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World's Lakes are Rapidly Warming, Threatening Freshwater Ecosystems

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Dec 17, 2015 10:20 PM EST

Climate change has caused all the lakes in the world to get warmer, which is posing a threat to freshwater supplies and ecosystems, according to scienceworldreport.

Being the largest study of its kind, the information has used a blend of "satellite temperature data and long-term ground measurements".

For a quarter century, 235 lakes, which represent over half the world's freshwater supply, were carefully inspected, in order to understand the changes that they were undergoing over time.

In fact, every decade, lakes seemed to warm up at an average of .61 degrees Fahrenheit, which is more than the warming rate of oceans or air. It is believed to cause a cataclysm on the earth.

With rising temperatures, there will be a 5 percent increase in algal blooms in the oceans, posing a threat to the fish and animals. With a 20 percent increase in the lakes, they will rob the lakes of oxygen.

Methane, "a greenhouse gas that's 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide on 100-year time scales", will also increase by 4 percent in the next 10 years.

"Society depends on surface water for the vast majority of human uses," said Stephanie Hampton, a researcher, in a news release. "Not just for drinking water, but manufacturing for energy production, for irrigation of our crops. Protein from freshwater fish is especially important in the developing world."

Hence, it is important to understand that lakes are already getting threatened.

The study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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