[ad_1]
The dense forests of Amazon release moisture into the sky. It is called ‘breath of the earth’. But this balance has been completely broken in Lake Tefé of Brazil. The water here became hot up to 41°C, i.e. hotter than a hot tub. Hundreds of Amazon dolphins trapped in the lake were boiled alive and died. When scientists reached the spot, they found the lake like a huge hot pan. The water was boiling, the heat rising from the surface was visible from a distance, and the mud on the banks had dried and turned into cracks. Hydrologist Ion Fleishman (Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development) said, ‘You could not put a finger in the water. It felt as if you were putting your hands in boiling bathwater. In just one week, dead bodies of more than 153 dolphins were found floating in the lake. These included 130 Pink Amazon River Dolphins and 23 Tucuxi Dolphins. Both species are already endangered.
Investigation revealed that the increased temperature of the lake was not limited to just the surface, but had reached deep into the lake. There was no cold layer left anywhere below. The dolphins had no place to run. She kept cooking there, slowly suffocating.
The real face of global warming
According to the report, this tragedy occurred due to a combination of several climatic factors. There was a severe drought in the Amazon region due to which the water level fell. The strong sun and constant heat boiled the remaining water. Due to lack of wind the heat could not spread to the upper surface of the lake. Silt and sediment trapped heat in the water. The result was that an entire lake turned into a ‘heat chamber’.
Satellite records show that the Amazon’s lakes have been warming at a rate of 0.6°C per decade over the past three decades, much faster than the world average. Now Amazon is no longer the ‘natural AC’ that controlled the temperature of the earth. It is burning itself.
Not only the dolphins, the entire lake died!
Headlines around the world were on the death of dolphins, but the real tragedy was much greater. The fish of the lake died in thousands. The color of the water turned red. The phytoplankton bloom filled it with a rotten smell. The local tribal communities used to earn their living by fishing from this lake. They are now struggling with both hunger and pollution. He said, ‘The lake has no longer become water, it has become death.’
This is not an accident, it is a glimpse of tomorrow
Scientists have clearly said that this is not a ‘freak accident’. This is the trailer of the future. As drought and heat increase in the Amazon, such ‘mass death’ incidents will become common. “This is the beginning of the climate emergency,” Fleishman said. We never thought that the limits of nature would be broken so soon. But now we are seeing them breaking.
[ad_2]
