Scientists assessed nearly 2,000 large lakes using satellite measurements combined with climate and hydrological models.
More than half of the world’s great lakes and reservoirs have shrunk since the early 1990s, mostly due to climate change, raising concerns about water for agriculture, hydropower and human consumption, according to a study released Thursday.
A team of international researchers has reported that some of the world’s most important freshwater sources, from the Caspian Sea between Europe and Asia to Lake Titicaca in South America, have been losing water at a rapid pace. accumulated about 22 gigatonnes per year for almost three decades. That’s about 17 times the volume of Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States.
Fangfang Yao, a surface hydrologist at the University of Virginia who led the study in the journal Science, said 56% of the decline in natural lakes was due to global warming and human consumption, with warming being “the most of it.”
Climatologists generally believe that the world’s drylands will become drier with climate change and that wetlands will become wetter, but the study found significant water loss even in humid regions. “It shouldn’t be overlooked,” Yao said.
Scientists assessed nearly 2,000 large lakes using satellite measurements combined with climate and hydrological models.
They found that unsustainable human use, changes in precipitation and runoff, sedimentation and rising temperatures have reduced lake levels around the world, with 53% of lakes showing a decline from 1992 to 2020.
About 2 billion people, living in the drying lake basin, are directly affected and many regions have faced shortages in recent years.
Scientists and activists have long said that preventing global warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius is necessary to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. The world is currently warming at a rate of about 1.1 degrees Celsius.
Thursday’s study found that unsustainable human use has dried up lakes, including the Aral Sea in Central Asia and the Dead Sea in the Middle East, while lakes in Afghanistan, Egypt and Mongolia have dried up. been affected by rising temperatures, which may increase the loss of water to the atmosphere.
Water levels have risen in a quarter of the lakes, often as a result of damming in remote areas such as the Inner Tibetan Plateau.
Source: Latercera
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