Lake Retba has lost its vivacious pinkish hue this stiff season . Before and after satellite images fromNASA Earth Observatoryshow how the waters of the rosy lake have turned a more distinctive blue - green following a downpour of torrential rain .
The lake can be rule in Senegal , West Africa . It owes its coloration to single - celled alga calledDunaliella salina . The alga is typically green , but it produces protective orangey - red beta carotene pigments when under rough conditions – just like in Lake Retba .
Because the lake can be breach by waters of the Atlantic Ocean , it ’s A-one - piquant . In fact , the water is so high in salinity that multitude can well float in it just like the Dead Sea .
While this is good for saltiness miners , the mellow salinity piddle stresses out theD. salinaand forces them to pump out protective pigments , result in the lake ’s usually scare away color .
The lake is typically at its pinkest during the teetotal season between November and June , but the color fades during the part ’s wet time of year , July to October , when the salty waters become thin by rain .
This fuddled time of year has proved to be exceptionally wet . Heavy rainfall in former August and other September ensue indeadly floodingin the capital Dakar and wall areas .
Another consequence of this was alluvion water supply reaching Lake Retba and flooding it with fresh water . As a result , the resident physician algae stop acquire its protective pigment and the lake reelect to a light-green color .
All of this was captivate by Landsat satellite curling the globe in low - Earth Orbit . Recently turn images show Lake Retba on May 19 come out nice and rosy . Another mental image , pick out on September 16 , then shows the lake appearing more or less the same color as the nearby Atlantic Ocean .
Lake Retba is n’t the only body of water with this typical pinkish coloration . Lonar Lake can be witness in a meteorite wallop crater in India , around 500 kilometers ( 311 miles ) east of Mumbai . Just like Senegal ’s pink lake , this water oftenturns a vivid spook of pink reddue to salinity and the presence of the same algae .
