GROUNDWATER MEETS OCEANS

About:

• Scientists have created high-resolution maps of points around the globe where groundwater meets the oceans — the first such analysis of its kind that may help protect both drinking water and the seas.
  
  
• Key findings of the map:
  • Nearly one-half of fresh submarine groundwater discharge flows into the ocean near the tropics.
    
    
  • Regions near active fault lines send greater volumes of groundwater into the ocean than regions that are tectonically stable.
    
    
  • Dry, arid regions have very little groundwater discharge, opening the limited groundwater supplies in those parts of the world to saltwater intrusion.
    
    
  
  
  
• Significance:
  • The research work, the first near-global and spatially distributed high-resolution map of fresh groundwater flow to the coast, could give scientists better clues about where to monitor groundwater discharge.
    
    
  • It may help coastal communities better protect and manage their drinking water.