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Climate Detectives Projects 2023-2024

Project title: Climate change and Lake Albano

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Castelli International School   Grottafer   Italy

Research question

How does the climate affect the level of the Lake Albano? Is there a special correlation with wildfires?

Summary of the project

We are ESA climate detectives who are working on a progect about climate change affecting lake Albano. Lake Albano suffers from a major problem: its water level has dropped by at least 160 metres in the last 100 years. We have decided to investigate the causes of this problem. In the past months, our class carried out a project organized by E.S.A. about climate change. We did experiments, visited sites that helped us in the research of data such as EO Browser and went on a field trip to Lake Albano to analyze what the problem was about.

Main results and Conclusions

How does the climate affect the level of the Lake Albano? Is there a special correlation with wildfires?

In conclusion, after all the hard work from the interviews/surveys and the EO browser data analysis, we can infer that most people agree that climate change is one of the main causes of the reduction of the lake’s diameter. Climate change causes higher average temperatures and a pattern of decreased rainfall. This leads to less water entering the lake through precipitation and more water leaving through increased evaporation.
A second important factor is human activity:
water is sourced from the lake from ACEA to supply local towns
supposedly the Papal gardens are abundantly watered from the lake
water is pumped from the lake for irrigation of gardens and land around the lake in general
illegal wells subtract water from the water table around the lake contributing to the lowering of the level
even though the firepeople said that they did not take so much water from the lake individuals still believe that this is a factor and wildfires are increasing with climate change.
In general, most of these human activities are worsened by the rise in temperatures due to climate change.

What’s Next? Actions to make a difference and help lessen the problem

The two main areas that require attention are the global problem of climate change and the local issues of human activity.
Climate change has been a global concern for several years. The rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns, and extreme weather events have resulted in the depletion of water resources across the globe. The lake’s water levels have been impacted by the decrease in rainfall, which has resulted in less water flowing into the lake. This has also had an impact on the lake’s ecosystem, including the flora and fauna that depend on it. To reduce your carbon footprint:
switch to electric cars or bikes
choose public transport,
set your thermostat to a cooler temperature,
insulate your house,
use energy-efficient boilers or solar panels
explore other sources of electricity like solar energy and lobby governments for cleaner electrical energy production.

Human activity, on the other hand, has also played a significant role in the decreasing level of the lake. Over-extraction of groundwater for agriculture and domestic use has resulted in the depletion of the lake’s water levels. Deforestation and land-use changes have also impacted the lake’s watershed, resulting in soil erosion and sedimentation. These activities have reduced the capacity of the lake to hold water, further exacerbating the problem of the decreasing level of the lake. Lobbying for:
local rules and practices to change
enforce existing rules
promote water-efficient irrigation methods
discourage lawn irrigation and swimming pools
make a sustainable water usage plan with ACEA
reuse grey waters for irrigation
manage forests to reduce wildfires

The decreasing level of the lake is a complex issue that requires a multi-faceted approach to address. By focusing on the global and local factors that have contributed to this problem, we can work towards ensuring the sustainability of the lake’s ecosystem and the livelihoods of the communities that depend on it.

Project link:

https://sites.google.com/castelli-international.it/lake-albano-climate-detectives/home

Projects are created by the teams and they take the full responsibility of the shared data.
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