News Climate

Earth’s landmasses lost trillions of tons of water this century

Scientists link the sharp decline with an increase in global drought and sea level rise

A man in a blue shirt and pants walks across a dry cracked lake bed.

A man walks across the dry bed of Lake Ahmad Sar in India in 2015. The total amount of water in Earth’s lakes, rivers and soils has drastically dropped since the turn of the century, a new study finds. The primary culprit: rising global temperatures.

SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images

By Carolyn Gramling

Earth’s landmasses are holding onto a lot less water than they used to — and this loss is not just due to melting ice sheets.