COMMENTARY: Boiling Lake ‘dry’… again?

Dominica’s Boiling Lake, the second largest flooded fumarole in the world after Frying Pan Lake which was formed in the Waymangu Valley, New Zealand in 1886, has occasionally gone through “episodes of instability” for more than a century.

The lake, which is a major attraction on the island, attracts visitors from across the globe and locals alike; it is located in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park which acquired World Heritage Site status in December 1997. Currently, a gondola/cable car project is being constructed in the Roseau Valley that will give riders a bird’s eye view of the Lake and surroundings as well as views of the rugged interior of the island. When completed, riders of that cable car will experience the longest cable car ride in the world.

Such episodes of instability referred to above manifest in (a) the stoppage or significant decrease in the release of gases including water vapour (b) significant decrease followed by fluctuations in the lake’s water levels, sometimes accompanied by (c) a significant drop in water temperatures to the point where one can swim in the lake on such occasions. Under ‘normal’ conditions, one can boil eggs in the Lake. Drops in water levels of 30ft and in temperatures of 157.5° F have been recorded when the lake was going through two such episodes. When the Lake is in its ‘cold’ state, the water temperature is sometimes similar to that of Freshwater Lake i.e. 68° F; both lakes are about the same height above sea level.

The years when some of those “episodes” were observed have been published on DNO in three separate articles. The first two write-ups were published in 2022 and were titled, “Boiling Lake’s Episodes of Instability [1887-2022]” (published in two parts, on 8th and 14th February 2022 respectively) and, “Boiling Lake – Two Episodes of Instability in Six Months?” (published 25 th May 2022).

On 8th January 2024, which is a few weeks ago, the writer published the third article which was titled, “Boiling Lake’s 2023 Instability Episode”; that one referenced an episode that had started on 20th December 2023. The penultimate sentence of that article had stated in part, “For how long will this 2023 episode last is anyone’s guess…” At the time of posting that article (8 Jan 24) – which was written some days prior – the lake was still going through its 2023/2024 episode.

Well, it turns out that the lake is reported to have returned to a semblance of normalcy (i.e. refilled, and ‘boiling’ again with its heavy vapour cloud) some time between 5th and 16th January 2024 as a video clip of the lake shot on 16th January shows the dark grey body of water with its heavy vapour cloud and the water level back up to the high-water mark. The person who shot that video – tour guide CS – reported that water from the lake was flowing through the outlet during his visit that day. CS continued conducting tours with his clients to the lake after the end of that episode.

CONDITIONS ON 18TH & 27TH FEBRUARY 2024: On Sunday 18th February 2024, Tour Guide CS made another visit to the lake with clients and met the lake with low water levels, and going through another of its episodes. He noted, “I was there the day before the lake went low (17th February), and the next day I came, I met it low.”

On Tuesday 27 th February 2024, co-leader of the Dwivayez Hiking Club, Rawlins Bruney, visited Boiling Lake, not on Dwivayez business though, and met the lake continuing its “episode of instability” with a very small pool of grey water several feet below the high-water mark, bubbling and vaporizing (Please refer back to first photo). The small ravine
and cascade on the northern and north-eastern edges of the lake respectively continued to empty into the lake.

Rawlins has the distinction of being one of several persons who, in April 1971, had swam and frolicked in the Boiling Lake while the latter was going through one of its fluctuation episodes. Rawlins later confessed that at the time, neither he nor his school mates or teacher realized that the lake was not in its ‘normal’ mode then.

Rawlins shot some still photographs and a video clip on 27th February 2024 which he graciously shared with the writer. Tour Guide CS also visited the lake with clients on that day and shared a video clip of the lake shot from a different angle.

On Saturday 2nd March 2024 CS again visited the lake with clients and met the lake with a much higher water level than what he had encountered four days prior i.e. on 27th February; however, the lake was also vaporizing (See photo below).

CONDITIONS ON 6TH MARCH 2024: On Wednesday 6th March, which is four days after CS previously visited the lake, the tour guide returned with some new clients and found the lake continuing its current episode of instability, but with significantly more water than what obtained on his previous visit (2nd March), the water with a greenish-grey tint, lightly bubbling towards the centre, and with no visible vaporizing (See next photo).

FULL AGAIN, BUT…

On Monday 11th March, tour guide CS made yet another trip to the lake with clients, five days after his previous visit (6th March). The water had climbed back to the high-water mark and was flowing out through the outlet. The surface of the water was relatively still and there was even a bit of a reflection of the surrounding landscape. However, there was only a very light bubbling towards the centre (See next Photo).

A video clip shot by CS on the same day showed the mini-cascade emptying into the lake as normal. Thus, while the
lake had refilled, the current episode continues, because although the water temperature was not measured, there was no indication that the water is boiling.

CAUSE FOR CONCERN?

What now appears to be an increasing frequency of these episodes of instability of the Boiling Lake may be a cause for concern among certain members of the Dominican populace. Over the past six decades, i.e. from 1964 to current, there have been newspaper and online records chronicling the lake’s instability episodes for that period only, and these are as follows: April 1964, April 1967, April 1971, April 1988, December 2004 (into April 2005), November 2016, November 2021, February and May 2022, December 2023 into January 2024, and currently the episode that began in February 2024. Please note that episodes had occurred prior to 1964.

Some may ask, when will this February 2024 episode end? The day of the most recent photo in this article, 11th March is 22 days since the current episode began although the lake is full once again. And, is there a possibility that there may be yet another episode during the rest of the year? Well, your guess is as good as mine. But an eye must constantly be kept on Boiling Lake which, in 1901, claimed the lives of two men, viz. a visitor and a young tour guide from Laudat, when it was going through a cool-down phase and suddenly released – and continued releasing for 4 days – large volumes of what is believed to have been highly concentrated Carbon Dioxide which is extremely toxic.