Bolivian Lake Poopó slowly dries up
Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 31 October 2016 at 14:37:52 UTC
Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 20 March 2017 at 14:37:41 UTC
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Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 15 March 2018 at 14:37:51 UTC
Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 19 April 2018 at 14:37:49 UTC
Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 20 March 2017 at 14:37:41 UTC
...
Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 15 March 2018 at 14:37:51 UTC
Sentinel-2 MSI acquired on 19 April 2018 at 14:37:49 UTC
Keyword(s): Climate change, land, hydrology, endorheic lake, salar, El Niño, pollution, mining, biodiversity, Ramsar site, Bolivia
Lake Poopó y Uru Uru is an important place for the biodiversity of the arid Altiplano. Ramsar depicts it as: "A site comprising two associated brackish lakes at over 3,600m altitude which fulfil all eight of the Ramsar Criteria and are excellent representatives of the high-altitude Andean wetlands of the Puna region. Some 76 species of birds have been reported for the site, including about 120,000 individuals of flamingos Phoenicopterus chilensis, Phoenicoparrus andinus, and Phoenicoparrus jamesi."
However, according to an article written in the Latin American Herald Tribune:
"Bolivia’s second largest lake, Poopo, in the Andine region of the country is turning into a desert". The biodiversity of this Ramsar site is at risk "Agricultural engineer Milton Perez, from Oruro Technical University, says 'the lake ecosystem is very fragile, with a depth of only 1.5 to 4 meters (5 to 13 feet), and its waters have reduced.'" From its usual 8000 km² it now shrinks to a fraction of that during the dry season.
The LAHT also care about the impact on population, interviewing a local figure: "Rojas, a leader of the indigenous Untavi community in Toledo, where the population is significantly affected by the situation, said the lake has dried up many times in the past too, but has always managed to recover itself. However, the peasants now fear Poopo will not recover its water due to rising temperatures in the highlands and hundreds of farmers and fishermen, who have suffered losses, are now abandoning the place.
'We have a lake that has disappeared, now it is a plain, it is a desert where you cannot plant anything, nor produce, nor is there anything, much less life,' said Rojas."
Manish Muhuri wrotefor Biotechin.Asia: "The shrivelling lake ecosystems has caused a mass die of millions of animals, according to research, and some 200 species of birds, mammals, fish, and other animals have disappeared from the area, including the endangered flamingo, Bolivia’s La Razon reported."
"Scientists are trying to figure out what happened, and how to prevent it from happening again. Climate change is one, as scientists at Oruro Technical University say temperatures in the region have risen about 0.9 degrees Celsius over the past two decades, enhancing the rate of evaporation from the lake upwards of three times what it used to be. Another card of the deck stacked against Lake Poopó was El Niño. The Pacific Ocean weather phenomenon has gotten much more common with rising global temperatures."
Jacques Gardon, researcher at the IRD (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development), commentsthe situation in Oruro: "The city is perched 3700 m on the Altiplano and now has 220 000 inhabitants. These people are exposed to contamination by a number of metals generated by current and past mining and metallurgical industries. In five centuries, these activities have generated at least two million tonnes of mining waste, piled on spoil heaps open to the air at the foot of the Oruro hills. These masses of waste are sources of pollution".
He adds: "Greenish-yellow waters ejected by mine gallery pumping or flowing down from eroding slagheaps in the wet season, pass through the city and eventually into Lake Uru-Uru and Lake Poopó further downstream. This hydrological system is quite unusual. It finds no outlet to the sea. But also its high altitude and the salinity and strong mineralization of its waters makes the ecological and hydrological balance of this region particularly fragile."
Large dried areas in Lake Poopó - Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency or the European Union.
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024, processed by VisioTerra.
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024, processed by VisioTerra.
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