Like a politician whose peccadillos lead to “family time,” the North Pole lake has had its fill of Internet notoriety. The stunning blue meltwater lake that formed on the Arctic ice disappeared on Monday (July 29), draining through a crack in the underlying ice floe.
Now, instead of 2 feet (0.6 meters) of freshwater slopping against a bright-yellow buoy, a remote webcam shows only ice and clouds.
Though the North Pole lake’s 15 minutes of fame focused worldwide attention on global warming’s effects on Arctic sea ice, the melting is actually part of an annual summer thaw, according to researchers who run the North Pole Environmental Observatory. “The formation of these ponds and their disappearance is part of a natural cycle,” said Axel Schweiger, head of the Applied Physics Laboratory’s Polar Science Center at the University of Washington, which helps run the observatory.
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Is it possible the tectonic plates are shrinking and generating sinkholes?
Albert, www
That was my thoughts, even though they touted it as Global warming and then natural occurances. You know ‘move along, nothing to see here.’ I think it was strange that it drained like you pulled the plug out of the bathtub. Earth’s crust is changing and moving. You are right!