Troubled Waters

Troubled Waters

Source: earthobservatory

9/25/2021

It was once a source of great abundance—particularly fossil fuels and fish—for the people of Venezuela. Now Lake Maracaibo is mostly abundant with pollution from leaking oil and excess nutrients.

Spanning 13,000 square kilometers (5,000 square miles) in northwestern Venezuela, Lake Maracaibo is one of South America’s largest lakes and one of the oldest in the world. Though it was filled with freshwater thousands of year ago, Maracaibo is now an estuarine lake connected to the Gulf of Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea by a narrow strait. That strait was significantly expanded in the 1930–50s by dredging for ship traffic. Now the north end of the lake is brackish, while the south end is mostly fresh due to abundant flows from nearby rivers.

In satellite images acquired in September 2021, Lake Maracaibo was swirling with shades of green, tan, and gray that traced the flow of currents and eddies. The sources of those colors were algae, river sediment outflows, and crude oil leaks. The image at the top of this page was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on September 25. The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 observed the scene below on September 10.

Continue...

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3251	New fishing record category created in North Carolina after angler reels in 'exceptionally large' fish	Fox News	2021-12-06	US
3252	Fisherman breaks 64-year-old record in Minnesota	Fox News	2021-11-22	US
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3254	French fishing workers to block Channel Tunnel and Calais port in protest against UK	cgtn	2021-11-26	FR
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3257	Rare anglerfish spotted on San Diego beach	cbs8	2021-11-23	US
3258	No routine checkups on welfare of fish at slaughter, officials admit	theguardian	2021-11-23	UK
3259	Rare ornamental fish from Assam on the brink of extinction	mongabay	2021-11-17	IN
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3264	The cost of a fish sandwich: Why we need to reduce bycatch by Alaska’s trawl fleet	adn	2021-11-20	US
3265	How Did A 72-Pound Carp End Up In Humboldt Park’s Lagoon? Big Catch Could Be From A Decades-Old Mistake, Experts Say	blockclubchicago	2021-11-15	US
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3267	Fishing boat seized after crew caught set netting in prohibited area	stuff	2021-11-10	NZ
3268	Huge fish tracked on the James River, project will help to manage “Giants of the James”	wfxrtv	2021-11-11	US
3269	You can swim with the fish at St. Pete Beach's RumFish Grill	abcactionnews	2021-11-11	US
3270	Iran names newly discovered species of fish after Ali Daei	ifpnews	2021-11-15	IR
3271	Longtime Lorain library goldfish Nemo swims to a new home at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital	news5cleveland	2021-11-11	US
3272	Some of Earth’s longest-lived fish show how to reach extreme ages	nature	2021-11-12	US
3273	Cop26: Oceanographer Sylvia Earle calls for industrial fishing ban on high seas	theguardian	2021-11-10	UK
3274	Cambridge report recommends cutting the Riverside dam project	the record	2021-11-29	CA
3275	Castlewood creek popular despite E. coli levels	stltoday	2010-07-27	US

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