A Moony Night in the Basin of the Cerknica Ghost Lake/Cerkniško Polje-Jezero; Internal Karst-Dinaric Region, Notranjska, Slovenija

stefano zerauschek
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A Moony Night in the Basin of the Cerknica Ghost Lake/Cerkniško Polje-Jezero; Internal Karst-Dinaric Region, Notranjska, Slovenija
A Moony Night in the Basin of the Cerknica Ghost Lake/Cerkniško Polje-Jezero; Internal Karst-Dinaric Region, Notranjska, Slovenija

23-May-2024

With clear skies and no wind, the nights here are always cool, 6-7°C on this occasion, but even in midsummer (around 10-14°C) and very humid, which favors the formation of fog patches.

The water is less cold than the air on these pre-summer nights, after having been warmed up during the many daylight hours, therefore, unlike the other karstic (only meadow) basins/polje, the fogs are not low/film-like near the ground, but tend to rise in foggy patches and low clouds.

The ghost lake of Cerknica, after the long surface absences of previous years, especially between 2021 and 2022, has now been predominantly present for 20 consecutive months, except for a brief phase of retreat into the aquifers in July 2023, continuing to occupy approximately 60% of the entire plain (40km2).

This karst lake is called a "ghost lake" because, in periods with little rain, it tends to make its waters disappear into the subsoil through sinkholes located in various parts of the basin.

In a certain sense it is ghostly even in spring and summer, even though it is full of water, as the notable vegetation that grows there (it is a vast but shallow lake) tends to hide the water in which it grows from mid-spring.

I must add that the early summer full moon revolves at very southern latitudes, therefore it illuminates less and with a more pinky light, compared to the early-winter white moon which, perfectly unlike the sun, appears high in the sky.

A variable I hadn't considered until May 23, 2024....

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Taken on: May 23, 2024
Sets appears in:   • Carso Litoraneo e Regione Carsica Interna (Carniola)/Primorsko-Notranjska Kraška Regija in Kras/Coastal and Internal Karst Region   
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