Arctic Lakes Disappearing, Climate Scientists Say

More than 100 lakes in the Arctic have disappeared over the past three decades, according to a team of Canadian and American scientists, who say climate change at high latitudes may be part of the problem.

In the June 3 issue of the journal Science, the researchers report on the changes they tracked in 10,000 large lakes over 500,000 square kilometres of tundra from the early 1970s to 1997-98.

They found the total number of large lakes decreased by around 11 per cent. Many shrank significantly, while 125 disappeared completely and were replaced by vegetation.

University of Alaska professor Larry Hinzman, a member of the team that spent several years studying satellite photography of the Siberian tundra, said the disappearance may be traced back to climate change’s effect on the land underneath the lakes.

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