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Lake Disappears into Andes

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the here-today-gone-tomorrow dept.

steveb3210 writes "It seems that what was once a 5-acre glacial lake in the Andes has mysteriously disappeared. 'In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal,' Juan Jose Romero from Chile's National Forestry Corporation, Conaf, said. 'We went again in May and to our surprise we found that the lake had completely disappeared. All that was left were chunks of ice and an enormous fissure.'" The current theory is that an earthquake opened the ground and allowed the lake to drain. Looks like global warming is off the hook this time around.

10 of 307 comments (clear)

  1. Wouldn't be the first time... by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    that a lake disappeared into a hole in the ground:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Peigneur

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  2. Off the hook? by Target+Drone · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From the article: The Magallanes area "has seen interesting changes in the last few decades," he said, noting that the lake itself had not been there 30 years ago.

    Makes you wonder if global warming had anything to do with the lake forming in the first place.

  3. Re:Global warming? by oneiron · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It was a joke. I smiled and almost chuckled. It seems you've invested a bit too much emotion into this issue. Next time the comments without the knee-jerk bitterness, please.

  4. Some do it more or less naturally by ChePibe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Lake Jackson in North Florida, for example, does it every few years as ground water levels fluctuate. I'm sure that human intervention has something to do with these water levels, but isn't likely the only determining factor.

    It's kind of funny that, before you go bass fishing, you have to actually make sure there's water in the lake. Sometimes, it drains very quickly.

  5. Nice try by jsse · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The picture to the right is more like a CG to me. No way I should believe your yet another Roswell-mistery.

    (just kidding ^_^)

  6. Re:off the hook? what? by nwbvt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Though there are others who are not kidding when they blame earthquakes and tsunamis on global warming.

    --
    Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
  7. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by skiingyac · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From that graph, if the ice volume is now as low as it was at the end of the last few ice ages, shouldn't we think the temperature is the same now as it was during the other spikes? Which measurement is more accurate, ice volume or temperature? Also, are temperature readings for the last ~20,000 yrs more accurate than those from 300,000 yrs ago?

  8. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by ajs · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From that graph, if the ice volume is now as low as it was at the end of the last few ice ages, shouldn't we think the temperature is the same now as it was during the other spikes? Not at all. First off, you're assuming that peak temperatures result in low ice volume, and not the other way around. This isn't very likely. It's far more likely that earlier, more modest rises in temperature result in melting ice, which in turn results in increased temperatures due to a rise in atmospheric water vapor and decreased global albedo (more light from the sun is absorbed into the surface of uniced ground,rather than reflected back into space). This is a much more symbiotic relationship than you suggest, and there's nothing to suggest that melting would stop or slow substantially because global temperature, having already risen over 6 degrees C, did not continue to rise another 3 or so.

    As for your bringing the temperature measurements themselves into question, I think the obvious retort to that is that multiple measurements have resulted in roughly the same numbers, so you're fighting an uphill battle against very credible historical data.

    So, the question is: given that the major players were all in line, what stopped the temperature from reaching peak this time?
  9. This one does it every year by freeweed · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Medicine Lake in Alberta, Canada, fills up every year and usually drains by the fall.

    I've watched it cycle throughout a season, it's pretty creepy. This lake is 7km long, it ain't just a puddle in the ground.

    --
    Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
  10. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by enjerth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Don't forget that the alcohol industry is responsible for a great deal of CO2 emissions. Fermentation (C6H12O6 2C2H5OH + 2CO2) produces 2 molecules of ethanol and 2 molecules of CO2 for every molecule of glucose. Ethanol has a molecular weight of 46 and CO2 has a molecular weight of 44. For every 23 lbs of ethanol produced, 22 lbs of CO2 is produced as a byproduct.

    Now, consider that they're trying to produce ethanol for fuel. Ethanol is a clean burning fuel, but in producing ethanol, you put CO2 into the air in an almost equal measure. Do environmentalists really want to put that in their cars?