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Around the world,

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water is constantly moving. From 2002

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to 2016, a pair of NASA satellites witnessed massive shifts

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in the freshwater stored on land related to water management,

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climate change, and natural cycles.

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The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE mission, used precise measurements of the

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of two spacecraft in Earth’s orbit to track the movement of water

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through the oceans, land, and atmosphere.

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NASA scientists combined GRACE data with satellite based observations of

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precipitation and crop irrigation, climate model predictions, and other information

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in order to identify the causes of regional trends in freshwater storage.

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In this visualization, blues indicate areas

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with more stored freshwater than the average, and oranges and reds

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denote areas with less. The science team classified

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the major trends observed by GRACE as driven by:

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Natural variability, human activity or climate change.

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For instance, the steady decrease in freshwater storage in Greenland

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is caused by the melting of glaciers, which drain water into the oceans.

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