INTEC shares research advances on Lake Enriquillo
Santo Domingo. Scientists from the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), and the City College of New York (CCNY), presented the advances of the Enriquillo Lake hydrogeological study carried out from 2010 with funding from the National Fund for Innovation and Technological Scientific Development (FONDOCyT) of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCyT).
In a meeting attended by technicians from different institutions involved in the subject, such as the Ministries of Environment, Public Works, INDRHI and some legislators, the researchers hypothesized that there is a change of hydro-climatic pattern, which assumes as a premise that a water imbalance in the region would be the main cause of the growth of the surface area of Lake Enriquillo:
"It is presumed that an increase in the ocean surface temperature (SST) would increase the evaporation of the same and at the same time the humidity content, the accumulated precipitation in the surface, and the vertical precipitation in the entire region, "says the executive summary presented by the researchers.
These factors, in addition to changes in land cover and use (LCLU) in the mountains surrounding the lake and a reduction in evaporation over the surface of the lake, would increase runoff along the slopes of the lake. the mountains, depositing more water in the lakes and aquifers that supply them.
This hypothesis is consistent with recent reports in places as distant as China, which indicate similar symptoms of internal lake growth due to changes in regional climate, such as Lake Nam Co in the Tibet area.
The scientific importance of this hypothesis, of hydro-climatic changes is that level changes in lakes can be an indication of climatic and environmental changes in the region at average time scales (20-30 years).
The recorded data show that since 2006 the lake has resumed levels observed in 1984, according to calculations based on satellite images. In December the 2009 reached a size of 333 km2, 17% greater than in 1984 and 49% greater than in 2004. Lake Sumatre, located on the Haitian side of the basin, shows a pattern of changes in surface coverage similar to Lake Enriquillo. The size of Sumatre Lake varied from 115.96 km2 in 1984 to 134.26 km2 in 2010, an increase of 16% in 26 years.
The meeting was led by Julio Sánchez Maríñez, Vice-Rector of Research and Liaison of INTEC and Carlos Rodríguez, Director of Research Promotion of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCyT), Ricardo González, Research Professor of the Engineering Area, together Joe Barba, dean of Engineering at City College, Jorge E. González, professor of mechanical engineering at NOAA CREST and Daniel Comarazamy, researcher.