On Thursday, Sept. 18, Jay Famiglietti, a University of California Irvine professor, will give a fascinating lecture on measuring declines in groundwater around the world through data collected by orbiting satellites.

The two NASA satellites detect changes in the gravitational attraction of regions across the Earth. Groundwater seeping into aquifers or being pumped our of them alters the Earth’s mass and changes the gravitational pull.

“Groundwater in most of the world’s major aquifers — in India, the Middle East, China and even in the High Plains and Central Valley aquifers in the United States — is being rapidly depleted, likely never to be replaced,” Famiglietti says.

The lecture is sponsored by the Freshwater Society and the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences with special support  from Barr Engineering and the Capitol Region Watershed District.

Learn more and register to attend at www.freshwater.org.