Why Arctic lakes are disappearing

Analyzing a set of high-resolution satellite data, American scientists have revealed the unexpected drying of Arctic lakes since the early 2000s.
The results of the study were published at the end of August in the magazine Nature Climate Change.
Warming in the Arctic, the rate of increase of which is almost four times higher than the global average, has a negative impact on the lakes surrounding the Arctic basin from Alaska to Siberia, Canada and Northern Europe.
Over the past twenty years, these reservoirs, valuable for biodiversity and indigenous peoples, have dried up or even disappeared. This phenomenon is all the more surprising, since scientists, on the contrary, expected an increase in the surface of lakes in high latitudes as a result of global warming, sciencepost.fr writes.
Researchers have found that by increasing drainage and soil erosion, the melting of permafrost ultimately contributes to a decrease in the surface area of lakes and even the complete disappearance of reservoirs. The increase in precipitation is also the driving force behind this evolution.
Given the astronomical amounts of carbon stored in the frozen soils of the Arctic, the question arises whether this discovery implies a faster-than-expected melting of permafrost and, consequently, a higher risk of carbon dioxide or methane emissions into the atmosphere.
"Our results show that permafrost is melting even faster than we expected," says Elizabeth E. Webb, lead author of the study.
As for whether the emptying and drying of lakes can further increase the rate of permafrost melting or, conversely, mitigate it, scientists are cautious in their estimates.
"We don't know exactly what the point is, but we do know that the expansion of lakes leads to carbon losses orders of magnitude higher than in adjacent regions," Webb said.

Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished