Lake Tanganyika, the second oldest and second deepest lake in the world, is now at its warmest in 1,500 years, scientists said on Sunday.
The evidence comes from cores drilled into sedimentary layers in the lake bottom that point to climate changes over many centuries.
Tanganyika’s surface waters, at 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 degrees Fahrenheit), are now at temperatures that are “unprecedented since AD 500,” they reported in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The warming accelerated in the late 20th century, tallying with abundant data from other sites pointing the finger at man-made, heat-trapping greenhouse gases, they said.
As it has warmed, the lake has also suffered a fall in biological activity, they said.
Surface layers that warm become harder to penetrate by cool currents, welling up from the lake’s depths, which bring vital nutrients that feed the first links in the food chain. Ultimately, fish species become affected.
An estimated 10 million people in Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo depend on the lake, using it for drinking water.
Source: Warming in Lake Tanganyika highest in 1,500 years - France24
Date: 16 May 2010
Source: Late-twentieth-century warming in Lake Tanganyika unprecedented since AD 500 – Nature Geoscience (login required)
Date: 16 May 2010
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