Five Lakes In UNESCO World Heritage Park In Northern Patagonia Drying Rapidly; Surface Areas Down +/- 52% In 20 Years

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Last edited Wed May 7, 2025, 10:50 AM - Edit history (1)

Leonardo Buria, the National Parks Northern Patagonia Regional Director of Conservation, holds up a ruler that in 2007 was completely covered by water in Laguna Blanca National Park. Credit: Facundo Scordo

Hidden between volcanic cones in the Patagonian Steppe lies Laguna Blanca, an oasis-like lake in an otherwise arid region. Home to black-neck swans, red-eyed silvery grebes and dark-spotted endemic frogs, the serene body of water is the main attraction of the Laguna Blanca National Park, a natural reserve in the Argentine Province of Neuquén. Over the last two decades, the lake’s area has declined dramatically. A meter used to measure lake levels is now fully exposed, as are dry rocks that were once fully underwater. “Looking at the rulers used for measurements 20 years ago, you wouldn’t believe the lake used to reach those levels,” Facundo Scordo said in Spanish.

Scordo, an Argentine geographer based at the University of Nevada, Reno, is the lead author of a study published in February in the journal Science of the Total Environment. According to its findings, Laguna Blanca and four other smaller lakes within the national park have decreased in surface area by up to 52 percent since 2007.



These drastic changes are particularly concerning due to the park’s status as a Ramsar site—a UNESCO-recognized wetland of international importance. “It once had a community of birds so wonderful that it was the first Ramsar site in Argentina,” said Esteban Balseiro, a professor at the National University of Comahue specializing in the field of limnology, the study of inland aquatic ecosystems. But now “the current population of aquatic birds is absolutely minimal,” said Balseiro, who was not involved in the study.

To track changes in lake surface over time, Scordo and his colleagues analyzed satellite images of the five lakes and a drought index for every year between 1998 and 2024. “We then analyzed whether the observed lake recession is only the product of climate variability or also anthropogenic factors,” Scordo explained. Their results show that changes in climate, namely increased dryness, have reduced the surface area of Laguna Blanca and surrounding lakes to a greater extent. Still, their findings suggest that human intervention on the natural landscape has played a role, too.

EDIT

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03052025/patagonian-lakes-are-rapidly-drying/

[Picaro]

1. Lakes?

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2. Gah!