Climate change has been a recognized threat across the entire world. However, SciTechDaily notes that as temperatures all over the world continue to rise, blue lakes across Europe and North America may soon become green-brown.
Blue Lakes at Risk of Turning Green Brown
Based on recent research that looks into lake color inventory, which is the first, blue lakes from all over the world are at risk of turning green-brown if the global warming concern continues pressing on. Such color alterations are evident signals that there is an ecological health decline.
The study was published in an American Geophysical Union publication. According to the study, there are factors that play a vital role in determining the most prominent color of a lake's waters. Aside from sediments and algae, these factors also include the depth of the lake, temperature of the air, elevation, and precipitation.
According to SciTechDaily, only less than a third of the world's lakes have blue colors. Moreover, these lakes tend to be deeper and found in areas that have high altitude and cool. These areas also tend to have much precipitation and covers of winter ice.
The research notes that lakes that are green-brown are more usual and that they can be located along shores, drier places, and interiors of continents. Such colored lakes make up 69% of total lakes.
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Scientists Assess 5.41 Million Satellite Images of 85,360 Reservoirs and Lakes
As part of the procedures of evaluating the most common color of 85,360 different reservoirs and lakes all over the world, the experts made use of 5.14 million images taken by satellites. Their scope also covered the years 2013 all the way to 2020.
Study author and remote sensing hydrologist Xiao Yang expressed how there was no one who previously studied lake colors at such a huge scale. According to Science Alert, Yang mentions how there was previous research that covered up to 200 lakes from all over the world. However, their scope was much wider in terms of coverage and number. Even if they did not study all lakes throughout the world, the team aimed to study a representative and huge sample of the world's lakes.
Lake colors alter seasonally because of the growth of algae. Hence, authors characterized the colors of the lake by looking at the lake color that appeared most frequently in the course of 7 years. Such findings could be looked into using an interactive map that the scientists created.
Climate Change May Decrease Blue Lakes
Aside from this, the recent study also looked into the degree differences in global warming could impact the color of lakes if climate change continues to persist. Findings of the study show how climate change may lower the number of blue lakes.
Study author and aquatic ecologist Catherine O'Reilly expresses how warm water, that facilitates more algal bloom production, tends to alter lakes and make them have a green color.
Though there are past studies that have made use of metrics that are more intricate and fine to understand the health of lakes, the authors note that watercolor is a metric for assessing water quality that is simple, viable, and viewable from satellites globally. Their approach paves a path to understanding how lakes change with climate change.
SciTechDaily notes how O'Reilly expresses that if lakes are used for fishing or for drinking water, quality changes may mean that treating such water would incur larger costs. It may be possible that water in certain periods cannot be used and that fish species may no longer be found.
This may also have cultural and recreational impacts in areas where lakes have cultural prevalence.
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