“The Omo Delta, at the north end of Lake Turkana, a lake now located mainly in Kenya. Left: February 1, 1973. Right: January 24, 2005 to February 12, 2006. In 1973, the delta was contained entirely within the boundaries of Ethiopia. By 2005-2006, the southernmost point of the delta had moved roughly 12 kilometers (7 miles) to the south, and had crossed the Ethiopia-Kenya border.” Quoted from the NASA image release.
“The expansion of massive salt evaporation projects on the Dead Sea are clearly visible in this time series of images taken by Landsat satellites operated by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.” Quoted from the NASA image release.
Landslide hazards may cause the Chinese government to relocate 100,000 people near the Three Gorges Dam. Landslides on the banks of the reservoir have increased dramatically since it was filled to its operating capacity in 2010.
Jessica Ball has some photos of a recent fossil collecting trip along the shoreline of Lake Erie. They found some nice corals, trilobites and brachiopods.
“In 1986 Lake Nyos, in the volcanic region of Cameroon, suddenly released a cloud of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, killing 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. [...] But since then, to prevent Lake Nyos from exploding again, an international team of scientists and engineers has developed and implemented a program to artificially remove gas from the lake through piping.” Quoted from the USGS press release.
Russian scientists have successfully drilled through two miles of Antarctic ice to reach Lake Vostok, a freshwater lake that has been isolated from the atmosphere for possibly 30 million years.
Water levels at Lake Mead have risen rapidly from record lows about one year ago. This change may have triggered an increase in seismic activity beneath the lake.
This time-lapse video shows the draining of the Condit Dam in southeastern Washington. The dam is 125-feet high and has thick sediment deposits behind it. The water erupting from the hole in the dam appears black in color from suspended sediments. Time-lapse views behind the dam show sediments slumping and flowing as the water level declines.
Some of the most spectacular Eocene fossils are found in the Green River Formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming where fish, insects, plants and animals were preserved in intermountain lakes while the Rocky Mountains were still growing.
“The brilliant streaks of blue and green that color the Great Lakes in this image are a contradiction.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
A team of researchers funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council will use a hot-water drill to melt through the ice to obtain samples of water and sediments from Lake Ellsworth.
“Although Lake Agassiz is gone, questions about its origin and disappearance remain. Answers to those questions may provide clues to our future climate.” Quoted from the University of Cincinnati news release.
“At 3:05 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 26, 2011, NASA’s Aqua satellite observed a mid-latitude cyclone over the midwestern United States. The center of the storm appeared immediately west of Lake Michigan.” Quoted from the NASA Earth Observatory image release.
“When cold air flows over warm water, some surface water evaporates into the cold air and saturates it, raising its relative humidity to 100 percent. The phenomenon is alternately known as evaporation fog, steam fog, even sea smoke, explains Michael Pidwirny of the University of British Columbia.
On September 22, 2011, fog formed over Lake Baikal in southeastern Siberia. [...] The fog almost perfectly mimics the lake’s area, only thinning at the southwestern end, and leaving a few parts of the water surface fog-free.” Quoted from the NASA image release.
“A documentary film highlighting recent and past USGS research in the Lake Tahoe Basin. It features USGS science activities conducted by hydrologists, geologists, geographers, computer modelers, and biologists, among others. The story is told through the use of narration, expert interviews, graphics, animations, incredible video imagery and time-lapse video. USGS science detailed in the story includes water quality monitoring, streamgaging, Lake Tahoe bathymetry, aerial LiDAR, historic use of aerial photography, and the Tahoe Land Use Simulation Model.” Quote from the USGS media release.
“The cisco, a key forage fish found in Wisconsin’s deepest and coldest bodies of water, could become a climate change casualty and disappear from most of the Wisconsin lakes it now inhabits by the year 2100.” Quoted from the University of Wisconsin-Madison news release.
The National Map is a suite of products and services that provide access to base geospatial information to describe the landscape of the United States and
its territories.
These include a collection of data products that define the Nation’s topography, natural landscape, and manmade environment which can be used in geographic information systems and other geospatial programs. Most of these are easily available for free public use.
A melt water lake contained by ice of Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier broke free last week causing a flash flood that swept down the Mendenhall River. Fortunately it caused very little damage and will serve as a warning.
A site near Snowmass Village, Colorado is one of the most prolific mastodon sites in the world. Between 45,000 and 150,000 years ago the site was a lake where large animals might have been trapped as they waded into deep mud.
USGS is using their EcoMapper underwater vehicles to map White Bear Lake in Illinois. The small submarine is guided on traverses of the lake by GPS to collect temperature and depth data. It can also collect water samples.
Learn more about the EcoMapper in this USGS document (large .pdf).
Scientists had 70 days to search an old lake bed in Colorado for mammoths, mastodons and other fossils before the lake bed was filled with water and turned into a reservoir for Snowmass, Colorado.
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