Arctic lake mysteriously disappears on Novaya Zemlya
A lake has completely disappeared in Arctic Russia in July 2018. via Facebook
This is just incredible! An entire lake has disappeared on the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean in northern Russia as reported by researchers from the project "The Open Ocean: Archipelagos of the Arctic". The expedition was sent in this remote area in an attempt to survey Lake Usacheva, but stumbled upon an empty reservoir with its bottom scarred by cracks and fissures.

A lake has completely disappeared in Arctic Russia in July 2018. via Facebook

Researchers report of their Facebook Page:

"We are not talking here about a small lake near the sea shore, which, for example, can break through the channel and drain into the sea, but about the large and deep lake Usacheva, that is at least 3 kilometers long, and a few kilometers distant from the sea. [...] The guys walked on the dried bottom of the lake for more than one and a half kilometers, and as shown in the photographs, it's a continuous clay desert, covered with a grid of cracks and fissures from erosion [...] "

Arctic lake mysteriously disappears on Novaya Zemlya
The 3 km large reservoir is empty and its bottom is scarred with cracks and fissures... A clay desert. via Facebook
According to the State Water Register, the now empty reservoir is located a few kilometers from the Shokalskyi Glacier - the largest on Novaya Zemlya. And, judging by the information of the national park "Russian Arctic", the staff of this specially protected natural area visited the area recently. And the lake was still there!

Arctic lake mysteriously disappears on Novaya Zemlya
A reservoir just beside the empty lake still has its water. Scientists are baffled and cannot explain where the water has disappeared. via Facebook
Such strange discoveries are totally baffling even for scientists. A similar event occurred in glacier lake in Iceland. The reservoir disappeared in a crack and reappeared several years later.

Location of the Shokalsky Glacier
Location of the Shokalsky Glacier on the island of the Northern Archipelago Novaya Zemlya.. The lake that disappeared is one of the 5 reservoirs filled up by the ice melting of the glacier. via Map Wikipedia
Maybe a near identical geological event happened on Novaya Zemlya, northern Russia this month. Next scientific expeditions will try to debunk this new Earth mystery!