00:45 USGS: Crucial Water Cycle Intensifies Across Most of U.S. USGS scientists recently discovered that the water cycle critical to life on Earth has intensified across most of the U.S. over the past seven decades

At a Glance The water cycle is the movement of water on the planet from precipitation to evaporation.

Areas where the cycle has slowed could become increasingly dry.

Flooding could increase in areas where the water cycle is intensifying. New calculations of changes in the water cycle over the United States pinpoint several areas that could become increasingly dry over the next few decades, a new study says. They also showed areas that could see more flooding.

The water cycle is the movement of water on the planet — from falling as precipitation, such as rain, ice or snow, to being absorbed in the soil or flowing into groundwater and streams and then being evaporated to start all over again.

Research by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey shows water has been moving more quickly and intensely through the various stages of the cycle, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.

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“As the planet warms we anticipate that the warmer air, which holds more moisture, will lead to more evaporation and precipitation,” said Tom Huntington, the study’s first author and a research hydrologist at USGS. “If those processes are increasing, it is evidence for an intensifying water cycle. But no one had really shown that trend quantitatively.”

The researchers used ground observations and sophisticated modeling to come up with precipitation measurements across the country. They also calculated the amount of water evaporating from the leaves of plants and from the land surface, a process called evapotranspiration.

They combined those measurements to create a new indicator of water cycle intensity.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/waterflowcycle.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/waterflowcycle.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/waterflowcycle.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > Earth’s water continuously moves through the atmosphere, into and out of the oceans, over the land surface, and underground. (NOAA National Weather Service Jetstream.)

The model identified areas that have seen declines in precipitation and evapotranspiration and experienced less intense or slower water cycles. Those areas included the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California to Washington state, and the Southeast, from North Florida through Georgia and into the Carolinas.

In those areas, and the Upper Midwest, the amount of water being stored in the soil during the summer months is declining. In addition, evapotranspiration had decreased in the Southeast over the same time period, most likely because of decreased precipitation.

Huntington said these areas could become increasingly dry and should be carefully monitored over the next few decades.

Conversely, the team found regions where the water cycle is intensifying, especially in the Northeast and parts of Texas. In those areas, flooding could increase as more rain falls or more water is stored in the soil.