A new inventory estimates that the Pyrenees contain 6,361 lakes and ponds. Called LacusPyr, the catalogue was developed with the support of the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) and records geomorphological details for each water body, including its depth, area, altitude and watershed.
The project brings together information from cartography and satellite imagery produced by mapping institutes in Spain, France and Andorra. Its aim is to provide a consistent resource for studying lakes across the mountain range, according to Jordi Catalan, a CREAF and CSIC researcher and the study’s lead author. The work was published in Geoscience Data Journal.
LacusPyr includes official names as well as alternative spellings and names used at different times. Each lake has been assigned a unique code to help distinguish it, since names can vary across languages, historical records and administrative sources. The catalogue is designed to be updated as place names are clarified and new information becomes available.
The inventory also allows comparisons between water bodies. Lake Bleu, on the French side of the Pyrenees, is listed as the deepest at 123 metres, followed by Cregüeña in Aragón at 105 metres and Certascan in Catalonia at 104 metres. The largest lakes are in France: Matemale, Bollosa and Llanós. Helado del Monte Perdido, at 2,987 metres, is the highest-altitude lake in the catalogue. Certascan covers more than 60 hectares and is the largest lake in Catalonia.
The inventory includes ponds, some of which cover less than two square metres and dry up in summer. Catalan also noted that glacier retreat is exposing new lakes, although some have not yet been added to official maps. LacusPyr is available for public consultation and is intended to support research on Pyrenean lakes.
Sources: La Vanguardia.