Swimming, boating, water skiing - everything was possible. Laguna de Aculeo has long been a popular holiday destination for the residents of Santiago de Chile.

Only two hours by car from the capital, the lake lay hidden in a valley and was considered a paradise for water sports. The Laguna had an area of ​​12 square kilometers and was about six feet deep.

But since 2018 nothing is as it once was. As if someone had pulled the plug out of the bathtub, the water from the lake has completely disappeared. Only a crust of dried-up mud and a flat carpet of flat vegetation reminds us that it was once possible to dive and dive here.

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This week's satellite image consists of two comparative shots taken in February 2014 and March 2019. The images bear sad testimony to the impact of an unprecedented long-term drought and human activity over the past few years. The green area on the photo taken in 2019 is no longer water but young vegetation. Captured were the images from the satellite Landsat 8 of the US space agency NASA.

Scientists say a whole bunch of factors have led to the lake dehydrating. Accordingly, the lack of rain in this decade had a particularly strong influence. Since 2010, the entire area around Santiago de Chile suffers from a long-lasting drought, a so-called megalutre. It is true that in the region severe drought is not uncommon given the semi-arid, Mediterranean climate. However, according to the University of Santiago de Chile in the 20th century, such a drought has never happened.

The experts assume that about one-quarter of the megatrend is due to climate change and the associated global warming. Another cause they see in natural variations in atmospheric circulation, sea temperatures and rains.

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Satellite image of the week: snapshots from space

The geophysicist René Garreaud from the University of Santiago has calculated that the Laguna de Aculeo has lost about half of its water due to the drought. In addition, especially the strong growth of the nearby village of Paine was responsible for the disappearance of the lake. Between 2002 and 2017, the local population grew by 45 percent according to the national statistics office. According to Garreaud's calculations, water consumption has increased by 20 percent over the past ten years.