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STS077-713-064 Lake Poopo, Bolivia May 1996
Lake Poopo, normally a large, marsh-fringed salt lake, is featured in this west-looking, low-oblique photograph. Located on the Andean altiplano at more than 12 000 feet (3660 meters) above sea level, the lake--normally no more than 10 feet (3 meters) deep and 1150 square miles (3000 square kilometers) in area--has experienced decreasing water levels since the early 1990s. The lake lies at the lower end of a surface drainage system, the Desaguadero River that starts at Lake Titicaca to the north, whose levels have also been receding. Lake Poopo drains to the west into Salar de Coipasa, a salt basin. (Refer to the following photographs for lake levels and other information: STS-51J-144-0023, October 1985; STS-032-088-069, January 1990; STS-048-072-049, September 1991, STS-064-091-022, September 1994; and STS-073-735-047, October 1995.) | |
