Drying Ponds and Buttercups

Observation: I grew up gathering buttercups for subsistence, since childhood, they grow in marshy land or ponds. This spring they're not as tall like they normally are during this time of the year. Is this due to drying of the ponds, that potentially could be an indicator that the permafrost is getting lower and lower each year. I went to gather some yesterday and there was no water to speak of; in a pond that's has been filled with water my whole life. I am 47 years old.

LEO says: Many lakes in the Arctic are perched on top of frozen ground. Permafrost is by definition ground that has been frozen for two years or longer. As temperatures have warmed, the seasonal 'thaw zone' above the permafrost has grown larger. This means that the depth of the seasonally thawed ground above the permafrost is getting deeper. This is important because when either the thaw zone changes, the lakes and rivers above it can also change. Sometimes the lakes grow larger as thawing ground releases water. Sometimes the lakes drain and other times they dry as the water seeps into the soil. M. Brubaker