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.

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4501	Humans push a hulking fish with a chainsaw nose towards oblivion	Nature	2021-02-12	US
4502	Disabled fish gets special life jacket made to help him swim	nypost	2021-02-15	UK
4503	Scientists Set Sail To Study Bluefin Tuna Spawning Grounds In The Oil-Tainted Gulf	Underwatertimes	2010-05-19	CA
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4506	Asian carp may be in Lake Michigan	CBC News	2010-03-24	CA
4507	Fish die as Ukrainian authorities empty reservoir	kyiv post	2010-03-16	UA
4508	'Chemical cocktail' caused fish mutations: report	The Sunshine Coast Daily	2010-03-15	AU
4509	Do fish have feelings too? It's a slippery question for science	daily mail	2010-03-08	CA
4510	Canada border now has its own exhibit at the Aquarium of Niagara	WGRZ	2021-02-22	US
4511	Charleston angler lands monster trout from wheelchair	wvgazettemail	2021-02-06	US
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4515	UN Turns To Forensic Science To Help Combat Illegal Fishing; 'We Need To Push The Envelope'	Underwatertimes	2010-02-01	IT
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4517	Catching Pink Salmon	islandfishermanmagazine	2020-08-05	CA
4518	Father-daughter ice fishing on the Bay of Quinte a cherished tradition	The Globe and Mail	2021-02-14	CA
4519	U.S. Retailer Target To Dump Farmed Salmon For Wild Alaska Salmon; 'Incredible Willingness To Challenge Old Paradigms'	Underwatertimes	2010-01-26	US
4520	Grumpy-looking blobfish in danger of being wiped out - see the pictures	Mirror.co.uk	2010-01-25	UK
4521	Fish Boom Makes Splash in Oregon	wsj	2010-01-21	US
4522	White House to hold Asian carp summit	upi	2010-01-21	US
4523	African fish choose safety over sex	CBC News	2010-01-18	CA
4524	More than 200,000 descend on fishing festival to catch trout in a frozen river	daily mail	2010-01-19	UK
4525	Light shed on fish gill mystery	BBC News	2010-01-13	CA

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