The lakes of the earth are experiencing an alarming drop in oxygen levels, according to new research.
Similar trends have also been observed through rivers and seas. But some lakes lose oxygen Up to nine times faster that the oceans.
A new study has now identified how the various responsible mechanisms contribute to this loss of lake oxygen in the world, which between 1980 and 2017 was 5.5% in surface waters and 18.6% in deep waters.
The geographer of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Yibo Zhang and his colleagues used satellite images, as well as geographic and climatic data, to rebuild the events that led to these oxygen losses. More than 80% of the 15,535 lakes they have examined have now exhausted oxygen levels.
From 2003 to 2023, 85% of these lakes experienced a regular increase in the number of days of heat waves per year. Higher temperatures reduce the oxygen capacity to dissolve in water.
Zhang and the calculated team of heat waves contributed to 7.7% of the loss of oxygen observed, by rapid and substantial fluctuations of solubility in the water of oxygen.
Researchers awarded 10% additional to Increasingly severe algae bloom. These are also exacerbated by warming conditions, as well as by Increase in nutrientsIncluding the runoff of fertilizers and breeding manure, entering our navigable waterways.
However, long -term temperature increases explain most of the lake deoxygenation, according to research.
Current warming represents up to 55% of the decrease in lake oxygen levels, the researchers say. If this trend continues, the lakes of the earth could have up to 9% less oxygen by the end of the century in the worst climatic scenarios, warns the team.
Natural and artificial lakes adorn around 5 million square kilometers of the earth’s terrestrial surface. They are often at home unique find Nowhere on earth.
The decreases of dissolved oxygen seriously disturb these ecosystems, creating “dead areas” which are too suffocating for the fauna to tolerate. The acute drops cause mass deaths of the fauna, which are Increase in navigables around the world.
In recent years, Anguilles in New Zealand,, Cod Murray in Australia, and Several species of fish and mussels In Poland and Germany, all have served as examples of this macabre phenomenon.
The lakes also know greater evaporation As our warmer atmosphere contains more water. This accelerates the water cycle of the earth, causing wild layers of intensely dry to Flood of wet conditions.
All these disruptions are wreaking havoc on the lake ecosystems and the economies based on them, threatening our food security. They have already destroyed Fourth Lake Earth.
Beyond our terrible need to alleviate global warming, the reduction in the washing of agricultural waste in our rivers would help keep the availability of oxygen.
“Plantation of submerged vegetation and the construction of wetlands can also help restore ecosystems of the lake,” said SHI Kun ecologist said Xinhua News.
This research was published in Scientific advances.