Degassing lakes

Efforts have been underway for several years to remove the gas from these lakes to prevent a build-up that could lead to another catastrophe. A team of French scientists began experimenting with siphons at Lake Monoun and Lake Nyos in 1990 in an attempt to slowly remove the gas from the lakes in a controlled manner. Vertical pipes from the bottom of the lake were put in. Interestingly, only a bit of water has to be pumped out, because as the saturated water rises, the CO2 comes out of solution and its buoyancy ejects the water high into the air and continues itself in a self sustaining manner. This is exactly the process that leads to an eruption, but it is controlled by the size of the pipes. Many more pipes are needed because the pipes only can pump so much water and there is still CO2 down there. But many scientists fear that more pipes could cause another eruption. Despite this success, these lakes are still considered dangerous today.