Lake Poopo, Bolivia

In the high plains of the Andes in Bolivia, Lake Poopo has virtually vanished. Once covering over 3,000 square kilometers, and an important resource for lakeside fishing communities, the lake essentially dried up in 2015. What led to Lake Poopo’s demise? Water diversions upstream, weather extremes and recurrent droughts are thought to blame. The images cover an area of 48.9 by 55.1 km, were acquired February 14, 2001 and November 6, 2016, and are located near 18.7 degrees south, 67.1 degrees west.

Click on thumbnails below for full resolution images.

Lake Poopo 2001 Type: (JPG) Size: (1,113,457 bytes) Resolution ( 3,262 x 3,671 )

Lake Poopo 2016 Type: (JPG) Size: (1,333,612 bytes) Resolution ( 3,262 x 3,671 )