Ancient Arctic ponds drying up: study

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

MONTREAL (AFP) — Ancient ponds in the Arctic tundra in northern Canada are drying up and some will disappear in less than a quarter-century due to global warming, Canadian researchers report in a new study.

"Using these data, we show that some high Arctic pond ecosystems, which represent the most common aquatic habitat in many polar regions, have desiccated as a consequence of climate change," says the study, published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Biologist and Arctic climate experts John Smol of Queen's University in Ontario, and Marianne Douglas of the University of Alberta, compiled data on the Artic ponds on the eastern edge of Ellesmere Island near the 80th parallel from the early 1980s through last year.

"These data...