Hundreds of lakes dry up and vanish in China
Lake size is sensitive to both climate change and human activities, and therefore serves as an excellent indicator to assess environmental changes. Using a large volume of various datasets, we provide a first complete picture of changes in China’s lakes between 1960s–1980s and 2005–2006. Dramatic changes are found in both lake number and lake size; of these, 243 lakes vanished mainly in the northern provinces (and autonomous regions) and also in some southern provinces while 60 new lakes appeared mainly on the Tibetan Plateau and neighboring provinces. Limited evidence suggested that these geographically unbalanced changes might be associated primarily with climate change in North China and human activities in South China, yet targeted regional studies are required to confirm this preliminary observation.
A half-century of changes in China’s lakes: Global warming or human influence?, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 37, L24106, 6 pp., 2010, doi:10.1029/2010GL045514 via Climate Signals
Amazing image.
I've been meaning to ask for some time where you source your images, since they rarely (never?) come from the original article to which you link.
Thanks for the kind words. ^^
Mostly I use Google Images, but sometimes I scrape them out of the various reports that are issued by governments, NGOs, and companies.
Fair enough – if only the original sources spent the time you do (or had the same skills), since your images are nearly always more interesting, relevant or eye-catching. When I link to stories you've highlighted, I am frequently torn between linking to the original (which, when it comes from a credible news source, probably has more authority than a blog post, sorry to say. It also often has more text because you pick the juicy bits!) or to your version with the better image.
PS I thought I should leave a positive comment saying that I appreciate your work. I can't remember if I've said this before, but I know I've put a couple of more critical comments about particular details of other stories, so thought I needed to make clear that I am a fan of what you do.
Thanks again, Byron. Please don't be concerned about linking to me or the original story — I just want the info to get out. Also, do feel free to post critical comments — I very much want to encourage discussion.
Re images, I find myself looking at a story and thinking, "We can do better than that." Sometimes it takes five minutes, but sometimes it takes much longer. Because it's a kind of knowledge production, I'm very careful about the alt text.
Yes, when I said that you pick the juicy bits, I didn't mean that you misrepresent the original source in any way, just that from longer sources you extract the key findings.
Cool. I've had the occasional reader worry about "stealing" links from me, and I don't want anybody to be concerned about that.