Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com
“A loss of oxygen and the deterioration of food chains have transformed Africa’s Lake Tanganyika and Russia’s Lake Baikal. Scientists have pointed to global warming, and now a new study finds that a similar fate may be in store for many of the world’s freshwater bodies.
In the last 25 years, the world’s largest lakes have been steadily warming, confirms the new study, some by as much as 4°F (2.2°C). In some cases that is seven times faster than air temperatures have risen over the same period.
It’s an important find, scientists say, because lake ecology can be extremely temperature-sensitive. “A small change in temperature can have quite a dramatic effect,”
says study author Simon Hook, a geologist and remote sensing expert atNASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
In many lakes, warming waters could kill native fish, clog pristine waters with algae, and expose fish and other aquatic species to more toxic pollution.”
Read more: National Geographic
0 Responses to “Global Warming Burning Lakes?”