125 Large Northern Lakes Disappear

"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."
Changes seem to come abruptly.

"From what we can tell from space, a lake is either just fine or it´s gone," Smith said.

The sudden draining could alter entire continental ecosystems, affecting birds and other wildlife that depend on the waterways, Smith and his colleagues say. Migratory birds count on the lakes during summer to feed their young.

The research is reported today in the journal Science.