Limnic+Eruptions+in+the+future

__ Lake Kivu __ Lake Kivu is a one of the Great African Lakes, which lies between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. This lake is suspected to erupt. This is particularly disasterous, as it is 2,000 times the size of Lake Nyos, with over 2 million people living around it. It is yet to reach the level of carbon dioxide which would result in a Limnic Eruption, but it resides very close to an active volcano, Mount Nyiragongo, as well as an active earthquake zone. These could all be potential triggers, which would result in the eruption of this lake, and devastation of surrounding areas.



__ Degassing __ One solution which is being experimented with to prevent this disaster is degassing the waters. French scientists started to use siphons in 1990 at Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos. A siphon is ‘//A pipe or tube fashioned or deployed in an inverted U shape and filled until atmospheric pressure is sufficient to force a liquid from a reservoir in one end of the tube over a barrier higher than the reservoir and out the other end.’// (http://thefreedictionary.com) This means that a pipe is inserted into the lake and sucks up the carbon dioxide water to the top of it. The lack of pressure forces the gas out of the water, degassing the lake. Essentially, the way that scientists are stopping the eruption is through the same process which causes it, but controls it by the size and attributes of the pipe. However, there are fears that the released carbon dioxide could form a layer of contaminated air on the top of the lake, harming wildlife.