Lake Turkana: World’s Largest Permanent Desert Lake (Kenya)

Ojwang, William; Obiero, Kevin; Donde, Oscar Omondi; Gownaris, Natasha J.; Pikitch, Ellen K.; Omondi, R.; Agembe, Simon; Malala, John; Avery, Sean T.

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6173-5_254-1

Cited by 8 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…A fundamental component of the landscape is Lake Turkana, which covers about 7560 km 2 , known as the world's largest permanent desert lake and the largest alkaline water body (Ojwang et al 2016). The lake hosts a rich aquatic ecosystem that provides food to several local Indigenous communities (e.g., Turkana, Daasanach, El Molo) and sustains small commercial fisheries (Gownaris et al 2017).…”

Section: Biophysical Chairacteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactions between Climate Change and Infrastructure Projects in Changing Water Resources: An Ethnobiological Perspective from the Daasanach, Kenya

Junqueira

Fernández‐Llamazares

Torrents-Ticó

et al. 2021

Journal of Ethnobiology

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Section: Biophysical Chairacteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactions between Climate Change and Infrastructure Projects in Changing Water Resources: An Ethnobiological Perspective from the Daasanach, Kenya

Junqueira

Fernández‐Llamazares

Torrents-Ticó

et al. 2021

Journal of Ethnobiology

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“…About 5000 people living around the area have been displaced by the flood inundation (Avery, 2020). Lake Bogoria (Agembe et al, 2016;McCall, 2010;Renaut et al, 2017) is located in a deep depression with comparatively steeper slopes than Lakes Baringo or Nakuru. Although the lake level increases, when measured in absolute number, are high, the steeper topography of the surrounding area limits the spread of flood waters mostly to the North of the lake.…”

Section: Study Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mean lake area is 128.8 km² and, after Baringo, it is the second largest lake in the study. Agembe et al (2016) report of conductivity values ranging from 250-400 μS/cm. For Lake Naivasha, impacts on the lake level increases can be said to be relatively lower.…”

Section: Study Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The situation has been aggravated more recently, considering the continued above average rainfall being observed in the long rainy season (Wainwright et al, 2020). Lake Turkana, the largest permanent desert Lake in the world, has also shown substantial increases in water levels thereby affecting the local communities (Ojwang et al, 2016). These trends of Lake Turkana generally contradict the forecasted negative impacts of the ongoing water resources projects being carried along the Omo River in Ethiopia, which is considered the main water source for the lake (Avery and Tebbs, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydroclimatic Analysis of Rising Water Levels in the Great Rift Valley Lakes of Kenya

Herrnegger¹,

Stecher²,

Schwatke³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Study RegionThe Great Rift Valley lakes of Kenya have recently experienced significant increases in their water levels, negatively impacting the local communities. This has provoked renewed concerns about the causations, with various geological, anthropogenic and hydro-climatic influences hypothesized as potential causes of the water level rises. Study FocusThis study analyses and documents water level fluctuations in Lakes Baringo, Bogoria, Nakuru, Solai, Elementaita and Naivasha. Hydrometeorological analyses are undertaken to understand potential causes and lake volume data is used to derive the "Integrated Catchment Response" (ICR), a magnitude which allows to relate changes in water balance components to signals observed in the lake volume changes. New Hydrological Insights for the RegionCompared to 1984-2009, the recent increases in lake areas range from 21% for Lake Naivasha to an extraordinary 123% for Lake Solai. Mean annual rainfall for 2010-2020 increased by up to 30%. Actual evapotranspiration also increased, but to lesser extent compared to rainfall. The results illustrate that changes in catchment properties due to anthropogenic influences or changes in underground permeability are not necessary to explain the lake level rises. Based on the ICR only surprisingly minor changes in the water balance are necessary to explain the lake level rises, since an increase of only 0.4 -2% of mean annual effective rainfall leads to the observed phenomena.

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“…However, problems such as anthropogenic eutrophication are a serious threat to their ecological functioning (Cluis et al 1988;Jin et al 2005;Le et al 2010). A desert lake is a unique yet threatened ecosystem and a natural landscape in arid and semiarid regions; however, desert lakes are distinguished as rare water bodies in desert oases (Ojwang et al 2016;Wen et al 2014). Desert lakes cover only a small proportion of the desert landscape, but they have an irreplaceable ecological effect and significance for local residents, animals and plants (Fathi and Flower 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are the shoreline and eutrophication of desert lakes related to desert development?

Luo

Zhao

Wang

et al. 2021

Environ Monit Assess

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Desert lakes are unique ecosystems found in oases within desert landscapes. Despite the numerous studies on oases, there are no reports regarding the spatiotemporal distribution and causes of eutrophication in the desert lakes that are located at the edge of the Linze Oasis in northwestern China. In this study, the seasonal shoreline and eutrophication of a desert lake were monitored using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and water sampling during three crop growth stages. The spatial extents of the shoreline and algal blooms and the chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) absorption coefficient were derived through UAV images. The desert lake shoreline declined during the crop growing stage, which exhibited the largest water demand, and began to expand after this stage. The estimated CDOM absorption coefficient measurements and classified algal bloom area showed seasonal variations that increased from spring to late summer and then decreased in autumn. The first two crop growth stages accounted for most of the water and fertilizer requirements of the entire growth period, which may have contributed to large amounts of groundwater consumption and pollution and resulted in peak eutrophication of the lake in the second growth stage. However, the CDOM absorption coefficient of the third stage was not well correlated with that of the first two stages, suggesting that the lake may be affected by the dual effects of groundwater and precipitation recharge in the third stage. These results indicate that the water quality of desert lakes may be affected by agricultural cultivation. The agricultural demands for water and fertilizer may change the spatiotemporal changes in water quality in the lake, especially in the middle and early stages of crop growth.

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Lake Turkana: World’s Largest Permanent Desert Lake (Kenya)

Cited by 8 publications

References 14 publications

Interactions between Climate Change and Infrastructure Projects in Changing Water Resources: An Ethnobiological Perspective from the Daasanach, Kenya

Interactions between Climate Change and Infrastructure Projects in Changing Water Resources: An Ethnobiological Perspective from the Daasanach, Kenya

Hydroclimatic Analysis of Rising Water Levels in the Great Rift Valley Lakes of Kenya

Are the shoreline and eutrophication of desert lakes related to desert development?

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