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The Great Salt Lake has begun to evaporate intensely due to global warming

27 january 2025

The water level in the Great Salt Lake, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, reached a record low in 2022. This has caused serious problems in the American state of Utah - economically, environmentally, as well as medically. The new Portland State University study is the first to not only assess the factors underlying the lowering of water levels to historic lows, but also provides valuable information for predicting and managing future changes in the condition of the reservoir.

“The lake is of great social and economic importance to the region and Utah,” said Siiri Bigalke, lead author and Ph.D. candidate in Portland State University's Earth, Environment and Society program. She added that it provides more than $1.9 billion in annual economic revenue, serves as a vital food base for millions of migratory birds and accounts for the thickness of the snowpack in the Wasatch Mountain Range, home to 11 world-class ski resorts. This is especially important because the region is bidding to host the 2034 Winter Olympics.

Bigalke and co-authors Paul Loikit, associate professor of geography and director of the Climate Science Laboratory at Portland State University, and Nick Siler, associate professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, developed and applied a model that simulates changes in the lake's volume from year to year as a function of water inflows, mainly from rivers flowing into the lake and precipitation, and decreases in reservoir volume through evaporation.

The decline in water level by 2022 was attributed to the low flows of the lake's three major tributaries, likely caused by a combination of drought, outflows, and climate change. However, the present study found that the reduction in inflow accounted for only about two-thirds of the total volume decline. The remaining share came from increased evaporation from the surface as a result of warmer temperatures. This will only increase with climate change.

“As the climate warms, evaporation from the lake surface increases. Without the warming trend, 2022 would not have been a record low,” Loikit said. The researchers said the findings suggest that increased inflow could lead to rapid volume recovery in the short term, but with continued warming, evaporation is expected to cause additional long-term loss of lake levels. In addition to environmental and economic damage, the drying lake also poses a health risk to the 1.2 million people living in the Salt Lake City area because it is a source of toxic dust.

“As the lake dries up, the bottom of the lake is exposed, which can increase the amount of dust that plagues the metropolitan area. This will affect air quality in nearby neighborhoods,” Bigalke said.Earlier, a study by scientists from the Silent Spring Institute found that about one-third of the U.S. population is exposed to unregulated contaminants in drinking water that can harm health. In addition, Hispanic and black communities are disproportionately impacted, facing higher levels of dangerous contaminants.

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