Mr. Albright
Article 6
The Relentless Rise of Two Caribbean Lakes Baffles Scientists
By: Jacob Kushner
Location: Lake Azuei, Haiti, Latin America and the Caribbean
Latitude and Longitude: 18° 34' 28.9848'' N, 71° 59' 15.1908'' W
Lake Azuei is a lake located in Haiti. It has never experienced waves or even ripples until the past couple of year. The lake began to rise, but the cause for the rising lake is undetermined. Years ago, Lake Azuei lied about 18 miles away from the nearest town/villages. Recently though, the lake has risen and has already engulfed dozens of square miles of the town/villages. Lake Enriquillo, a neighboring lake located in the Dominican Republic, began to rise shortly after Lake Azuei. Experts are unsure why the two lakes are rising. The only logical explanation is climate change, which usually does not affect lakes. Nearly 400,000 people living in the watershed of the two lakes have been negatively affected by the lakes rising. Lake Enriquillo rose an incredible amount of 37 feet, doubling its original size and swallowing about 40,000 acres of farmland. Unfortunately, most of those who lost land were poor farmers. Habitats for birds, rhinos, crocodiles and many other local lake animals have also lost their homes to the rising lakes. Meanwhile, the rising lakes are hurting the economies of both nations, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Experts still have not found a solution to why the lakes are rising, or how to prevent the continuous rising. It is expected that Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo will continue to rise, flooding even more of the limited land.
Works Cited:
Map URL & Article URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160303-haiti-dominican-republic-lakes/