Limnic Eruption

A limnic eruption is an extremely rare natural hazard in which dissolved carbon dioxide erupts suddenly from deep lake water, forming a gas cloud that can asphyxiate wildlife, livestock and people. It occurs when carbon dioxide saturated water rises from a lake's depths, and as pressure drops the gas comes out of solution and forms bubbles that lift still more water in a runaway cascade, eventually discharging gas with enough force to raise waves. The phenomenon was first documented at Lake Monoun in Cameroon in 1984, which killed 37 people, and again more severely at neighboring Lake Nyos in 1986, which released more than 80 million cubic meters of carbon dioxide and killed about 1,700 people and 3,000 livestock, leading scientists to classify limnic eruptions as their own distinct hazard.