's freshwater - 20 to 30 percent - is groundwater, located beneath the surface in aquifers.

 

Half the people in the United States get their water from groundwater.

 

A map depicts U.S. Groundwater Levels, September 2012. Red for low, blue for high. Text, However, groundwater supplies have been decreasing in the United States and around the world.

 

The crops in this image of Southwestern Kansas are fed partly by the Ogallala Aquifer, which covers eight states from South Dakota to Texas.

 

A map of the US highlights the Extent of Ogallala Aquifer. Scientists estimate that the Ogallala Aquifer has lost volume equal to two-thirds of the water in Lake Erie.

 

NASA is using satellites to track and study Earth's supply of freshwater.

 

Mesopotamian Marshes, Iraq. Satellites examine shrinking wetlands. The Al Hawizeh Marsh in 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009.

 

They map the snow that replenishes rivers and lakes.

 

Indus River, Pakistan. They watch the changes that occur in rivers through both human intervention and natural cycles.

 

These observations bring us closer to understanding both the fresh water cycle and the ways humans are affecting this precious resource.

 
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A section of Earth is photographed from a satellite. Text, Lake Buchanan, Texas, USA, 2003. Drought and increasing temperatures have put many freshwater lakes into decline. A line moves across the image to show the progress of the shrinking lake in 2011. There is a thick yellow shoreline where the water has receded. Text, A "bathtub ring" of exposed lakebed shows around Lake Buchanan.

 

A year of drought lowered water levels until the lake had retreated as far as a mile from the current lakefront properties.

 

Old buildings, businesses, and a graveyard, immersed when the lake was dammed in the 1930s and 1940s, emerged from the receding waters.

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Text, Myth vs. Reality 

 

Fresh water is plentiful, and humans are only occasionally affected by droughts and shortages. 

 

Fresh water makes up only 0.3% of the volume of all the water on Earth, including the saltwater within the oceans and seas. As such, many people around the world lack sufficient access to safe, clean drinking water.

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Text, Great Lakes, USA- Canada. Freshwater resources can be endangered by pollution,

 

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Lake Erie, USA - Canada, 2011. A toxic algae bloom, the worst in decades, spread through Lake Erie after a rainy spring washed pollutants and fertilizers into the water.

 

The algae can irritate human skin and kill fish and other animals swimming in infected water.
 

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Text, Myth versus reality. An antique drawing of a ship at sea surrounded by monsters. A photo of rocky cliffs leading out of an ocean inlet. Myth, Most of the freshwater that people use is for drinking and washing. 

 

Reality, The majority of the freshwater we take from rivers, lakes, and underground aquifers is used for farming and ranching. about 70% goes to farms, 20% is used by industry, and less than 10% is taken for daily personal use. 

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Text, Aral Sea, Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan, 1992. An aerial view of a large lake.

 

The Aral Sea in Central Asia was once the fourth-largest lake in the world.

 

In the 1960s, the Soviet Union diverted water from the lake's two main rivers to irrigate fields.

 

An aerial view of a smaller lake in 2000. Text, the lake never recovered from the projects.

 

The lake grows smaller from 2001 to 2003. Text, as it dried, fisheries and the communities that depended on them collapsed.

 

The lake continues to grow smaller from 2004 to 2007.

 

Text, the lake's water became increasingly salty and polluted with fertilizer and pesticides.

 

White edges form around the shrinking lake by 2008. Text, Salty dust from the lake damaged nearby soil.

 

Most of the water dries up by 2009. Text, As the water vanished, local winters became colder and summers hotter and drier.

 

Water appears again in the lake in 2010. Text, Water returns briefly at times, but soon takes up its disappearing act again.

 

The lake continues to shift in amount of water from 2011 to 2016.