Nearly six years of regional drought and rapidly increasing demand for water have resulted in decreasing water levels in lakes throughout East Africa. The flooded regions of the Toshka Lakes west of Lake Nasser have decreased greatly over the years, exposing the former dune fields, and leaving a “bath-tub ring” of wetlands (dark region) surrounding the lake shorelines.
Published Jan 9, 2006
Long and short. Deep and shallow. Salty and fresh. Blue and brown. These are Africa’s Lake Tanganyika and Lake Rukwa.
Published Jun 20, 2019
This lake in northwest Russia is small compared to Lake Baikal, yet it still manages to make a stately appearance in satellite imagery.
Published Apr 4, 2020
The usually dry, inland lake in Australia came alive with color after flood waters arrived in the late summer of 2017.
Published Feb 27, 2017
Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle and Space Station have tracked regional environmental changes spanning decades. Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake, serves as one example of an area experiencing significant changes that have been well documented from space. Over the past twenty years, the lake’s water levels have decreased in conjunction with increasing development from the fast-growing city of Guadalajara.
Published Aug 30, 2004
In May 2016, the reservoir behind Hoover Dam reached its lowest level since the 1930s.
Published May 27, 2016
After decades of low water levels, two of Iraq’s popular lakes appear to be filling again.
Published Sep 26, 2020
Acquired September 15, 2010, this natural-color image shows flooding along the northern and eastern margins of Pakistan’s Manchhar Lake.
Published Sep 17, 2010
Lake Orumiyeh is one of the world’s great salt lakes, but it is shrinking.
Published Nov 9, 2011
The largest freshwater lake in Mongolia is known as the “sister” to Lake Baikal. Together they hold 20 percent of the fresh water on the planet.
Published Dec 18, 2017
Inle Lake is home to floating tomato farms and booming tourism.
Published Apr 1, 2015
Between 2002 and 2012, water levels dropped significantly in these manmade lakes in the Sahara.
Published Jul 16, 2012
Drought conditions have dried this closed-basin lake straddling the California-Oregon border, but it’s not the first time.
Published Aug 12, 2015
Irrigation from Lake Nasser, one of the world’s largest man-made lakes, has increased the amount of arable land and crop production in Egypt.
Published Jul 8, 2020
Like this lake in northwestern Nevada, many of the world’s prominent salt lakes are drying up.
Published Apr 4, 2018
Muddy brown water spreads into Australia's Lake Eyre through a triangular delta in this natural-color Landsat image from May 9, 2009. The water transformed the dry basin into a vast inland sea where flocks of birds gathered to breed.
Published May 24, 2009
Surging with fresh water from heavy winter snow melt, Lake Powell rose significantly in the summer of 2011 after many years of low levels.
Published Aug 12, 2011
Ships line up to pass each other in the Suez Canal’s Great Bitter Lake in this astronaut photo from October 2, 2009.
Published Oct 26, 2009
Fine particles of pulverized rock absorb and scatter sunlight in ways that can give water a striking blue-green color.
Published May 20, 2019
Ongoing drought and diminished snowpack in the Rockies have combined with increasing demands downstream to cause the great reservoir to drop to historically low levels.
Published Aug 1, 2014
Floodwaters have worked their way through a series of parched channels, watering holes, and lagoons to start filling the iconic Australian lake.
Published May 28, 2019
Months of torrential rains have caused Lakes Baringo and Bogoria to swell, creating several problems for local wildlife and people.
Published Sep 7, 2020
Drought and water-diversion projects have caused Bolivia’s second-largest lake to dry up.
Published Jan 23, 2016
In late April 2007, the company in charge of the lakes and reservoirs that make up the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme in southern New South Wales reported that lake levels were at 10 percent of capacity, the lowest they had been since the system was built about 50 years ago.
Published May 3, 2007
