Aerial view of the Batagaika Crater.
The vegetation provides insulation that keeps the ground cool.
There will be more slumps and more gullying, more erosion of the land surface, Dr Murton said.
Photo credit:NASA
The melting of the permafrost has side-effects that are far-reaching than a couple of sinkholes.
The frozen soil contains vast amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide.
Paleogeologists have recovered frozen remains of a bison, a musk ox, mammoth, and a 4,400-year-old horse.
Photo credit: Research Institute of Applied Ecology of the North/Alexander Gabyshev
Satellite image of the Batagaika Crater.
Photo credit:Google Maps
Permafrost thaw ponds in Hudson Bay, Canada.
Photo credit:Steve Jurvetson/Wikimedia
Glacial thaw slump on a lake in Alaska, in 2007.
This feature was roughly 100 m across the widest point at the time this photo was taken.
However, the feature has since expanded significantly.
Photo credit:lternet.edu
Sources:Siberia Times/Vice/Independent
