MOSCOW, March 22 Russian scientists have identified the reason for the regular discharge of water in Lake Spartakovskoye on the Bolshevik Island of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, this is due to climate warming and the retreat of glaciers, the press service of the Arctic and the Antarctic Research Institute (AARI).
Lake Spartakovskoe is part of the sea fiord Spartak. It became a lake as a result of the blocking of part of the fjord by an outlet glacier that descended from the Semenov-Tyan-Shansky ice dome. The last discharge of water from the lake was recorded by Russian scientists in August 2021. Then the water was completely gone, which had never happened before.
«The identified fluctuations in the water level in Lake Spartakovskoye and a complete descent in 2021 indicate that there is a high probability of the disappearance of this reservoir, as well as other glacial lakes as a result of climate warming and the retreat of outlet glaciers that block the fiord valleys,» the institute said.
However, according to scientists, taking into account the climatic data obtained in the course of research on Severnaya Zemlya, one cannot exclude the revival of Lake Spartakovsky, as well as other periglacial lakes of the archipelago, as a result of new phases of glaciation in the Arctic.
Back in April 2021, the water level in Lake Spartakovskoye was at a height of 100 meters above sea level. In August, there was a complete descent of water from the lake. Photo fixation revealed that the lake was lowered in 117 hours. The water flow during the descent reached 2000 m3/s, which is comparable to the flow of the Neva River.
Scientists have found that the accumulation of water in the lake occurs as a result of the melting of the Semenov-Tyan-Shansky and Voitsekhovsky glaciers and depends on the amount of heat in the summer seasons. Summer heat inflows to Severnaya Zemlya are repeated every 5-10 years. In this regard, the accumulation of water in the lake bath is uneven. Scientists also found that the high water level in the lake leads to the fact that the waters under the glacier break into the Spartak fiord. In previous decades, this happened every 8-10 years.