irrigation

Impact of spring and summer irrigation on extreme heat wave events. Modeled temperature and event length anomalies for no irrigation (a, d), both spring and summer irrigation (b, e) and solely spring irrigation (c, f). Credit: Geophysical Research Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2023GL107094 Heat waves are becoming more extreme as climate change exacerbates, with susceptible locations experiencing more frequent, prolonged and…

Piyush Mehta, a doctoral student at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment pictured here in Hansen, Idaho, served as the lead author on a paper that looked at how and where irrigated areas have expanded globally from 2000 to 2015 and whether that expansion has occurred in a sustainable or unsustainable fashion. Credit: Piyush Mehta/University of Delaware Of all the ways that humans consume water,…

Satellite image of the Kufrah district captured on May 26, 2022, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite.The remote and arid Kufrah district in Libya lies on top of one of the largest irrigation projects in the world.The remote Kufrah district in southern Libya sits at the heart of the Sahara Desert. Filled with sand dunes and rugged plateaus, much of the district is extremely arid. But it wasn’t always so dry. Buried beneath the shifting sand dunes is a vast fossil aquifer and…

For 141 years, physicists like Richard Feynman have puzzled over a question of fluid flow: how would a sprinkler rotate if it were underwater, sucking in the stuff instead of spewing it? Now, a team of researchers has found an answer.Alex Winter on the Most Important Modern Horror Movie Though the idea was first proposed by experimentalists in the 1880s, it was repopularized by Feynman in the mid-20th century, to the extent that it became known as Feynman’s sprinkler. The issue was thus: A normal sprinkler with S-shaped…

This story was originally published by Grist and co-published with Fresnoland. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.Extreme Weather Events in 2022 | Extreme EarthThe land of the Central Valley works hard. Here in the heart of California, in the most productive farming region in the United States, almost every square inch of land has been razed, planted, and shaped to support large-scale agriculture. The valley produces almonds, walnuts, pistachios, olives, cherries, beans, eggs, milk, beef, melons, pumpkins, sweet…

Credit: Geophysical Research Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1029/2022GL097845 Scientists know that urbanization and irrigation can significantly influence rainfall. However, they don't fully know how these effects vary among different types of rain. Researchers have investigated how large-scale urbanization and irrigation in the United States affect the three dominant types of summer precipitation in the mid-Atlantic region. These…

Arizona officials may not be able to approve new construction in some of the fastest-growing parts of the Phoenix metropolitan area that rely on groundwater in response to dwindling supply. the Associated Press reported.Mississippi’s Water Crisis | Extreme EarthThe Associated Press reports that Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs made the announcement this Thursday in response toa new report from the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR). The new report outlined how the groundwater supply in Arizona is going to continue…

According to a study from Nebraska researchers, irrigation pivots covered with rust may signal the absence of nitrate—a contaminant linked to birth defects and cancers—in nearby groundwater. Credit: Mikaela Cherry / ACS ES&T Water / Scott Schrage "Oh, we don't have to worry about that area. They have red pivots." On its face, the…

Boats are seen in low water at the Antelope Point Marina in Lake Powell on the Colorado River in Page, Arizona, on September 4, 2022. - More than two decades of severe drought have left the Colorado River and its second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell, at critical levels, as climate change leads to increased heat and decreased precipitation.Photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP (Getty Images)A group of agencies that provide water to millions of customers in the western U.S. has agreed to rip-up grass lawns in public spaces across…

A gangway and boat on the dry La Viñuela reservoir, located in La Axarquia.Photo: Carlos Gil (Getty Images)Parts of Spain this summer are experiencing the worst drought the country has seen in 1,200 years, as extreme heat and drought grip much of Europe. The drought’s severity can be partially attributed to climate change, a study published in July in Nature Geoscience found, thanks to an increase in high-pressure systems in the winter that help create dry conditions in the summer. The dry weather is seriously affecting…