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Images related to Whiskeytown National Recreation Area

Rare Filling of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre
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Rare Filling of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre

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

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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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A Tale of Contrasting Rift Valley Lakes
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A Tale of Contrasting Rift Valley Lakes

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

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Lake Urmia
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Lake Urmia

This shallow, saline lake in Iran is one of the largest in the Middle East. But drought and water withdrawals for farming are shrinking it.

Published Aug 4, 2014

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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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Eerie Green Swirls of Lake Khanka
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Eerie Green Swirls of Lake Khanka

Located on the border of Russia and China, Lake Khanka plays an important role in supporting biodiversity in the region.

Published Jun 10, 2019

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Red Lake Urmia
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Red Lake Urmia

When the water gets saltier in Iran’s largest lake, the microscopic inhabitants can turn the water dark red.

Published Jul 26, 2016

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A Surge of Blue and Green in Australia
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A Surge of Blue and Green in Australia

Big rain events in Queensland can alter the landscape for months as water—and then a carpet of vegetation—moves toward Lake Eyre.

Published Apr 3, 2019

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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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Shrinking Lake Ebinur
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Shrinking Lake Ebinur

Declining water levels in this saline lake in northwestern China have exposed playa prone to producing dust storms.

Published Nov 25, 2014

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Lake Khuvsgul
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Lake Khuvsgul

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

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Lake Titicaca
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Lake Titicaca

Sitting atop the Andes plateau on the border between Peru and Bolivia, the lake is the highest major body of navigable water in the world and the largest lake in South America.

Published Nov 23, 2015

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Brightening Lake Elton
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Brightening Lake Elton

Satellite data suggests this Russian salt lake is getting brighter due to the installation of check dams.

Published Dec 3, 2014

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Lake Natron, Tanzania
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Lake Natron, Tanzania

The lake is mostly inhospitable to life, except for a few species adapted to its warm, salty, and alkaline water.

Published May 8, 2017

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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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Salt Lake Water Woes
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Salt Lake Water Woes

In October 2016, one of America’s largest lakes reached its lowest level on record.

Published Nov 3, 2016

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Mono Lake, California
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Mono Lake, California

Published Jan 13, 2008

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Red on White: Lake Maharlu
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Red on White: Lake Maharlu

Salt and algae lend color to the bed of this desert lake in Iran.

Published Feb 20, 2017

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Goose Lake Dries Up
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Goose Lake Dries Up

Drought conditions have dried this closed-basin lake straddling the California-Oregon border, but it’s not the first time.

Published Aug 12, 2015

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O Christmas Tree! from Space
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O Christmas Tree! from Space

Shaped like an evergreen conifer, Lake Dukan is the largest lake in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Published Dec 25, 2018

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Bolivia’s Lake Poopó Disappears
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Bolivia’s Lake Poopó Disappears

Drought and water-diversion projects have caused Bolivia’s second-largest lake to dry up.

Published Jan 23, 2016

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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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Lake Neusiedl and Lake Ferto
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Lake Neusiedl and Lake Ferto

Straddling Austria and Hungary, the lake is also known as the “Sea of the Viennese.”

Published Apr 10, 2017

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Lake Eildon National Park
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Lake Eildon National Park

Published Oct 30, 2005

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Lake Aculeo Dries Up
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Lake Aculeo Dries Up

Persistent drought and intensive water use has proven too much for this lake in Chile.

Published Apr 18, 2019

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Iraq Lakes Bounce Back
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Iraq Lakes Bounce Back

After decades of low water levels, two of Iraq’s popular lakes appear to be filling again.

Published Sep 26, 2020

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Barkol Lake, Xinjiang
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Barkol Lake, Xinjiang

The green-brown waters of Lake Barkol sit within the pale shorelines of an ancient lake, hinting that the climate was once much wetter in this part of western China.

Published Jun 21, 2014

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Frozen Karakul Lake
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Frozen Karakul Lake

The so-called “black lake” in Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains is often topped with a layer of white.

Published Dec 16, 2019

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Floating Farms
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Floating Farms

Inle Lake is home to floating tomato farms and booming tourism.

Published Apr 1, 2015

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Nansi Lake, China
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Nansi Lake, China

The fingerprints of human civilization are all over the lake in eastern China.

Published Jan 10, 2015

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The Ups and Downs of Lake Chad
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The Ups and Downs of Lake Chad

The once-great lake has lost most of its water and now spans less than a tenth of the area it covered in the 1960s.

Published Nov 25, 2017

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Disappearing Walker Lake
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Disappearing Walker Lake

Like this lake in northwestern Nevada, many of the world’s prominent salt lakes are drying up.

Published Apr 4, 2018

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Lake Eyre Filling Peaks
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Lake Eyre Filling Peaks

By mid-June 2009, the rare filling of this lake in Australia’s Simpson Desert appeared to have reached its peak.

Published Jun 21, 2009

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Algae in Great Salt Lake
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Algae in Great Salt Lake

The Great Salt Lake of northern Utah is a remnant of glacial Lake Bonneville that extended over much of present-day western Utah and into the neighboring states of Nevada and Idaho approximately 32,000 to 14,000 years ago. The north arm of the lake, displayed in this astronaut photograph from April 30, 2007, typically has twice the salinity of the rest of the lake due to impoundment of water by a railroad causeway that crosses the lake from east to west. The causeway restricts water flow, and the separation has led to a striking division in the types of algae and bacteria found in the north and south arms of the lake.

Published Jul 16, 2007

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Lake Van, Turkey
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Lake Van, Turkey

Rich in carbonate species and salts, the basin is the largest alkaline lake in the world.

Published Aug 12, 2018

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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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Water Levels Rise on Shasta Lake
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Water Levels Rise on Shasta Lake

After four years of shrinking due to drought, the largest reservoir in California got a much-needed boost from El Niño-fueled winter precipitation.

Published Apr 7, 2016

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Reviving the Shriveled Lake Urmia
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Reviving the Shriveled Lake Urmia

Intense spring rains bring relief to a desiccated lake.

Published Apr 22, 2019

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Pyramid Lake, Nevada
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Pyramid Lake, Nevada

Pyramid Lake, in western Nevada, is a remnant of the ancient and much larger Lake Lahontan that formed during the last Ice Age.

Published Oct 18, 2010

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Rice Bowl from a Reclaimed Lake
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Rice Bowl from a Reclaimed Lake

Lake Hachirō in northern Honshu was once Japan’s second largest lake.

Published Dec 1, 2019

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How Glaciers Turn Lakes Turquoise
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How Glaciers Turn Lakes Turquoise

Fine particles of pulverized rock absorb and scatter sunlight in ways that can give water a striking blue-green color.

Published May 20, 2019

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Lake Powell and Grand Staircase-Escalante
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Lake Powell and Grand Staircase-Escalante

One of the largest reservoirs in the United States stands alongside one of the largest national monuments.

Published Jan 23, 2017

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Lake Beloye
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Lake Beloye

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

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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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A Pulse of Green in Australia
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A Pulse of Green in Australia

Flood water from northern Queensland drained toward a large basin in Australia’s interior—painting the desert landscape green.

Published May 4, 2018

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Flathead Lake, Montana
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Flathead Lake, Montana

Located within the Rocky Mountain Trench, it is one of the largest freshwater lakes west of the Mississippi River.

Published Jun 2, 2019

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Deepest Lake in North America
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Deepest Lake in North America

Roughly the same size of Belgium, Canada’s Great Slave Lake runs nearly 2,000 feet deep.

Published May 24, 2019

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Lake Valencia, Venezuela
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Lake Valencia, Venezuela

Lago de Valencia (Lake Valencia) is located in north-central Venezuela and is the largest freshwater lake in the country. The lake was formed approximately 2-3 million years ago due to faulting and subsequent damming of the Valencia River. The lake has been completely dry during several discrete periods of its geologic history. Since 1976 Lake Valencia water levels have risen due to diversion of water from neighboring watersheds—it currently acts as a reservoir for the surrounding urban centers (such as Maracay).

Published Nov 22, 2004

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High Water in Lake Disappointment
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High Water in Lake Disappointment

Rains from Tropical Cyclone Rusty raised water levels in Lake Disappointment in early March 2013.

Published Mar 4, 2013

Land Water Floods

Death Valley
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Death Valley

Published Mar 16, 2005

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