October 01, 2022
A study by a researcher at the University of Florida, USA, revealed that over the past two decades, Arctic lakes have shrunk in size or dried up totally across the northern parts of Greenland, Canada, Russia, Alaska and Scandinavia, a region known as the pan-Arctic. Researchers believe that the thawing of permafrost, the frozen soil that covers the Arctic, may be the cause since it creates drainage channels and increases soil erosion into the lakes. Permafrost soils store around twice as much carbon as the atmosphere. The thawing of permafrost could thus release more carbon Arctic Lakes Drying into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, resulting in further warming.
Did You Know?
In the Northern Hemisphere, almost one fourth of the land area possesses permafrost underneath.
