Lakes drain away to nothing as Siberian permafrost melts

A NEW study finds 125 large lakes in the Arctic vanished as temperatures rose over the past two decades. Many other lakes have shrunk.

The lakes once sat atop permanently frozen soil called permafrost. Other studies have shown permafrost around the world is melting, causing low-lying ground to slump and rock to fall from mountains.

“We think that climate warming is thawing the permafrost,” said lead researcher Laurence Smith of the University of California, Los Angeles. “It’s like pulling the plug out of a bathtub. There’s nothing to prevent lake water from percolating through the soil to aquifers below. From what we can tell from space, a lake is either just fine or it’s gone.”