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WHEN A HELICOPTER pilot spotted the first crater in the summer of 2014, everyone was baffled.
The 100-foot-wide hole appeared in Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula seemingly out of nowhere, during a tense season of Russian military action in Ukraine and international sanctions.
And then more appeared. Lacking a better explanation, aliens and underground missiles were floated as possible theories, according to the Washington Post.
But the truth is that the holes might come from a threat not even Mulder and Scully are equipped to handle: climate change.
Scientific American reports that Arctic zones are warming at a breakneck pace. As a result, US scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration think that permafrost, the permanently frozen ground that covers the tundra, is starting to thaw in these warmer temperatures.
So how does frozen methane blow a 100-foot-wide hole in the ground?
Given low enough temperatures and high enough pressure, methane and water can freeze together into what’s called a “methane hydrate”.
Permafrost keeps everything bottled up but when it thaws, so does the hydrate. Methane is released as a gas, building up pressure — until the ground explodes.
Scientists gained more evidence for this theory after an expedition to the bottom of the crater.
It revealed the air had an extraordinarily high concentration of methane.
It’s not just explosions and melting permafrost we should worry about, either. The US EPA states that methane is a greenhouse gas that could have 25 times the impact of carbon dioxide over the next century.
A significant addition to methane emissions would likely have a disastrous impact on our already troubling atmospheric warming, since it’s 21 times better at trapping heat, according to LiveScience.
Several outlets have even gone so far as to call this problem a “time bomb“.
And it gets worse: One of the craters is just 6 miles from a natural gas field. The Siberian Times reported the combination of the two flammable materials in such close proximity is a huge safety concern for the area. (At least two of the craters have since turned into lakes).
There may be an alternate explanation, though. Land can collapse without a burst of methane in something called a pingo, which form when ice is trapped between layers of earth and distorts the top layer into a sort of mound. Thawing can make those mounds suddenly collapse.
Even if the craters are the result of collapsing pingos, they’re still likely the result of climate change (and still dangerous).
Pingo or exploding crater, it’s clear that climate change is impacting the Arctic more rapidly than any other place on Earth, but researchers are only beginning to grasp how unprecedented warming will effect northern ecosystems.
During his visit to Alaska in September 2015, President Barack Obama echoed the common sentiment that the Arctic is “ground zero” for climate change.
These mysterious Siberian craters seem to be yet another warning sign that human-caused climate change is quickly spinning out of control, causing new and unpredictable changes along the way.
- Sarah Kramer
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Foster could’ve helped the situation by not allowing people on to the island from Britain. The woman’s insufferable
@Pól Ó’hAodha: The head on her.
@Vonvonic: very sad that this inane comment would get 70 likes.
@Vonvonic: If she looked at a litre of milk, it would turn sour!
@Ann Basquille Smith: I’m.not sure I’d you’re acquainted with the expression but it had more to.do.with her attitude than her looks.
@Vonvonic: *sure if you’re…
Were Arlene et al of a mind to share the passenger information of those who landed in Belfast Airport and off the ferry in Larne? Not to mention the amount of her fellow country men and women travelling into the “free state” to work when our numbers were low and they were riddled? She’s a pox bottle!
@Barry Evans: You lost me at “pox”.
@Fachtna Roe: didn’t realise my statement was that hard to follow…….
I would assume there’s a GDPR issue considering the north’s is in the UK and not an EU state any longer. Sharing peoples location and movements would breach Eu privacy laws. If only they could join some type of contenental collective union so we could work together and share information without problems like this.
@Colm Walsh: Perhaps they could even reunite with the rest of the country. Arlene has done more for Irish reunification in the past few years than anyone.
@Colm Walsh: Can you kindly keep your sensible logic away from the Journal’s sensationalist posts. We’re trying to foment anger and surface level opinions here, not to educate people on simple reasoning and looking for contextual information. Sincerely, Brendan.
@Seán Óg: oh Sean Og shes gonna love your comment. She could blow a head gasket
@Colm Walsh: precisely.
@Colm Walsh: Personal data used by GCHQ for surveillance purposes. No way!!
FFG would want to get there house in order,we are handed a perfect opportunity to hand an olive branch out to Northern Ireland with both brexit and Covid has thrown the dust up.our Taoiseach waffling on about maybe in 5 years time to ask the question about a border pole,until then he don’t want to know,our tanaiste blaming Sinn Fein on everything instead of showing a strong hand with them with Northern Ireland.baffling
@reginald: FG and FF don’t want a border poll. In 5 years time they will say “in 5 years time” ad infinitum.
@reginald: I don’t think a lot of our present government, but to fair to them, they tried to get Northern Ireland to take an all ireland approach to covid 19 at the very start and to try work with the Republic to do the same as New Zealand did and secure the borders entire island of Ireland.
But his was dismissed by Arlene and her cronies, stating that they as part of the UK, would take a UK stance on the matter.
Brexit was helped into reality by Arlene and the DUP playing politics, instead of being concerned with the outcome of Brexit for all the people of Northern Ireland.
And now when they have left the EU and realised their glorious sovereignty as an independent United kingdom, now they want to complain about a lack of cooperation on the Island of Ireland???
Now that’s ironic!
@Seán Óg: Seems to be a misconception by many that a border poll would go the way of a United Ireland when in fact polls don’t indicate that at present. There’s a risk of “jumping the gun” and being colonial about the whole thing. If the aim is just to annex NI against their will, that wouldn’t make Ireland a whole lot better than the English..
The “long game” being played, of aligning NI economically more with Europe instead of Britain, changing supply chains, soft power with things like Erasmus and EU passports, letting NI people realize that the DUP/Westminster aren’t doing much good – these are wise and correct ways to go about UI. The best way is to have a *clear* majority there who conclude that they will be better off in an inclusive Ireland whichever nationality they identify as.
@Seán Óg: Correct – “The time is not right” in 2121, they will still be saying the time is not right. Unionists will call for talks around a border poll before FF and FG.
A bit of a spat now would be very timely indeed. Button it Arlene ffs.
@Vonvonic: Just a smokescreen to hide from the fact that the supermarket shelves in the north are empty due to DUP incompetence and a belief that Boris had their best interests at heart. Should have taken Mrs May’s deal instead of stabbing her in the back.
@Seán Óg: Indeed. The sweetest deal of all was the one offered to Cameron not to have the referendum in the first place. Dominos.
This works 2 ways and you allowed flights into Belfast & Derry and the ferry into Larne it was ye who allowed most people into the island so were is your paper work on all those you allowed in when the South had stopped UK travel. Majority of these passengers and you knew full well came to the South and you didn’t blink an eye about this.
I seen the photo then misread the headline as “Leaders in North Korea..”
@Humphrey De Fluff: well kim has better hair than arlene for a start…
@Paddy Kennedy: lol very good
GDPR rules.
I don’t think it would be appropriate to share that type of information with a foreign power, and non EU member.
@John Mulligan: Absolutely correct. Personal data which would be used by GCHQ for surveillance purposes.
This gave me a good laugh . They have a worse problem than us and thousands cross the border daily and weekly to work in the south.
Fair play to Arlene
@Rorymcrory: Why?
@Setanta Stylfox: She’s done yards more for Irish unity than any other party
Apparently she’s a lovely bloke.
Oh F off Robbie Coltrane
Why would we share personal data with the UK which would then be used by GCHQ for surveillance purposes. Another example of the NoI’s disconnect with the real world. Then again GCHQ probably have the data anyway through hacking the Republic’s systems without our knowing it.
They couldn’t agree on what cereal to have for breakfast up there.
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