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The Lake That ExplodedEpisode 91:44

The Fountain Built to Disarm a Lake

Engineers attempt an extraordinary solution: piping deep water upward so the lake can release its carbon dioxide under control.

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Transcript

  1. At Lake Nyos, a fountain can throw hidden gas skyward.

  2. In 1986, Lake Nyos released large amounts of carbon dioxide.

  3. On August 21st, 1986, about 1,700 people died in Cameroon.

  4. The 1986 Lake Nyos event killed 3,500 domestic animals.

  5. The Lake Nyos event is a limnic eruption that releases carbon dioxide from water.

  6. Two years earlier, Lake Monoun suffered a lethal gas burst that killed 37 people.

  7. After the 1986 eruption, a degassing system was engineered and installed on Lake Nyos.

  8. Piping anchored to a raft removes gas from Lake Nyos.

  9. The raft holds the intake pipe upright in deep water.

  10. The pipe lifts carbon-dioxide-rich water, allowing gas to escape at the surface.

  11. Lake Nyos's degassing fountain can reach about 148 feet (45 meters) above the lake surface.

  12. A survivor remembered the air turning deadly without warning.

  13. Carbon dioxide remains trapped in Lake Nyos's deep water.

  14. But Lake Nyos's dam is made of pyroclastic surge deposits.

  15. If it collapsed, valleys below could threaten about 10,000 people.

  16. Earthquakes and gas saturation of water are thought to increase the chances of a limnic eruption.

Where it leaves off

But monitoring cannot erase the danger beneath the lake. The degassing fountain could reduce the invisible reservoir—but Nyos's final warning reaches far beyond this one quiet lake.

Next: Episode 10, What a Quiet Lake Can Hide

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