There are more and more lakes

While numerous environments of the world, including Spain, live with recurring droughts and the constant threat of aridification, there is a place where lakes proliferate. Now a satellite images captured by NASA show us 30 years of change in the Tibet plateau, a place where the lagoons have multiplied.

Three decades. New images published this week by the American space agency, NASA, within the framework of its program Earth Observatorytwo different sides of the Tibetan plateau show us. The first image shows us an almost desert area, with two larger lakes and another handful of small or medium lakes.

The image shows us the state of the region on August 1, 1994. 30 years later, on August 11 of last year, NASA’s satellites re -captured the same environment, only this time with a very different landscape.

The second of the images published by NASA shows us the same framing, only this time, the light brown color of the ground is splashed by an infinity of small and medium -sized lakes. In this second photo, the two larger lakes extend by a larger surface, and are accompanied by others also of considerable size.

Landsat. The images show us part of the counties of Nyima and Qiemo, an arid zone in large elevation but without the mountainous orography around him. The first image was captured by the TM instrument (Thematic Mapper) of the satellite Landsat 5more than 30 years ago. The second was captured by the OLI-2 instrument (Operational Land Image-2) aboard Landsat 9.

Several generations of Landsat satellites have been observing the earth from orbit. According to NASA explainssince the 1970s, these satellites capture images of the region every 16 days. This series of images has allowed scientists to detect this unique change in the geography of the region.

Image captured by the satellite in August 1994. NASA Earth Observatory, Michala Garrison, based on Landsat data from Us Geological Survey

Image captured by the satellite in August 2024 in. NASA Earth Observatory, Michala Garrison, based on Landsat data from US Geological Survey

Lakes, many lakes. Several recent studies have verified changes in the region. In 2023, A study Posted in the magazine Science He revealed that, in a global context in which the dominant trend was the opposite, the tibet plateau lakes were accumulating water.

A Subsequent studyis published in ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensingquantified this proliferation in the region. The Lagos count indicated that the bodies of water of more than 0.1 km² in the region went from 4,385 units in 1991 to 6,159 in 2023. The surface covered by lakes went from 37,471 km² to 53,267 km².

What happens on the plateau? The Tibet plateau is an endorheic basin, which implies that the water flowing in it does not go to the ocean. Its only output is infiltration or evaporation. For water to accumulate, therefore, it has to flow at a greater pace than evaporation.

Experts believe that the reason is precisely in a greater water flow. What is not clear is its origin. One possibility is that rainfall has increased in the region. Another, that the water comes from the thaw of the mountainous mountain ranges that surround the plateau, such as the Himalayas.

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Image | NASA Earth Observatory, Michala Garrison, based on Landsat data from US Geological Survey