“Time bomb” Permafrost in Arkhangelski Oblast, Russia

Russia, the Eurasian Giant – The Permafrost in the east of Arkhangelsk Oblast.

Yet at the feet of the Arctic Circle, we went to meet a giant to examine a phenomenon, not so well known, that has given its contribution to the global warming.

Permafrost can be a not so common name to many people. It is a soil that is frozen for centuries, it exists in almost all northern regions in the Globe, from Alaska to Canada, from Greenland to Scandinavia and also Russia, the largest country on Earth. Russia is more than 17 million square kilometers in size, however approximately 63% of its territory is Permafrost, extending for kilometers through the frozen plains of Siberia and neighboring oblasts.

This soil has been strongly affected by the climate change for the last decades. Even the most pessimistic ones have imagined the thaw of this sleeping bomb that carries inside its innards, methane, a gas with a greenhouse effect even more harmful and 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

But the inevitable, in an increasingly hotter planet, started to happen: the layer of ice that was considered impermeable has begun to melt. The soil without the gas and ice from erstwhile started to convict urban areas around the Globe, warping buildings, roads and even airstrips. This is the big silent villain that has been released by the thaw of the soil.

Some experts say that Russia could lose 30% of its Permafrost by 2050. We know that CO² is the biggest culprit responsible for the increase of temperature, but if all Permafrost melts and releases its devastating cargo of methane gas, it will cause unthinkable changes to the planet.

We would certainly be in alien territory…