Shrinking Lakes Of Siberia Blamed On Global Warming  

The Guardian has a follow up to recent stories about disappearing lakes in Siberia.

Lakes in two large swaths of Siberia are shrinking in size and 125 of them have disappeared altogether, a US study revealed yesterday.

Scientists have examined satellite photographs of 190,000 square miles of Siberia, two areas stretching south between the Ural mountains and the Arctic mining town of Norilsk. They claim the disappearance of the lakes is a consequence of global warming. The warning comes as Tony Blair flies to Moscow this Sunday to secure the support of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, for G8 action on climate change.

While there were 10,882 lakes larger than 40 hectares (100 acres) in 1971, there were only 9,712, in 1997 - a decline of 11%. Published in the journal Science, the study concluded: "The ultimate effect of continued climate warming on high-latitude, permafrost-controlled lakes and wetlands may well be their widespread disappearance."