Why the Great Salt Lake is disappearing
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and has long been vital to the region. The lake is incredibly salty and shallow with an average depth of only about 14 feet.
Boats able to return to the Great Salt Lake after water level rises from historic low
Boats were able to return to the Great Salt Lake thanks to rising water levels. In November 2022, the Great Salt Lake hit a historic low. Public Information Office for Utah Division of State Parks, Devan Chavez, joined FOX Weather to discuss the welcoming news.
SALT LAKE CITY – Research on the Western Hemisphere's largest saltwater lake is providing insights into the factors contributing to its historic decline.
A study conducted by experts at Portland State University has identified key causes, including reduced streamflow and increased evaporation, that have led to a dramatic reduction in the size of the once 20,000-square-mile lake, which now only covers about 1,700 square miles.
The researchers developed models to explore various scenarios, with findings showing that streamflow from the lake's three major tributaries accounting for roughly two-thirds of the volume loss, with the remaining third believed to be from increased evaporation.
"As the climate is warming, evaporation off the lake increases, so the contribution from warming to the evaporation is significant," Paul Loikith, the director of PSU’s Climate Science Lab and a co-author on the study stated. "Without the warming trend, 2022 wouldn't have been record low. Even though streamflow is dominant, the increase in evaporation was necessary to reach the record low."
The Garfield Smelter Stack, the fourth largest smokestack chimney in the world from the Kennecott copper smelter is reflected on the edges of the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah as seen on September 11, 2024. In forty years, the Great Salt Lake has lost two-thirds of its surface area, a victim of an agricultural sector and a mining industry that consumes too much water, and of global warming which reduces the flow of the rivers that feed it, reaching a historic low in 2022.
(FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Findings suggested that an increased streamflow may help the lake recover in the short term, but significant loss of water from rising temperatures is inevitable from the incredibly salty body of water.
Utah’s state park system estimates salinity values range from around 5% to 27% - much greater than an average ocean’s 3% salinity level.
The lake's extreme salinity levels make it inhospitable for fish but is an important source of products used in de-icing, water softeners and other industrial applications.
"The lake has a lot of social and economic relevance for the region and Utah," Siiri Bigalke, the lead author and a Ph.D. candidate at PSU said in a statement. "It provides over $1.9 billion in annual economic revenue, serves as a vital feeding ground for millions of migratory birds and enhances snowfall over the Wasatch Mountain Range."
Satellite image of the Great Salt Lake
(USGS/contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2022), processed by ESA / FOX Weather)
ANTARCTICA’S ‘DOOMSDAY GLACIER’ IS MELTING AWAY DIFFERENTLY THAN SCIENTISTS FIRST THOUGHT
In addition to its ecological and economic implications, the shrinking lake is also thought to pose significant health risks to local residents.
Researchers said the exposed lakebed releases toxic dust into the air, generally degrading the air quality for residents around the Salt Lake City metro area.
PSU authors did not identify which human-caused diversions were the primary causes of the water shortage, but previous studies have suggested that agriculture in the western U.S. has played a significant role in the lake's decline.