Images related to Lake Powell and Grand Staircase-Escalante

Water Level Changes in Lake Mead
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Water Level Changes in Lake Mead

In August 2010, Lake Mead reached its lowest level since 1956, the result of a persistent drought and increasing human demand.

Published Sep 23, 2010

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Lake Powell Half Empty
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Lake Powell Half Empty

In spring 2014, visitors to Lake Powell will find beaches and rock formations that are usually underwater. After several years of drought, the reservoir has dropped below 50 percent capacity.

Published May 22, 2014

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Visualizing the Highs and Lows of Lake Mead
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Visualizing the Highs and Lows of Lake Mead

In May 2016, the reservoir behind Hoover Dam reached its lowest level since the 1930s.

Published May 27, 2016

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Lake Mead Still Shrinking
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Lake Mead Still Shrinking

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

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A Pulse of Water for Lake Powell
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A Pulse of Water for Lake Powell

Heavy winter and spring snowfall provided much-needed meltwater, but the effects of long-term drought mean the lake is nowhere near its highs from the 1980s and 90s.

Published Oct 1, 2019

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Runoff Raises Lake Powell
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Runoff Raises Lake Powell

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

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Losses in Lake Mead
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Losses in Lake Mead

The water within a large, key reservoir in the southwestern United States has fallen to levels not seen since the 1930s.

Published Aug 18, 2015

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Lake Chapala, Mexico
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Lake Chapala, Mexico

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

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Lake Powell Low Despite Spring Snow
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Lake Powell Low Despite Spring Snow

The last decade has been rough for the reservoir at the heart of the intricate water storage system that sustains the American Southwest.

Published May 10, 2013

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Flood Waters Reach Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre
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Flood Waters Reach Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre

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

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Lake Powell, Utah
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Lake Powell, Utah

In the early twenty-first century, Lake Powell faced the combined threats of drought and rapid water withdrawals.

Published May 13, 2009

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