JPG File 5.8M

Figure 5.4
This series of photos of Lago Poopó shows how rapidly the lake dried up during the 1997-1998 El Niño. This shallow lake in the Bolivian Andes is very responsive to climate shifts. The extreme fluctuations in water levels can be used as a visual indicator for relative rainfall in the region. The view in the upper left (NASA photograph NM23-714-627) was taken in March 1997 after unusually wet weather in the high Andes - up to 200% of normal - had flooded Lake Poopó (arrow), and nearby salars Uyuní and Coipasa (just right of center) for the first time in years. The photo in the upper right (NASA photograph NASA5-705-085) shows Lago Poopó in late July 1997. By November 1997 the "thumb" on Poopó had completely evaporated (lower left, NASA photograph NASA6-710-082). The lower right photo, taken in May 1998, completes the time series and shows that the lake is almost completely dry (NASA photograph NASA7-726-036). A chart showing regional cumulative precipitation over this time period is provided in Figure 3.

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