The Vanishing Face of Siberia: The Melting of the Batagay Crater
The Batagay crater in the Far East has been continuously expanding, with the volume of frozen ground melting each year reaching up to one million cubic meters. Research published in the journal Geomorphology shows that the giant crater in Siberia known as “Hell’s Gate” expands by one million cubic meters a year as permafrost melts. The crater, also called Batagaika, was first discovered via satellite images in 1991 after a hillside collapsed in the Yana Uplands region of northern Yakutia, Russia. The exposed layer of permafrost in the remains of the hillside has been frozen for 650,000 years, making it the oldest permafrost in Siberia and the second oldest in the world.
New research shows that the cliff face of the Batagay crater is shrinking at a rate of 12 meters per year as frozen soil thaws. The collapsed portion of the hillside 55 meters below the cliff face is also rapidly melting and sinking. This rapid thawing is occurring in the Arctic and ice-rich terrain near the North Pole, with significant ice and sediment loss from the Batagay crater due to its massive size. The crater is expected to span 990 meters by 2023, making it significantly larger than its 2014 width of 790 meters.
By examining satellite images, taking field measurements, and analyzing laboratory test data on samples from Batagay, researchers calculated that more than 14 Great Pyramids of Giza worth of ice and sediment have melted at the crater’s rim since it collapsed. Melting rates have remained relatively stable over the past decade, primarily along the cliff face at
