A shrinking Chad

Lake Chad now one-tenth of its 1972 size

Posted by Joseph Romm (Guest Contributor) at 10:39 AM on 22 Jun 2008

Read more about: climate | climate science | climate change impacts | Chad | water crisis

Satellite images show Lake Chad one-tenth the size it was in 1972, not even 40 years ago. Lake Chad used to be the world's sixth-largest lake, but its resources have been diverted for human use or affected by rainfall such that its been almost entirely depleted in a very short amount of time:

Lake Chad

In the IPCC's 2007 report (PDF) on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in Africa, there is no specific mention of Lake Chad. But staring at these satellite images one can't help but wonder how global warming, which is expected to cause drastic changes to the hydrological cycle (drought, rainfall, water levels, etc.), especially in Africa, will accelerate or contribute to the already scarce resources that this map demonstrates are a stark reality.

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The very changable Lake Chad

Scary, isn't it? Enough to make anyone believe in global warming!

However, Chad isn't a poster-lake for global warming because it's an oddity. There have been times when it's been absolutely huge, and times when it's been tiny. If you believe Wikipedia(and I do, sometimes, but not this time, particularly)it almost dried up completely in about 1908. One reason why it keeps expanding and contracting is because it's very, very shallow (would you believe 10 feet deep max?)So, unlike Lake Erie, which everyone seems to want to compare it to, the exact shoreline wanders about an awful lot, and always has.

Yes, desertification is happening. Yes, over-grazing is happening. Yes, water is being extracted. And yes, it's a human disaster in the making, given the political, economic and social state of the surrounding countries (four of them). Poor Africa. Again.I mean that sincerely.

But, the IPCC's reports don't mention Lake Chad speicifically. Could that be because in the case of this very volatile lake, it is impossible to separate the shrinkage due to a) global warming; and, b)over-use by mankind, from the natural variations it demonstrates? I would venture to think so.

by Caroline at 2:48 PM on 22 Jun 2008

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