{"id":66552,"date":"2021-02-05T16:50:01","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T15:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=66552"},"modified":"2021-02-05T16:50:02","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T15:50:02","slug":"climate-crisis-is-causing-lakes-to-shrink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/science\/climate-crisis-is-causing-lakes-to-shrink\/","title":{"rendered":"Cli\u00admate crisis is caus\u00ading lakes to shrink"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Au\u00adthors of sci\u00adentific art\u00adicle call for more at\u00adten\u00adtion to re\u00adgions with fall\u00ading wa\u00adter levels<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cli\u00admate change is im\u00adpact\u00ading not only the oceans, but also large in\u00adland lakes. As the world\u2019s largest lake, the Caspian Sea is a per\u00adfect ex\u00adample of how a body of wa\u00adter can and will change. In an art\u00adicle in the Nature journal Communications Earth & Environment<\/em>, Dr. Mat\u00adthias Prange of MARUM \u2013 Cen\u00adter for Mar\u00adine En\u00advir\u00adon\u00admental Sci\u00adences at the Uni\u00adversity of Bre\u00admen, and his col\u00adleagues dis\u00adcuss the pos\u00adsible eco\u00adlo\u00adgical, polit\u00adical and eco\u00adnomic con\u00adsequences, as well as vi\u00adable solu\u00adtions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While global sea levels are rising due to the cli\u00admate crisis and threat\u00aden\u00ading near-coastal in\u00adfra\u00adstruc\u00adtures, higher tem\u00adper\u00adat\u00adures in other areas are hav\u00ading ex\u00adactly the op\u00adpos\u00adite ef\u00adfect. The wa\u00adter levels are fall\u00ading and also caus\u00ading massive prob\u00adlems. Al\u00adthough the con\u00adsequences are equally ser\u00adi\u00adous, however, de\u00adclin\u00ading wa\u00adter levels are re\u00adceiv\u00ading less at\u00adten\u00adtion ac\u00adcord\u00ading to Mat\u00adthias Prange, Thomas Wilke of the Jus\u00adtus Liebig Uni\u00adversity in Gie\u00dfen, and Frank P. Wessel\u00adingh of the Uni\u00adversity of Utrecht and the Nat\u00aduralis Biod\u00adiversity Cen\u00adter Leiden (The Neth\u00ader\u00adlands).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Caspian Sea can be viewed as rep\u00adres\u00adent\u00adat\u00adive of many other lakes in the world. Many people are not even aware that an in\u00adland lake is dra\u00admat\u00adic\u00adally shrink\u00ading due to cli\u00admate change, as our mod\u00adels in\u00addic\u00adate,\u201d says Mat\u00adthias Prange. The re\u00adport of the In\u00adter\u00adgov\u00adern\u00admental Panel on Cli\u00admate Change (IPCC) also failed to men\u00adtion lakes, and dis\u00adreg\u00adarded the so\u00adcial, polit\u00adical and eco\u00adnomic con\u00adsequences of global warm\u00ading on the af\u00adfected re\u00adgions. \u201cThis has to change. We need more stud\u00adies and a bet\u00adter un\u00adder\u00adstand\u00ading of the con\u00adsequences of global warm\u00ading in this re\u00adgion.\u201d The goal must be to raise aware\u00adness of the con\u00adsequences of cli\u00admate change for in\u00adland seas and lakes so that ap\u00adpro\u00adpri\u00adate strategies can be de\u00adveloped, in\u00adclud\u00ading ap\u00adproaches for other large lakes and re\u00adgions fa\u00adcing sim\u00adilar chal\u00adlenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be\u00adcause of its size (it is the largest lake in the world) and be\u00adcause of its re\u00adl\u00adat\u00adively high sa\u00adlin\u00adity of about one per cent, which is about one-third of the salt con\u00adcen\u00adtra\u00adtion in the oceans, the Caspian has been named a \u2018Sea\u2019. Its largest in\u00adflow is the Volga River and it has no nat\u00adural con\u00adnec\u00adtion to the ocean. The wa\u00adter level is de\u00adterm\u00adined by the pro\u00adpor\u00adtional in\u00adflu\u00adences of in\u00adflow, pre\u00adcip\u00adit\u00ada\u00adtion and evap\u00ador\u00ada\u00adtion. Global warm\u00ading is caus\u00ading in\u00adcreased evap\u00ador\u00ada\u00adtion, which res\u00adults in a de\u00adclin\u00ading wa\u00adter level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Caspian Sea is an im\u00adport\u00adant re\u00adgional wa\u00adter reser\u00advoir and, des\u00adpite its salt con\u00adtent, a bio\u00adlo\u00adgical and com\u00admer\u00adcial cen\u00adter. It is bounded by Kaza\u00adkh\u00adstan, Turk\u00admenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan and Rus\u00adsia. De\u00adpend\u00ading on the de\u00adgree of global warm\u00ading in the fu\u00adture, the wa\u00adter level could fall by 9 to 18 meters dur\u00ading this cen\u00adtury. \u201cThis would af\u00adfect not only the biod\u00adiversity, vari\u00adous spe\u00adcies, and hab\u00adit\u00adats that would dis\u00adap\u00adpear. The eco\u00adnom\u00adies of all the bor\u00adder\u00ading coun\u00adtries would be im\u00adpacted, in\u00adclud\u00ading har\u00adbors, fish\u00ader\u00adies and fish farm\u00ading.\u201d For this reason, the au\u00adthors ar\u00adgue that in the fu\u00adture the Caspian Sea should be used as an ex\u00adample in sci\u00adentific re\u00adsearch to as\u00adsess the vul\u00adner\u00adab\u00adil\u00adity of cer\u00adtain re\u00adgions to fall\u00ading wa\u00adter levels. Be\u00adcause no na\u00adtion can solve the res\u00adult\u00ading con\u00adflicts alone, they pro\u00adpose a global task force to de\u00advelop and co\u00adordin\u00adate strategies. The art\u00adicle sug\u00adgests that “in\u00adter\u00adna\u00adtional cli\u00admate funds” could of\u00adfer a pos\u00adsib\u00adil\u00adity for fin\u00adan\u00adcing pro\u00adjects and ad\u00adapt\u00ada\u00adtion meas\u00adures if changes in the lake level are at\u00adtrib\u00aduted to cli\u00admate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n