Visuals of Change: Walker Lake, Nevada

The above image is of Walker Lake in Nevada, showing the change from October of 1988 (the before, first image) to October of 2017 (the after, second image).

NASA explains, “Nevada’s Walker Lake has lost 90 percent of its volume since about a century ago, when farmers and cattle ranchers established communities in Walker Basin. As the inflow of freshwater has declined over the years, the concentration of salt and other dissolved solids has increased. The lake’s salinity is now about half that of seawater, with a major effect on its fish and other wildlife. Of the 17 fish species that have lived in Walker Lake, only three were still present in 1979.”

Sources:

“Walker Lake, Nevada, Gets Smaller and Saltier.” NASA, NASA, https://climate.nasa.gov/images-of-change/?id=641#641-walker-lake-nevada,-gets-smaller-and-saltier.