Limnic eruption of Lake Nyos
Erupción límnica del lago Nyos
- Date
- 21 de agosto de 1986 · confidence high
- Place
- Lake Nyos, Northwest Region, Cameroon
- Credited to
- George Kling and colleagues
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
On 21 August 1986 Lake Nyos released a cloud of carbon dioxide that suffocated 1,746 people and thousands of animals. The later study (Kling, 1987) defined a new class of disaster: the limnic eruption, a release of dissolved gas from a stratified lake.
In 1984 Lake Monoun had already caused 37 deaths; the mechanism was clarified with Nyos. The degassing was designed by Michel Halbwachs.
What it led to
- artificial degassing of Nyos with pipes (since 2001)
- monitoring of lakes Monoun and Kivu
- studies of dissolved gas in lakes