Heimdall Research

All findings · Western Terminal Lakes

How did Lake Abert open water change between July 2019 and July 2026?

Lake Abert: July open water was 7% lower in 2026 than in July 2019.

Lake Abert open-water area fell from 128.0 km2 in July 2019 to 119.5 km2 in July 2026 (loss 8.5 km2, 6.7 percent).

These numbers are Western Terminal Lakes version 1.1, the published package (19 series on 18 lakes in version 1.1).

Chart

From the table

Line chart of July open-water area for lake-abert.
July open-water area. The finding compares 2019-07 with 2026-07.

Reading

What the data shows

For lake-abert, water_area_km2 is 128.0 in 2019-07 and 119.5 in 2026-07. That is a loss of 8.5 km2, or 6.7 percent. This compares July 2019 with July 2026. July water_area_km2 values are 2019 128.0; 2020 110.0; 2021 81.7; 2022 136.4; 2023 110.1; 2024 129.6; 2025 131.8; 2026 119.5. Low-confidence Julys: 2022, 2023. An earlier published table for these two Julys showed a gain. This table shows a loss.

Context

Why it matters

If you are comparing western terminals in the release package, Lake Abert lost open water on this July-to-July window.

Method

How it was measured

The two months are 2019-07 and 2026-07. Each row has quality ok and is not marked low confidence. The change uses water_area_km2. The percent divides that change by the earlier area. This page is lake-abert. The loss is the absolute change. Method on the dataset page.

Limits

What this cannot tell you

Satellite open-water area is not a water-rights number. Lake volume and a legal level are outside this table. Ice months and low-confidence flags matter. This is the July 2019 month beside the July 2026 month. Disclaimer word for word: Not for water-rights, legal or engineering decisions.

Check

Check it yourself

File
release/lake_monthly.csv
Column
water_area_km2
Row
lake_id lake-abert, months 2019-07 and 2026-07, quality_flag ok, low_confidence not true
API and assistant
Same key, same data

This API call reads the same cells.

curl "https://api.heimdallresearch.com/v1/lakes/lake-abert/monthly" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HEIMDALL_API_KEY"

This assistant prompt asks for the same cells.

MCP https://api.heimdallresearch.com/mcp question: What is water_area_km2 for lake-abert in 2019-07 and 2026-07 when quality is ok and low confidence is false?

Citation

Dataset citation

Heimdall Research (2026). Western Terminal Lakes (Version 1.1) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23045007 Concept DOI https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23045006.

Version
1.1
DOI
10.5281/zenodo.23045007

Related

  1. 246.5 km2 Finding

    Great Salt Lake's south arm: July open water was 12% lower in 2026 than in July 2019.

    Great Salt Lake south arm open-water area fell from 2017.2 km2 in July 2019 to 1770.6 km2 in July 2026 (loss 246.5 km2, 12.2 percent).

    Read the finding

    Breakdown

    For great-salt-lake-south, water_area_km2 is 2017.2 in 2019-07 and 1770.6 in 2026-07. That is a loss of 246.5 km2, or 12.2 percent of the July 2019 area. This compares July 2019 with July 2026. July water_area_km2 values are 2019 2017.2; 2020 1968.7; 2021 1816.8; 2022 1743.3; 2023 1919.5; 2024 1956.3; 2025 1829.1; 2026 1770.6. Low-confidence Julys: none.

  2. 220.6 km2 Finding

    Great Salt Lake's north arm: July open water was 16% lower in 2026 than in July 2019.

    Great Salt Lake north arm open-water area fell from 1369.9 km2 in July 2019 to 1149.3 km2 in July 2026 (loss 220.6 km2, 16.1 percent).

    Read the finding

    Breakdown

    For great-salt-lake-north, water_area_km2 is 1369.9 in 2019-07 and 1149.3 in 2026-07. The loss is 220.6 km2, or 16.1 percent. This compares July 2019 with July 2026. July water_area_km2 values are 2019 1369.9; 2020 1350.3; 2021 1169.2; 2022 1181.5; 2023 1228.2; 2024 1203.7; 2025 1231.6; 2026 1149.3. Low-confidence Julys: none.

  3. 78.3 km2 Finding

    Salton Sea: July open water was 9% lower in 2026 than in July 2019.

    Salton Sea open-water area fell from 850.4 km2 in July 2019 to 772.0 km2 in July 2026 (loss 78.3 km2, 9.2 percent).

    Read the finding

    Breakdown

    For salton-sea, water_area_km2 is 850.4 in 2019-07 and 772.0 in 2026-07. The loss is 78.3 km2, or 9.2 percent of the July 2019 area. This compares July 2019 with July 2026. July water_area_km2 values are 2019 850.4; 2020 840.5; 2021 842.1; 2022 824.1; 2023 811.4; 2024 814.2; 2025 792.6; 2026 772.0. Low-confidence Julys: none.

Not for water-rights, legal or engineering decisions.

Provided as is, without warranty of any kind.

All findings · Western Terminal Lakes