Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Long-term and extreme water level variations of the shallow Lake Poopo, Bolivia

Pillco Zola, R and Bengtsson, Lars LU (2006) In Hydrological Sciences Journal 51(1). p.98-114
Abstract
Lake Poopo, within the large Altiplano basin of Bolivia, is connected upstream to Lake Titicaca and downstream to the salares, the big salt fields. Small changes in precipitation and river inflows strongly affect the extent of the lake surface area. For times when there are no satellite images, it is difficult to determine the extent of the lake from observations. Water balance computations were performed to create a water-level series for Lake Poopo extending back in time. The dominant water inflow to Lake Poopo is from the River Desaguadero, which constitutes the outflow of Lake Titicaca. The water-balance computations confirm the crude peasant knowledge about historical lake status. It is found that if the lake level is less than I in... (More)
Lake Poopo, within the large Altiplano basin of Bolivia, is connected upstream to Lake Titicaca and downstream to the salares, the big salt fields. Small changes in precipitation and river inflows strongly affect the extent of the lake surface area. For times when there are no satellite images, it is difficult to determine the extent of the lake from observations. Water balance computations were performed to create a water-level series for Lake Poopo extending back in time. The dominant water inflow to Lake Poopo is from the River Desaguadero, which constitutes the outflow of Lake Titicaca. The water-balance computations confirm the crude peasant knowledge about historical lake status. It is found that if the lake level is less than I in during the wet season, there is a risk that this shallow lake dries out in the dry season. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
water balance, ENSO, Altiplano, palaeolake, Lake Titicaca
in
Hydrological Sciences Journal
volume
51
issue
1
pages
98 - 114
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • wos:000235310600006
  • scopus:32544455110
ISSN
0262-6667
DOI
10.1623/hysj.51.1.98
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1da86d52-d919-47a6-b68d-b115cb95ccf5 (old id 417827)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 15:42:03
date last changed
2022-01-28 06:38:31
@article{1da86d52-d919-47a6-b68d-b115cb95ccf5,
  abstract     = {{Lake Poopo, within the large Altiplano basin of Bolivia, is connected upstream to Lake Titicaca and downstream to the salares, the big salt fields. Small changes in precipitation and river inflows strongly affect the extent of the lake surface area. For times when there are no satellite images, it is difficult to determine the extent of the lake from observations. Water balance computations were performed to create a water-level series for Lake Poopo extending back in time. The dominant water inflow to Lake Poopo is from the River Desaguadero, which constitutes the outflow of Lake Titicaca. The water-balance computations confirm the crude peasant knowledge about historical lake status. It is found that if the lake level is less than I in during the wet season, there is a risk that this shallow lake dries out in the dry season.}},
  author       = {{Pillco Zola, R and Bengtsson, Lars}},
  issn         = {{0262-6667}},
  keywords     = {{water balance; ENSO; Altiplano; palaeolake; Lake Titicaca}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{98--114}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Hydrological Sciences Journal}},
  title        = {{Long-term and extreme water level variations of the shallow Lake Poopo, Bolivia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1623/hysj.51.1.98}},
  doi          = {{10.1623/hysj.51.1.98}},
  volume       = {{51}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}