Scientists have mapped out gigantic, underground freshwater reservoirs, just off the northeast coast of the United States, and their work could help solve world’s water crisis.
Researchers from Columbia University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution were surprised by the size of the giant aquifer of fresh water, which they determined on a 10-day expedition in 2015. Though these pockets of fresh water were assumed to be abundant within these continental shelves, their sizes and exact locations were previously intractable.
“We knew there was fresh water down there in isolated places, but we did not know the extent or geometry,” said lead author Chloe Gustafson, a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, in a press release.
Good #Climate news for a change! @LamontEarth scientists discovered a huge fresh-water aquifer beneath the Atlantic. Could signal resources worldwide, providing #water for arid areas in danger of running out. @earthinstitute https://t.co/akMk0ijtV5
— Columbia University (@Columbia) June 23, 2019
The researchers used electromagnetic sensors to map pools of fresh water beneath the ocean floor between New Jersey and Massachusetts, and published their findings earlier this month.
If water from the outer parts of the aquifer were to be withdrawn, it would have to be desalinated for most uses, but the cost would be much less than processing seawater, said Key. “We probably don’t need to do that in this region, but if we can show there are large aquifers in other regions, that might potentially represent a resource” in places like southern California, Australia, the Mideast or Saharan Africa, he said. His group hopes to expand its surveys.
