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The Ogallala Aquifer and Carbon Dioxide: Comparison and Convergence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Michael H. Glantz
Affiliation:
Head, Environmental and Societal Impacts Group, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307, USA
Jesse H. Ausubel
Affiliation:
Special Assistant to the President, National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC 20418, USA.

Extract

Much attention within the scientific community has focused on the effects of a possible increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. The impact of the increase in the CO2 content of the atmosphere is usually discussed in terms of global averages. Little information has been presented on what the regional effects of a CO2-induced global warming might be. Recent attempts at identifying local effects of such a warming suggest that, as the atmospheric CO2 content continues to rise, there will be an increase in the frequency, duration, and severity, of droughts in the United States Great Plains.

Agricultural activities in the Great Plains today are highly dependent on water drawn from the underlying Ogallala Aquifer. Yet, there is great concern that the water is being drawn out at rates that far exceed its natural rates of recharge. While the Aquifer's thickness and rates of drawdown differ at different parts of the Great Plains, some regions are already in precarious positions because of the depletion of their portion of the Aquifer.

Type
Main Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1984

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