In the northwest of Siberia, in Russia, it has been developed for many years one of the most visible and fascinating aspects of global warming. It is the valley of Batagaika, which is also known as ‘The Gate of Hell‘and which is the greatest flood in the world because of melting of frozen ground, permafrost.
These areas, like the Arctic, are mixed with ice that remains permanently frozen. However, the rapid increase in global temperatures is causing melting in many areas, and one of them (the most interesting) is this great depression. That is unusual Scientists have recently confirmed that the Batagaika valley does not growand this has a very negative effect on the weather.
They never stop growing
These courses It already covers 87 hectares of land and continues to grow every year. An article published in the journal Geomorphology this summer shows that in June 2023, the valley reached 990 meters in width, meaning that. an increase of 200 meters in the last ten years. During this time, its length has increased from one to two kilometers, and the depth has already reached 100 meters in some places.
In ten years, it has grown a lot / Organizations
Also, the melting of the ice causes between 4,000 and 5,000 tons of organic carbon to be released into the atmosphere each year.trapped in the permafrost, which only adds more CO2, which is the cause of the warming that has caused the valley.
According to this study, Falling occurs at the rate of one million cubic meters per year, according to the most recent data. Of all these things, three quarters are ice and the rest are mud.
Depression started in the 1970’s and started like a small spring which was completely unrecognizable by almost everyone. In fact, at that time global warming was a minor problem for all people. However, things were going well and until 2023, a series of landslides have dragged on “23.4 million cubic meters of melted ice and 11.3 million cubic meters of thawed deposits“, according to the scientists who wrote the report.
Why does it release CO2 into the atmosphere?
But why is the release of CO2 into the atmosphere caused by this melting? This should be considered Permafrost, or frozen ground, accumulates a lot of organic matter (remains of plants and small animals) that have been trapped there for centuries. Once freed from the ice, these organisms decompose and release gases into the atmosphere.
In some places, the depth is 100 meters / Organizations
And, although under ideal conditions, temperatures can exceed 30ºC in the summer of the Arctic regions, global warming has increased and is melting more and more water, which scientists predict will increase in the coming years.
In fact, what happens in this depression or ‘Gate to Hell’ in Siberia It is exactly the same thing that happens in many other parts of the Earth, where the ice masses are melting at a speed never seen before. From Greenland to the Alps, through Antarctica, the loss of ice is increasing and this is raising sea levels, and increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Reference lesson: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169555X24001338
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Contact the Environment department: crisisclimatica@prensaiberica.es
