Feel like upping the stakes
of your late-night skinny dips?
Well, welcome to Lake Nyos,
one of the most dangerous lakes
on the planet.
Here, your cannonball
might just take thousands of lives.
In the North-West Region
of Cameroon, Africa,
over a volcanic crater, lies Lake Nyos.
A small lake with depths
of about 210 m (689 ft).
Crater lakes like Nyos
tend to release carbon dioxide
due to volcanic activity deep below.
Usually, this carbon dioxide
dissipates slowly as the lake naturally shifts.
But if the lake stays still enough
the gas dissolves into the water
and continues accumulating there,
steadily turning it into a ticking time bomb.
So what would happen if that water were suddenly disturbed?
Nyos is one of only three lakes known to accumulate
deadly levels of carbon dioxide.
Agitating this kind of lake
could cause something called a limnic eruption.
But hold on, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.
You'd have a front-row seat to this catastrophe.
And without even knowing it,
you'd be the trigger of a major disaster.
As your body sank into the deadly waters of Lake Nyos,
the dissolved carbon dioxide would rise to the surface.
The lake would start to bubble.
And these bubbles would cause even more turbulence.
Now, have you seen the famous Diet Coke and Mentos eruption?
Yeah, that would be you.
A 90 m (295 ft) water jet would explode into the sky,
sending you flying as high as Big Ben in London.
We'll say you're lucky enough to survive the drop,
but you'd still have
all the carbon dioxide to deal with.
In 20 seconds, all of the accumulated gas would be unleashed
in a cloud over 1 km (0.6 mi) wide.
It would spread as far as 25 km (16 mi) away from the lake.
And it would travel at a speed of up to 48 km/h (30 mph),
silently choking most of the living creatures in its path.
If you were in a village nearby, instead of soaking in Lake Nyos,
you'd hear a strange rumbling sound,
followed by the sight of a white mist rising from the lake.
The deadly gas cloud would then usher in a gust of wind,
putting out any fire that might be around you.
This is because carbon dioxide gas
is heavier than air
and at high concentrations
it displaces oxygen.
No oxygen means no combustion and no fire.
But it also means you wouldn't be able to breathe.
You would drop dead after a single gasp of air.
This is exactly what happened in 1986,
when a landslide or an earthquake triggered a limnic eruption on Lake Nyos.
In total, 1,746 villagers
and 3,500 livestock died instantly.
No one was there to witness
how its usually serene blue waters
turned red from all the iron churned up from the bottom.
Still up for a swim at the most dangerous lake on Earth?
Well, the Lake Nyos disaster happened
when the concentration of carbon dioxide in the lake
was at its highest.
And since 1986,
some safety measures have been taken to avoid this happening again.
Like a pipe at the bottom of the lake
that now allows the gas to escape safely.
Still, I wouldn't recommend risking your life for this experiment.
Even with some of the gas being vented,
Nyos has just way too much carbon dioxide.
Maybe you could push your luck
by going for a dip
at another dangerous lake,
Lake Natron.
Hint, it could turn you to stone.
But that's a story for another WHAT IF.