Amazonian lakes are being transformed into simmering basins hotter than spa baths as severe heatwaves and drought grip the region, research shows.<\/p>\n
The temperature of one lake exceeded 40C (104F) as water levels plummeted under intense sunlight and cloudless skies. The extreme heat triggered mass die-offs among endangered Amazon river dolphins and fish, which cannot survive in such high temperatures.<\/p>\n
The shallow waters of Lake Tef\u00e9, which were only two metres deep, reached 41C \u2013 warmer than an average spa bath. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t even put our fingers in the water. It was really hot, not just in the top bit, but right down to the bottom,\u201d said the lead researcher, Ayan Fleischmann, from the Mamirau\u00e1 Institute for Sustainable Development. \u201cYou put your finger in and remove it instantaneously, it\u2019s unbearable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Floating carcasses of up to 200 river dolphins<\/a> washed up over a six-week period around September 2023. No one in the region had seen this happen over the past century, said Fleischmann. \u201cIt was completely surreal and really scary.\u201d<\/p>\n This incident led them to look at other water bodies across the Amazon region. Half of the 10 lakes investigated experienced exceptionally high daytime water temperatures above 37C, according to the study, published in the journal Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n A satellite image from August 2024 of Lake Tef\u00e9 in Brazil\u2019s Amazonas state, showing sandbanks exposed because of severe droughts. Photograph: European Union\/Copernicus Sentinel-2\/Reuters<\/p>\n Researchers analysed water temperatures from central Amazonian lakes during the drought of 2023, which was followed by another extreme drought late last year, with new record-breaking low-water levels and severe heating of the lakes. On average Lake Tef\u00e9 reaches 30C in the hottest months, but in 2024, it hit 40C.<\/p>\n Amazon lakes have been warming by 0.3 to 0.8C each decade over the past 30 or so years \u2013 rates higher than the global average, researchers found. At the same time, they are shrinking. During the 2024 drought Lake Tef\u00e9 lost about 75% of its surface area<\/a> and Lake Badaj\u00f3s shrank by 90%.<\/p>\n Adrian Barnett, senior lecturer in behavioural ecology at the University of Greenwich, who was not involved in the research, said: \u201cThe paper shows the extraordinary impacts climate change is having, even on such huge ecosystems as the Amazon, and that these are not restricted to the forests, but the aquatic realm as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA 10C increase in water temperature is unparalleled,\u201d he said. \u201cThe volume of energy needed to achieve this in such huge volumes of water is jaw-dropping.\u201d<\/p>\n Most fish, and the dolphins and manatees, normally breed in the low-water season, said Barnett said, adding that it was likely that 2023 would have been a disastrous year reproductively for most species. \u201cIf this happens repeatedly, then their populations and those of the species that are connected to them ecologically, will decline severely.\u201d<\/p>\n There are few local solutions to this problem, according to Barnett. \u201cSomething that\u2019s happening at such a huge scale really requires a systems approach and that means attacking the root cause of the problem, which is fossil fuel emissions and the causes of global warming itself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Find more age of extinction coverage here<\/a>, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston<\/a> and Patrick Greenfield<\/a> in the Guardian app for more nature coverage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amazonian lakes are being transformed into simmering basins hotter than spa baths as severe heatwaves and drought grip…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-276642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}