Climate change could turn some blue lakes to green or brown氣候變化可能使一些藍(lán)色湖泊變成綠色或棕色

Jennifer Schmidt

Some picturesque2 blue lakes may not be so blue in the future， thanks toclimate change.

According to the researchers， about one-third of Earths lakes are blue. But， ifaverage summer air temperatures rose by a few degrees， some of those lakes couldturn a dark green or brown.

The changing colors could change how people use those waters and offerinformation about the lake ecosystems. Lake color depends in part on whats in thewater， but factors3 such as water depth4 also matter. Compared with blue lakes，green or brown lakes havemore algae5 and so on.

Lakes in places withaverage summer air temperaturesthat were below19益were more likely to beblue than lakes with warmersummers， the researchersfound. Thats because warmerwater helps algae bloom6more， which changes the colorof the water.

If some lakes do becomeless blue， people willprobably lose some of theresources7 they have cometo value. Lakes are oftenused for drinking water， food or recreation8. If the water is with more algae， it couldbe unappealing9 for play or more costly to clean for drinking.

But the color changes wouldnt necessarily mean that the lakes are any lesshealthy. Humans dont value lots of algae in a lake， but if youre a certain type offish， you might think“this is great”.

Lake color can show the state of a lakes ecosystem. Continued attention to thelakes could help scientists detect10 future changes.

由于氣候變化，一些風(fēng)景如畫的藍(lán)色湖泊未來可能不會再那么藍(lán)了。

研究人員稱，地球上大約三分之一的湖泊是藍(lán)色的。但是，如果夏季平均氣溫上升幾度，其中的一些湖泊可能會變成暗綠色或棕色。

變化的顏色可能會改變?nèi)藗兪褂眠@些水域的方式，并提供有關(guān)湖泊生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的信息。湖泊的顏色部分取決于水中的物質(zhì)，但水深等因素也很重要。與藍(lán)色湖泊相比，綠色或棕色湖泊有更多的藻類。

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，夏季平均氣溫低于19 攝氏度的湖泊比夏季溫度更高的湖泊更有可能是藍(lán)色的。這是因為更溫暖的湖水有助于藻類大量繁殖，從而改變了水的顏色。

如果一些湖泊確實(shí)變得不那么藍(lán)，人們可能會失去一些他們所珍視的資源。

湖泊通常被用于飲用水、食物或娛樂。如果水里有更多的藻類，那么它可能不再吸引人去游玩，或者使飲用水凈化成本更高。

但顏色的變化并不一定意味著湖泊的健康狀況有所下降。人類并不看重湖中的大量藻類，但如果你是某種魚類，你可能會覺得“這太棒了”。

湖泊的顏色可以顯示一個湖泊生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的狀態(tài)。對湖泊的持續(xù)關(guān)注可以幫助科學(xué)家察覺未來的變化。

Notes

1. climate 氣候

2. picturesque 風(fēng)景如畫的

3. factor 因素；要素

4. depth 深度

5. algae 水藻

6. bloom 開花；綻放；繁榮

7. resource 資源

8. recreation? 娛樂；活動

9. unappealing? 無吸引力的

10. detect 查明；察覺