"The Elevation of Western U.S. Is Rising Due to Drought"

"The Western U.S. is getting higher and drier. And I’m not talking about the recent legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington. A new study published today (Aug. 21) in the journal Science found that the severe drought that has gripped the West since 2013 has actually caused much of the land mass in that part of the world to rise, by an average of 0.16 inches (4 millimeters). That may not sound like a lot, but it is when you consider the sheer extent of terrain that is the West.

In some places, it’s even worse. In several mountainous areas in California, for example, the land has risen by 0.6 inches (15 mm) since the beginning of the drought.

On a grand scale, the water found in rivers and lakes, and underground in aquifers and subterranean reservoirs, acts like ballast for the Earth, weighing it down. When water is removed by humans or naturally evaporates—and isn’t replaced by rain or snowmelt—the land suddenly has a weight off its shoulders, so to speak. So it “rebounds,” or lifts up, said study co-author Adrian Borsa, a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at the University of California San Diego."

Douglas Main reports for Newsweek August 21, 2014.

SEE ALSO:

"Drought Said to Claim Trillions of Gallons" (New York Times)

"Epic Drought in West is Literally Moving Mountains" (Climate Central)