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Lake Disappears into Andes

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.

41 of 307 comments (clear)

  1. 007 by netglen · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just like what happened to the lake in that James Bond movie. Launch the rocket!

  2. The lake will be returned... by Original+Replica · · Score: 5, Funny

    .... for One Hundred Million Dollars!

    --
    We are all just people.
    1. Re:The lake will be returned... by Cassius+Corodes · · Score: 5, Funny

      Damn water thieves.. and our water chip is broken!

      --
      Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
    2. Re:The lake will be returned... by Adambomb · · Score: 4, Funny

      Mayor Adam West: MY GOD! Somebody's stealing my water!

      Meg: It just went down the drain.

      Mayor Adam West: They're crafty I tell you. It happens when you least expect it.

      [Waters plant.]

      Mayor Adam West: SHOW YOURSELVES, DAMN YOU! I've been investigating them for months. It has cost $150,000 dollars of the taxpayers' money, but I'll find the culprits if it costs me a million.

      --
      Ice Cream has no bones.
    3. Re:The lake will be returned... by Minwee · · Score: 3, Funny

      Really? Thanks to a shipping error, we've got hundreds of 'em over here.

  3. 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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    1. Re:Wouldn't be the first time... by Deadstick · · Score: 4, Funny
      a lake disappeared into a hole in the ground:

      Isn't that where all of them are?

      rj

    2. Re:Wouldn't be the first time... by g-san · · Score: 4, Funny

      >> a lake disappeared into a hole in the ground:

      > Isn't that where all of them are?

      No. There are holes in donuts, holes in the ozone, holes in theories, holes in IE, and three holes in my underwear.

  4. Global warming? by bronzey214 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Looks like global warming is off the hook this time around.

    Yeah, because global warming obviously leaves huge chunks of ice when it makes lakes disappear.


    Next time, the news without the hot-button bias, please?

    1. 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.

    2. Re:Global warming? by TPIRman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Mod parent up. For all those crowing about global warming in this thread, RTFA. There is no mention of global warming in the article. It's just an interesting story about a weird geological occurrence. The only reference to global warming was a harmless offhand crack from CowboyNeal. Lighten TFU, people.

  5. Honestly, by Hawthorne01 · · Score: 3, Funny

    it was *RIGHT HERE* when I saw it last.

    --
    "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
  6. Garrison Keillor Did It by sciop101 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Magic Words:

    LAKE! Whoa! Be Gone!

    --
    The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know.[Harry Truman]
  7. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by WrongMonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, every unusual event can be safely assumed to be caused by global warming until there is evidence to the contrary. Who can deny that logic?

  8. off the hook? what? by dAzED1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm fairly certain that it is considered scientifically proven beyond doubt that recent shifting in the upper layers of the Earth's crust are in fact due to the drying period we're now entering due to global warming. I can't believe you'd question such things; do you not understand causality versus correlation?

  9. ...and now we know... by SubliminalVortex · · Score: 4, Funny

    What keeps "Old Faithful" at Yosemite alive and ticking....

  10. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by lego_boy_aus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And based on this: If the temperature of the Earth has risen and fallen in the past, "it's likely and reasonable that you will assume" that any current changes are entirely natural...

    Alternatively, given that the solar output has increased recently, "it's likely and reasonable that you will assume" that any change in the Earth's tempersture would be related to that...

  11. I'm confused by TubeSteak · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lots of news organizations keeping selling this story as if there's a mystery.
    Well... What's the mystery?

    I mean, TFA explains it fairly well:
    1. earthquake creates a hole in the ground
    2. water goes into the hole

    What're the alternatives?
    That a herd of wooly mammoths drank up the lake?

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
    1. Re:I'm confused by Pulse_Instance · · Score: 3, Funny

      You should fix the mammoths page on wikipedia to include that fact.

  12. Ooops by MyLongNickName · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sorry. I was really, really thirsty.

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  13. eye rolling speculation by grapeape · · Score: 4, Informative

    Did anyone bother to read this part?

    "A glacier specialist, Andres Rivera, told Chilean newspaper La Tercera that the lake's disappearance seemed to be part of the continual reforming of the landscape.

    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."

    How long does a lake have to exist before its concidered an actual lake? Sounds like this was more of a big puddle that came and went. Since it was only 30 years ago that it formed, I guess we can feel free to blame global warming for its creation as well.

    1. Re:eye rolling speculation by sobachatina · · Score: 4, Funny
      How long does a lake have to exist before its concidered an actual lake?

      Good question! While we're at it:

      How many years can a mountain exist before it's washed to the sea?

      Yes and how many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?

  14. you're all wrong! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't believe how horribly wrong you ALL are. This was caused by the natural phenomenon known as Chuck Norris. He got thirsty, drank the lake, and then punched the earth as a calling card to his greatness.

    Use your heads people, COME ON.

  15. Oh thank god... by spankey51 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If anyone finds an old leather-bound book in the fissure, please send it to:

    "Atrus, Son of Ghen."
    5 Riven St. Apt 233
    D'ni, K'veer. II DI KI II III

    (Note: I know the LCD panel on page 1 looks pretty, but please refrain from touching it...)

    --
    -ubuntu others as you would have others ubuntu you.
  16. what do you think caused the fissure? by weighn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Facts are irrelevant to doomsday cultists. Facts are irrelevant to anyone with an axe to grind.

    Japan: whales are the cockroaches of the oceans
    IIS marketer: Apache just has more websites running per server

    --
    Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
  17. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What would happen if most herrings were red?

  18. Lake Daikantana by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    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. We totally made that lake our bitch.'
  19. Ehhh? by GFree · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can't we just blame terrorists like always?

    *goes back to bed*

  20. Global warming is totally off the hook! by spun · · Score: 4, Funny

    When I read that, I heard in my head in a surfer-dude voice saying it as in, "Global warming is totally off the hook! It's AWESOME!"

    I was confused.

    I had to reread it to get the real meaning. My blood sugar must low, excuse me, I think I need to eat some dinner.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  21. I think I found it by ross.w · · Score: 3, Funny

    It crossed the pacific ocean to Maitland, NSW. You can have it back now...

    --
    If my call is important, why am I talking to a recording?
  22. 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.

  23. 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 ^_^)

  24. In Other News by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mysterious New 5 Acre Lake Appears in Crawford, TX

  25. Flashback: Vanishing lake baffles Russians by Devar · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4566355.stm

    BBC News
    Fri, 20 May 2005 00:50 EDT

    Residents of a village in central Russia are trying to solve the mystery of a lake that disappeared overnight.

    Russia's NTV channel showed a huge, muddy basin where the lake once was, in the village of Bolotnikovo.

    "It looks like somebody has pulled the plug out of a gigantic bath," said the TV's correspondent, next to a deep debris-filled hole.

    Local officials in Nizhny Novgorod region say the lake was probably sucked into an underground cave.

    The name of the village - which lies about 250 km (155 miles) east of Moscow - roughly translates as "boggy".

    No Water

    The discovery was made by local fishermen when they arrived at the lake early in the morning.

    "I looked and there was no water. I thought: Oh my God, what's going on?" one of them told the TV.

    Rescuers were called out to search the uncovered lake bed to see if anybody could have been sucked under, but it is thought no-one was on the lake when the waters vanished.

    "It's very dangerous. If somebody is caught by such a calamity, the chances of survival are practically nil," fireman Dmitry Zaitsev said, pointing out that lakeside trees appeared to have been dragged down with the water.

    The lake's disappearance may have been caused by subsidence allowing the water to drain into a cave system or underground river, local official Dmitry Klyuev said.

    According to Mr Klyuev, several houses were swallowed up in similar circumstances 70 years ago.

    'Dark mystery'

    But more supernatural explanations were circulating among the villagers, including the influence of dark forces.

    Village youngsters said the lake had appeared during the reign of the feared Tsar Ivan the Terrible and had been "shrouded in dark mystery" ever since.

    "We used to go swimming there, but we were rather afraid of its depth, and there were various rumours. For instance people said there used to be a church there underwater," one girl told the TV.

    But one elderly villager sitting outside her house had another kind of force in mind.

    "I thought the Americans had got here," she said, laughing.

    --
    It's a Bagel.
  26. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "And based on this: If the temperature of the Earth has risen and fallen in the past, "it's likely and reasonable that you will assume" that any current changes are entirely natural..."

    Except the changes in CO2 far exceed any measurement from the last 800,000 years. Not some of them, not kinda near, far exceed . the most prior 1900 was 300ppm, now we have 350ppm...
    We have warehouse full of evidence that the earth is warming faster then at any other time.

    So it's not the fact that it is warming, it's the speed at which it is warming, as well as the amount of CO2.

    "Alternatively, given that the solar output has increased recently, "it's likely and reasonable that you will assume" that any change in the Earth's tempersture would be related to that..."

    Except that the invers squar laws say otherwise. Also, while increased over all, the earth continued to warm during a multi-years cooling period of the sun.

    Science has looked at those and ruled them out pretty simply.
    Personally, I wish it was one of those, then we can plan for the change, instead we have neo-cons and the pundets going on about how it isn't happening and the fact that nearly everybreputable scientist in the world agrees. But hey, you go on and ignore the science, the evidence and keep repeating whatever Rush says like a good little sheep.

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  27. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by lego_boy_aus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Except the changes in CO2 far exceed any measurement from the last 800,000 years"...Interesting claim. I would quite like to know how they know the records go back 800,000 years, and how they claim these are the highest readings in the time covered by the records.

    From what I have researched, these records come from ice cores. However, a minor problem with ice is that it has a habit of meling above a certain temperature. Given that there may be 800,000 years covered by the samples, that does not prove that the earlies sample is 800,000 years old. how are we to know if it is not in fact 8,000,000 years old, but due to natural climate variations, a large proportion of the sample has melted in this time.

    So, without the dubious claim of having accurate readings for the past 800,000 years, we are left with the claim that the issue is the speed of the temerature rise. Strangely enough, there aren't all that many accurate temperature readings for the globe over 1,000 year old, and so all that can conceivably be claimed is that the current temperature fluctuations are the fastest in recorded history.

    And so we come to "Except that the invers squar laws say otherwise. Also, while increased over all, the earth continued to warm during a multi-years cooling period of the sun.".

    So from this we should be able to deduce that you believe that the sun is having no affect on temperature change here. however to claim thus would be to ignore evidence from at least 2 planets, where the temperature there has continued to rise. In fact, looking at our nearest neighbour, it seems that other than the sun, there has been no other possible cause for this temperature rise.

    Besides which, I seem to recall that temperatures peaked around 1998, and have been stable/dropping since then.

    Which leads on to "Science has looked at those and ruled them out pretty simply". Strangely enough, it seems that the only science that HAS ruled these out is the science dependant upon a "CO2 is causing this, what can we do to stop CO2" funding system. this is emphasised by the attacks on scientists funded by "big oil", and the way in which their studies are considered biased due to the funding source. However, no such claim of bias is levelled at those whose funding comes from organisations with a vested interest in keeping the AGW myth going, or those who would lose funding were it to be known that the change in the Earth's climate WAS natural.

    Additionally, ALL the research being done that shows CO2 is the cause of global warming is started under the premise that this is what is the cause, relies entirely on almost identical computer models, includes large "fudge factors"...and has yet to provide accurate results based on known information, even for past years. The only real exception to this has been where the models have succesfully produced results based on known information for a given year, but which fail entirely when information for a different year is used instead.

    Wouldn't it be nice if others as well as "big oil" did research where it was begun on the premise that CO2 is NOT the cause of the earth's change in temperature. Maybe then we would get some true research done, rather than propoganda to assist in gathering further funding. At present, any scientist wishing to do true research is hard pressed to find a funding source due to the "CO2 is the cause" lobby. This is the ONLY group claiming that the science is finished, and which is still dependant on "fudge factors" to prove this.

    An additional consideration would be that those who do research which "proves" CO2 is the cause are not willing to allow those who do not agree with this THEORY to look at their computer models, purely because they do not wish the degree they rely on "fudge factors" to be known. If their research was accurate and valid, they should be able to take their model and based on the same data (ie, CO2 levels, solar output, etc.) for ANY year be able to produce an accurate measure

  28. Meanwhile... 7-11 just sold their first petagulp by amchugh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Meanwhile... 7-11 just sold their first petagulp.
    Coincidence? I think not.

  29. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by WalksOnDirt · · Score: 3, Informative

    So, does CO2 explain the global warming on Mars?

    The Mars warming is thought to have been caused by winds removing surface dust and exposing more of the dark underlying rock. The extra sunlight absorbed by the rock then heated up the planet. See here:http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/200 7/marswarming.html

    Significant changes in the albedo of Mars have been observed. On the other hand, the monitoring of the Sun's output does not show the increase that would be necessary for it to be the cause of the warming on Mars.
    --
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  30. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by ZwJGR · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The amount of CO2 produced by humans is not actually that much when compared with natural production (respiration, organic decay, volcanoes, sea, etc.)
    Hence a single volcano going of will have a far more significant impact then human production.

    However the real kicker is the relationship between CO2 and temperature. In his movie Al Gore says that there is a correlation between CO2 and temperature. Correct.
    What he doesn't say is that the temperature changes appear to lead the carbon dioxide level changes by up to 200 years. (The peaks and general shapes of the lines are offset).
    (I would speculate that this is due to differing ocean soluability levels?).

    Furthermore, the Earth has undergone much more intense fluctuations before, without the American drivers, etc.
    It is known that the current period is one of increased solar activity, and a correlation between solar activity and temperature has been established. (google it).
    People were worrying about an ice age 30 years ago... Look how the media have switched the fear factor around.

    Poverty in Africa, and clean water supplies should be prioritised in favour of "carbon credit" schemes (especially as the money goes to Al Gore's companies).

    That isn't to say that environmentalism isn't bad, but CO2 is not the only thing they should be looking at.
    Mercury in the lakes, sulpher dioxide, dioxins, lead polution, and in general the crud spewed into the air, land and water is more important.
    Carbon dioxide is a "clean" gas in that the plants will absorb it for you, no problem.

    --
    There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face - Ben Williams
  31. Not so fast on dismissing GW by MobileDude · · Score: 3, Funny

    QUOTE: 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.

    uh, what do you think caused the earthquake? That's right! GLOBAL WARMING! Of course, you would know this if you had seen the movie, "An Inconvenient Sicko" starring Al Bore...

    --
    10 MD .\crash 20 CD .\crash 30 GOTO 10
  32. Re:"Looks like global warming is off the hook" by ajs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Significant changes in the albedo of Mars have been observed. On the other hand, the monitoring of the Sun's output does not show the increase that would be necessary for it to be the cause of the warming on Mars. The problem with this is that we have two events that are nearly identical in two places at the same time, and two theories which discount the most obvious common element because we don't have a working model for the way that common element could have the observed impact. Occam's Razor is a useful guide here, and suggests that more time spent looking for a common element that fits both systems is worth while. Just as an arbitrary example: the Earth's albedo has also been changing due to ice that has been melting steadily for the last 10,000 years since the last ice age. Has this lead to a recent change in the way the sun's radiation is absorbed by the Earth? It's hard to say. Does the sun's magnetic field have a larger impact on warming that we'd suspected? We don't know.

    There's nothing wrong with the CO2-driven model of warming, it's just that it's not the only candidate, and in some areas, it's not the ideal fit to the observations. Actually, what I find most striking about global temperatures is that, for the end of a major ice age, we're experiencing shockingly cool temperatures as compared with the end of the last 4 roughly 100 thousand year ice age cycles. In the other four, the end of an ice age is signaled by a sharp spike in global temperature. At the end of the current ice age, we see a similar spike, which is truncated well below the peaks achieved by the previous warming periods (see above link).

    It leaves me wondering what in the last 5,000-10,000 years could have stopped such a powerful rise in temperatures, and has the rest of the rise been merely delayed, or does this signal an early start to the next ice age?