The soil beneath the slump contains dangerous amounts of organic carbon that will be released into the atmosphere as the permafrost thaws, further fuelling the planet’s warming
The Batagaika crater, the world’s largest one kilometre-long permafrost crater, is expanding at a baffling rate due to the thawing of the permafrost. This has been exacerbated by global warming.
Permafrost is any ground that remains completely frozen — 32°F (0°C) or colder — for at least two years straight. Permafrost is most common in regions with high mountains and in Earth’s higher latitudes — near the North and South Poles.
The crater is located in the Sakha Republic and reaches depths of up to 100 metres. In the 1960s, after deforestation led to the melting of the underground permafrost, it caused the land to sink. Over the years, the crater has only expanded and is locally called ‘the cave-in’ or ‘mega-slump’ by scientists.
Russia is warming about 2.5 times faster than the rest of the world. As a consequence, the long-frozen tundra that covers 65 per cent of the country’s landmass is melting.
This is releasing greenhouse gasses like methane stored in the thawed soil which is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The thawing permafrost causes very tangible, immediate infrastructural damage as well such as buckling roadways, splitting houses, and disrupting pipelines.
When a wildfire breaks out, the thawing fastens.
Scientists are unsure of the exact rate at which the Batagaika crater is expanding. However, they warn that the soil beneath the slump contains dangerous amounts of organic carbon that will be released into the atmosphere as the permafrost thaws, further fuelling the planet's warming.
The Batagaika crater in Russia has now become a very glaring symbol of the impacts of global warming today.
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