NBC’s Today Show is filming from the ends of the earth this week in an attempt to raise awareness about global warming. They are on location at the North and South Poles as well as the equator, but they didn’t need to travel to such lengths to capture a snap shot of the effects of the problem – they could have filmed from the shores of the Great Lakes.
Lake Superior is the world’s largest fresh water lake – it has the capacity to hold 3 quadrillion gallons of fresh water– which looks something like this: 3,000,000,000,000,000. But instead of rising to capacity, the lake is shrinking at an alarming rate and the water level is at near-record lows. Scientists now believe this is due to air temperatures that have increased twice as fast in the past 25 years causing much higher water temperatures and speeding up evaporation and hampering the development of winter ice.
At a Great Lakes conference last week, scientists said a combination of high temperatures and a rise in wind speeds over the lake are working hand in glove to upset water levels. Lakes Huron and Michigan are also suffering these effects hovering just inches above the record low-level water mark.
The rise in water and air temperatures appears to be occurring together. Climate scientists have documented the increases and seen them speed up since the 1970s. “You would expect that a bigger lake like (Superior) would react more slowly to global warming,” Jay Austin, a University of Minnesota researcher said at the conference. “But just the opposite is happening. It’s exhibiting twice as much change as the other lakes.” He attributes this to the lakes enormous surface area.
Between global warming and continued pollution in the lakes, it is apparent that restoration is needed now. We are in a place in time where we stand on a precipice – a place of no return if we don’t do something immediately.
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