The Human Fingerprint on Earth’s Water Cycle

Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory The Human Fingerprint on… Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us Subscribe 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search Measurements from NASA’s GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and GRACE-FO (GRACE Follow-On) missions reveal trends in terrestrial water storage from April 2002 to November 2025. Areas outlined in black indicate where trends showed strong associations with human activities. Trends are depicted in terms of average annual change in equivalent water depth. NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison, based on data from O’Neill, M.M., et al. Humans are exerting increasing influence over how water moves through lakes, rivers, soil, and the subsurface,...