14 DAY TRIAL // Here's to hoping Santa Claus' home insurance covers floods. Scientists say that the North Pole has turned into a lake, and that it will be a while before it refreezes.
Researchers at the North Pole Environmental Observatory explain that the lake started forming nearly two weeks ago, on July 13.
It came into being due to higher than average temperatures recorded in the region.
Thus, portions of the surface of the Arctic Ocean reportedly warmed some 1 – 3 degrees Celsius (2 – 5 degrees Fahrenheit) more than the average for this time of the year.
This phenomenon caused ice shelves in this part of the world to melt, specialists detail. The melting ice eventually led to the formation of a lake that measures approximately one foot (about 0.3 meters) in depth.
Information shared with the public says that, at first, the surface of the ice started sprouting relatively small ponds of meltwater.
These ponds came to form networks that, in time, developed into a lake.
Since water absorbs more radiation from the sun than ice does, researchers suspect that the lake will grow deeper in the days to come, Daily Mail reports.
More so given the fact that the area is currently battered by an Arctic cyclone whose presence in the region will surely boost the melting process by fracturing ice shelves and leaving them more vulnerable to the warm weather.
Researchers maintain that, as shocking as the news that the North Pole turned into a lake might be, there really isn't anything to worry about.
They say that lakes have formed at the North Pole before, and that they will form again. Apparently, the month of July and the first few days of August constitute the so-called Arctic melting season.
It is within this time frame that ice in the far north regions of our planet melts the fastest. Once local temperatures drop, the area refreezes.