Increased water stored on land has slowed sea level rise by 20%, study finds

Increased water stored on land has slowed sea level rise by 20%, study finds

Vast volumes of water falling as rain and snow have stayed on land in recent years, slowing the rise of the seas, new research has revealed. Water is constantly evaporating from oceans and moving to land, where it's stored fleetingly in lakes, snowpacks, soil and tree canopies, before flowing back again. The land "has been taking up water," said NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist John Reager, who led the study published Thursday in Science. "That's been slowing the rate of sea level rise." The effect may have been temporary, and it has not been enough to protect coastal residents from profound shoreline changes triggered by global warming. The new study relied on NASA gravity data from

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