Stunning drone footage has revealed details of the Batagaika crater, a one-kilometer-long gash in Russia’s Far East that forms the world’s biggest permafrost crater.
The “gateway to the underworld,” as some locals in Russia’s Sakha Republic also call it, has a scientific name: a mega-slump.And while it may attract tourists, the slump’s expansion is “a sign of danger,” said Nikita Tananayev, lead researcher at the Melnikov Permafrost Institute in Yakutsk.
“In future, with increasing temperatures and with higher anthropogenic pressure, we will see more and more of those mega-slumps forming, until all the permafrost is gone,” Tananayev told Reuters. Thawing permafrost has already threatened cities and towns across northern and northeastern Russia, buckling roadways, splitting apart houses, and disrupting pipelines. Vast wildfires, which have become more intense in recent seasons, exacerbate the problem.Climate change thaws world’s northernmost research station“ was about 20-30 meters away from this path. And now, apparently, it is much closer,” Struchkov said.
Scientists aren’t sure of the exact rate at which the Batagaika crater is expanding. But Tananayev says the soil beneath the slump, which is about 100 meters deep in some areas, contains an “enormous quantity” of organic carbon that will release into the atmosphere as the permafrost thaws, further fueling the planet’s warming.
“With an increasing air temperature we can expect will be expanding at a higher rate,” he said. “This will lead to more and more climate warming in the following years.”Your subscription has been successful.
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