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The top photograph was taken by Apollo-7 crew in October 1968 during a mission to test control of a spacecraft moving into different orbits. Based on photographs from Gemini and Apollo, the estimated open water area of Lake Chad was over 22,000 km² (Mohler et al. 1989, Lullaet et al. 1991). Although not known at the time, Lake Chad would not be observed this full again from orbit—it had significantly decreased in area when it was observed by Landsat in 1972. Space Shuttle crews have continued to photograph dramatic fluctuations in Lake Chad. A sampling of this time series from 1982-2000 is shown below the Apollo image.
Published Mar 12, 2001
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
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
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
Lake Titicaca, at an elevation of 12,507 feet (3,812 meters) in the Andean Altiplano, is the highest large lake in the world. More than 120 miles long and 50 miles wide, it was the center of the Incan civilization, and today straddles the boundary between Peru and Bolivia.
Published Dec 22, 2003
Straddling Austria and Hungary, the lake is also known as the “Sea of the Viennese.”
Published Apr 10, 2017
Drought and water-diversion projects have caused Bolivia’s second-largest lake to dry up.
Published Jan 23, 2016
