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.