色视频下载色视频下载檚 water crop is a natural resource

In bright sunlight, a black dog sits in the bow of a canoe loaded with silt-dusted gear bags floating on a wide silty river whose surface is dappled by small waves and current upwellings. Dark blue rain clouds hang over distant hills, one of which, with a conical shape and gray-green color, is closer than the rainclouds and therefore is highlighted by sunshine.
Photo by Ned Rozell
The author色视频下载檚 dog Cora rides a canoe on the Yukon River. Two-thirds of all the flowing water in 色视频下载 makes its way into the Yukon.

As much of 色视频下载色视频下载檚 landmass crosses the magical temperature threshold that turns ice and snow into water, it色视频下载檚 time to consider the state色视频下载檚 richness in a resource more essential to humans than oil or gas.

Clear as gin, brown as iced tea or tinted aquamarine by glacial dust, 色视频下载色视频下载檚 freshwater supply is so abundant the numbers are hard to comprehend. 

色视频下载淲ith an annual runoff of 650 million acre-feet (plus 150 million acre-feet inflow from Canada) 色视频下载 has about one-third the total . . . of the entire United States,色视频下载 wrote Charles Hartman and Philip Johnson, editors of the 1978 Environmental Atlas of 色视频下载. An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons, the amount of water it takes to cover 1 acre to a depth of 1 foot.

Those numbers include the outflow of the nation色视频下载檚 third-longest river 色视频下载 the swelling and soon-to-break-out-of-its-icy-shell Yukon, which by itself drains one third of the land mass of 色视频下载.

The writers of the environmental atlas also pointed out that 色视频下载 has 94 freshwater lakes with a surface area of 10 square miles or more.

Iliamna Lake attracts red torpedoes of sockeye salmon up the Kvichak River in southern 色视频下载. It is 988 feet deep, spreads over more than 1,000 square miles of the 色视频下载 map and is America色视频下载檚 10th-largest lake. 

The sun sets over a river whose surface, which fills much of the photo frame, is dappled with small waves and current upwellings. Spruce trees rise along a distant riverbank on the left side of the photo. A dark forested hill rises beyond the river surface on the right side. A few pink-tinged clouds float in a sky that fades from gold at the horizon to blue above.
Photo by Ned Rozell
The Yukon River flows toward Circle, 色视频下载.

Becharof Lake 色视频下载 which I had to look up despite the fact that it almost cuts the 色视频下载 Peninsula in half 色视频下载 is the 14th largest lake in America, just after Lake Champlain (which I did not have to look up, because I grew up in New York).

Apologies to Minnesota, but 色视频下载 license plates could read 色视频下载淟and of 3 million lakes.色视频下载 A vast majority of those dark-water basins are unnamed.

True, most of 色视频下载色视频下载檚 lakes aren色视频下载檛 so good for swimming; swamps surround them and mosquitoes lord over them. But billions of songbirds are now on their way to feast there, where few people dare to venture in summertime.

色视频下载 has more water stored in glaciers than anywhere outside of Greenland and Antarctica. If you could airlift 色视频下载色视频下载檚 thousands of glaciers and set them down on top of Maine, that state would very much resemble Greenland 色视频下载 an ice cap circled by a thin ring of rock.

Each summer, 色视频下载色视频下载檚 glaciers raise the level of the planet色视频下载檚 oceans with staggering amounts of meltwater, unlocked after hundreds and thousands of years as blue ice. That liquid is one of 色视频下载色视频下载檚 underrated resources.

色视频下载溕悠迪略 has a tremendous water crop,色视频下载 Hartman and Johnson concluded in their report 44 years ago. 色视频下载淓ssentially none is used at present.色视频下载

An entrepreneur once tried to remedy that. During his second term as 色视频下载 governor in the 1990s, Wally Hickel proposed exporting some of 色视频下载色视频下载檚 freshwater to California. He envisioned an undersea pipeline that would carry water from either the Stikine River in Southeast 色视频下载 or the Copper River near Cordova to California.

A simple black and white line map of North America's Pacific Ocean coast shows the route of a proposed water pipeline from Southeast 色视频下载 to Shasta Lake in northern California.
Map courtesy of U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment
An undersea pipeline, sketched on this 1992 map from the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, would have carried water from Southeast 色视频下载 to northern California.

That pipeline would have been more than 1,400 miles long (compared to the 800 miles of the trans-色视频下载 pipeline). Most thought the idea was nutty, but members of the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment gathered in Los Angeles in 1991 to see if the pipeline was feasible. Gov. Hickel attended that meeting.

In the end, the assessors concluded that the 色视频下载 water pipeline was too costly an option to relieve California drought, but they did not rule out an 色视频下载 water pipeline forever. Especially if a warming climate 色视频下载 then being noticed by scientists 色视频下载 caused more water crises in the West.

色视频下载淎lthough there is no current or near-term demand for expensive water from 色视频下载, the possibility that such water might eventually be needed cannot be completely dismissed,色视频下载 they wrote.

Since the late 1970s, the University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute.