Science Alert September 2, 2020
A bubble of methane gas, swelling beneath Siberia’s melting permafrost for who knows how long, has burst open to form an impressive 50-metre-deep (164-foot-deep) crater throwing chunks of ice and rock hundreds of metres away from the epicentre. It is not clear when the hole formed, or if climate change played a role. The giant holes are thought to result from the sudden collapse of hills, or swellings of tundra, which themselves form when melting permafrost causes a build-up of methane beneath the surface. Methane is 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so the release of vast stores of this gas could kickstart a vicious feedback loop that stands to make the current global climate crisis even more dire. Scientists are also worried the melting permafrost unleashing ancient diseases we know nothing about…read more.
Credit: The Siberian Times