Northern Canada Ponds Drying Up

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Northern Canada Ponds Drying Up

 

 

 

Northern Canada Ponds Drying Up

July 03, 2007 — By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press

 

WASHINGTON -- Ponds that have provided summertime water in the high arctic for

thousands of years are drying up as global warming advances, Canadian

researchers say. Falling water levels and changes in chemistry in the ponds

first were noticed in the 1990s, and by last July some of the ponds that dot the

landscape were dry, according to a report in Tuesday's Proceedings of the

National Academy of Sciences.

 

John P. Smol of Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and Marianne S. V.

Douglas of the University of Alberta in Edmonton have been studying about 40

ponds on Ellesmere Island in northern Canada since 1983.

 

The ponds are habitat for algae and invertebrates such as insect larvae, and

waterfowl use them.

 

Smol likens the warming conditions to a pot of soup on a stove.

 

" If you take the lid off, it is similar to what we are observing in these ponds.

The soup will slowly decrease in volume and it will get saltier and saltier as

the water evaporates, leaving the salts behind. "

 

That same evaporation process is taking place with these ponds, he said.

 

Weather records show there has been no decline in rain and snowfall in the

region and, while some arctic ponds have drained when the permafrost melted

beneath them, these ponds sit above bedrock.

 

Douglas and Smol were able to use paleological techniques to trace the history

of the ponds back thousands of years. " We basically followed them from cradle to

the grave, " Smol said.

 

Changes set in about a century ago, he said, with more mosses growing and

shorter periods of ice, followed by lowering water levels and increasing

salinity until some dried up completely.

 

In addition to the ponds, the researchers also reported a drying of nearby

wetlands.

 

In the 1980s they often needed to wear hip waders to make their way to the

ponds, they noted, while by 2006 the same areas were dry enough to burn.

 

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On the Net:

 

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org

 

 

When I see the price that you pay

I don't wanna grow up

I don't ever want to be that way

I don't wanna grow up

Seems that folks turn into things

that they never want