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Why are lakes becoming less blue?

People make their way along Dow's Lake in Ottawa on Sunday, July 24, 2022 (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby) People make their way along Dow's Lake in Ottawa on Sunday, July 24, 2022 (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby)
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Climate change is leading to lakes becoming less blue, with many at risk of permanently turning green-brown, a new has found.

Conducted by the American Geophysical Union, the study presents the first 鈥済lobal inventory of the lake colour,鈥 and takes into account changes in water colour to determine water quality.

While a specific time frame wasn鈥檛 offered, researchers said that one in 10 lakes can expect to change colour in 鈥渢he future.鈥

Blue lakes are generally found in the Earth鈥檚 cooler regions and aren鈥檛 very common, representing just 31 per cent of the world鈥檚 lakes. Compared to lakes with greener or browner water, they鈥檙e typically deeper and more likely to be covered in ice during the winter.

The study, published Thursday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that rising temperatures, leading to a decline in ice, are the main culprit for blue lakes鈥 colour change.

鈥淣o one has ever studied the colour of lakes at a global scale,鈥 Xiao Yang, co-author of the study, said in a .

鈥淭here were past studies of maybe 200 lakes across the globe, but the scale we鈥檙e attempting here is much, much larger in terms of the number of lakes and also the coverage of small lakes. Even though we鈥檙e not studying every single lake on Earth, we鈥檙e trying to cover a large and representative sample of the lakes we have.鈥

Covering the hues of 85,360 lakes and reservoirs worldwide from 2013 to 2020, the study鈥檚 researchers used 5.14 million satellite pictures.

Generally, a lake鈥檚 change in colour is attributed to algae and other sediments, but the new research now suggests that various degrees of warming could also impact water鈥檚 colour due to climate change.

The lakes that will likely be impacted are found in northeastern Canada, New Zealand, the Rocky Mountains and northern Europe, the study says.

The colour change in lakes has already begun, according to Catherine O鈥橰eilly, co-author of the study, who pointed to the North American Great Lakes that have 鈥渋ncreased algal blooms鈥 and are also 鈥渁mong the fastest warming lakes.鈥

Yang also said that a similar trend can be seen in the Arctic regions that are starting to have lakes with 鈥渋ntensifying greenness.鈥

The changes in lake colours could signify devastating impacts on those relying on lakes for drinking water, sustenance or fisheries.

鈥淭here might be periods where the water isn't usable, and fish species might no longer be present, so we're not going to get the same ecosystem services essentially from those lakes when they shift from being blue to being green,鈥 said O鈥橰eilly.

It could also mean the lakes will no longer be used for recreational purposes.

鈥淣obody wants to go swim in a green lake,鈥 said O鈥橰eilly.

鈥淪o, aesthetically, some of the lakes that we might have always thought of as a refuge or spiritual places, those places might be disappearing.鈥

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