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Officials in Nizhegorodskaya region, on the Volga river east of Moscow, said water in the lake might have been sucked down into an underground water-course or cave system, but some villagers had more sinister explanations.

"I am thinking, well, America has finally got to us," said one old woman, as she sat on the ground outside her house.

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...Comparing satellite images made in the early 1970s to those from recent years, a team of U.S. scientists determined that the number of large lakes in a vast 200,000-square-mile region of Russia's Siberia diminished by about 11%, from 10,882 to 9,712.

About 125 of the 1,170 shrunken lakes disappeared altogether, and most are now considerably smaller than the study's baseline of 40 hectares, or about 99 acres, the researchers found...

... In Alaska and western Canada, temperatures have increased by as much as 7 degrees over the last 50 years, according to the assessment, which was concluded last year.

Although the regions experiencing the changes are not home to high numbers of humans, the loss of surface water is expected to affect freshwater supplies for native people in the Arctic. It is also expected to have more immediate and profound effects on Arctic ecosystems, notably the lake habitat that many migratory birds rely upon, Smith said...

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...Hinzman said the study shows it's more than just the northern lakes that are being affected. Glacier-fed rivers are swelling and freshwater flows into the region's oceans are increasing.

Glaciers are degrading rapidly, added Hinzman. In glacier-fed rivers, flows have increased in the past 30 to 50 years.

At the same time, rivers that aren't fed by glaciers are also being altered. "We're getting more evaporation and those rivers are actually decreasing their flows," he said. "We are getting the same thing in the Yukon."

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permafrost is melting and the water is seeping away

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[ 07 June 2005: Message edited by: WingNut ]

How America Is Conquering Russia

And a quote:

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The real story here should be exactly what McClurg mocks: that in fact, Bolotnikovo, like so many villages in this, the largest country on earth, is literally dying, a depressing, slow extinction that normally goes unnoticed, unless an unbelievably grotesque tragedy strikes it-in which case the people with the SUVs and speedboats can cite it as witty material to celebrate their own health, wealth and progress.

Why would a cruel act of nature visited upon a poor remote village inspire a seemingly absurd anti-American outburst from its inhabitants, and triumphant bully-humor in response?

The answer, incredibly enough, is because the Americans really did steal that lake.

No one in America would believe you if you told them this-you'd get that look that they give you, the "Oh come on, please!" sneer that everyone knows too well. It's an argument killer, and it works. But the fact is that America has, by any objective standard, been at war with Russia for nearly two decades, a grossly one-sided war in which the US is quietly conquering more and more territory with the kind of tireless efficiency and success not seen since the days of the Golden Horde.

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But it could also be a freak geological event too. I'd like to know more about it actually.

[ 16 June 2005: Message edited by: Agent 204 ]