Lake Eyre

**Lake Eyre** (pronounced "air") is the lowest point in Australia, at about   below sea level. When it fills with water, it is the largest lake in Australia, being  long and  wide. It is also in the driest part of Australia, getting only about  of rain each year. It is a large endorheic lake system, which means that the water flows in, but does not flow out. As the water evaporates, the lake dries up leaving a dry salt lake. The lake does not usually completely dry up, there is often water in small areas on the lake surface. The rate that the water dries up is  per year, that is about 20 times more than the rainfall in the area. In 1974 Lake Eyre was  deep. Local rain filled Lake Eyre to  in 1984 and 1989. Very heavy rain in January 2007 took about six weeks to reach the lake but put only a small amount of water into it. In February 2009, water from flooding rains in Queensland were flowing along the creeks to the lake covering about 40&nbsp;km per day. The lake fills to about  every three years, to , every ten years, and fills up about four times every 100 years.

### Drying up 
When Lake Eyre is full, the water is almost fresh and native fresh water fish can live in it. The lake becomes saltier as the  salt crust dissolves over six months. This kills millions of fish. When about 4m deep the Lake is as salty as the sea. It becomes more salty as the water evaporates. At about 500mm depth the Lake becomes a "pink" color because of a beta-carotene pigment made by the algae *Dunaliella salina*.

## Early history 
Beaches made by wave action suggest that during the Medieval Warm Period Lake Eyre possibly held * water* at levels above those of 1974.

The local Aboriginal people, the Arabunna people, have stories that explain the creation of Lake Eyre. These stories are part of their sacred traditions, and are only told to initiated people.

When there is water more than 8 million birds, from more than 60 different species, flock to the lake. The pelicans are usually the first to arrive, followed by silver gulls, hoary headed grebes, Australasian grebes, cormorants, ducks, banded stilts, kites, falcons and wedge tailed eagles.

There is also a lizard, the Lake Eyre Dragon, Ctenophorus   maculosus, that lives in the cool mud below the salt crust of the lake.

## Yacht club 
The *Lake Eyre Yacht Club* is a small group of people who sail on the lake's floods, including recent trips in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2009. A number of 6 m Trailer Sailers sailed on Lake Eyre in 1975, 1976 and 1984 when the flood depth reached 3–6 m.

## Land speed record attempts 
The salt crust on the lake is not thick and can break like glass under a person's weight. At Level Post Bay, the crust is more than one metre thick, and because of its flat surface it has been the site for various land speed record attempts. In 1964, British driver, Sir Donald Campbell, set a new record of , in the *Bluebird-Proteus CN7*.

## Related pages
* List of lakes

## References 
## Other websites
* NASA Earth Observatory pages on Lake Eyre: 
**Fluctuations of Lake Eyre, South Australia 
**Lake Eyre, South Australia 
* Lake Eyre Yacht Club website
* Lake Eyre pelican mystery 
* Floods of Lake Eyre - Dr Vincent Kotwicki's site 
* Website for the Arabunna people of Lake Eyre