Lake Chad is a lake that lies mostly in the north-central African nation of Chad. Scientists think the average size of Lake Chad has expanded and contracted in 10-year cycles, but its overall size has shrunk for many years. Lake Chad’s shoreline changes in relation to the amount of local rainfall, the quantity of water that rivers pour into the lake, and the rate of evaporation. The lake is larger in rainy seasons than in dry seasons. Lake Chad’s basin is so shallow that water overflows into the countryside. A tangle of grasses and weeds covers most of the surface of the lake. This matted surface has caused many people to refer to the lake as “a drowned prairie.”
In 1963, Lake Chad covered more than 9,650 square miles (25,000 square kilometers). Since that time, the lake’s area has shrunk to about 770 square miles (2,000 square kilometers). The drastic reduction in size has been linked to such activities as agricultural irrigation and climate change. The lack of water has destroyed much of the local fishing industry, caused crop failures, and killed livestock. Problems related to the lake’s shrinking have increased poverty among the people in the area surrounding the lake.
