Continental Drying and Freshwater Loss

A July 2025 Science Advances study using NASA GRACE/GRACE-FO satellite data found unprecedented continental terrestrial water storage loss since 2002, with drying areas expanding by about twice the size of California each year and clustering into four major Northern Hemisphere drying regions. The study reported that groundwater depletion accounts for 68% of water-storage loss in non-glaciated regions and that continental freshwater losses now contribute more to sea-level rise than the ice sheets, underscoring a major long-term shift in Earth’s water balance. The same study concluded that since 2002, 75% of the global population in 101 countries has experienced freshwater losses, indicating broad exposure across North America, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, China, Southeast Asia, northern Canada, and northern Russia. NASA’s GRACE-FO materials also note that Earth’s total freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has stayed low since then, consistent with an acceleration in drying around 2014–2015. Recent reporting in 2025 has continued to highlight the severity of the trend, including a review of GRACE satellite studies that describes accelerating terrestrial water storage losses and persistent groundwater depletion. The available evidence supports treating this as a worsening global freshwater-security crisis affecting agriculture, sanitation, food systems, and economic stability.