New Study Confirms Permanent Global Water Storage Shift

Between 2000 and 2002, global soil moisture plummeted by approximately 1614 gigatonnes. The researchers note that this is “much larger than Greenland’s ice loss of about 900 gigatonnes” recorded between 2002 and 2006. Even after the initial sharp drop, the loss continued. From 2003 to 2016, an additional 1009 gigatonnes disappeared from the soil. This decline was identified using the ERA5 dataset—an advanced climate reanalysis model that tracks soil moisture from space. To cross-verify the trend, the team also examined sea level rise and polar motion. They found both indicators reflected the shift in water mass from land to ocean.