Arctic horror warning as melting ice creates ‘giant sinkhole’ on seabed

Shackleton's ship 'Endurance' found off the coast of Antarctica

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Scientists say that one of the sink holes is forming “extraordinarily” quickly on a rather remote area on the seafloor The experts used an autonomous underwater vehicle operated remotely, as well as a ship-mounted sonar to uncover the shocking revelation in the Beaufort Sea in Canada. But the researchers say the changes they have found are not new, instead occurring between 2010 and 2019.

Four mapping surveys of the area were conducted, covering ground which stretched up to 10 square miles (26 square kilometers).

They found that the subsea permafrost, which is permanently frozen ground 500 feet is experiencing “extraordinarily rapid morphologic changes”.

The biggest one was 95 feet deep, 738 feet long, and 312 feet wide.

But in total, they found around 41 holes, at about 22 feet deep on average.

They also discovered ice-filled hills that were around 33 feet high and 164 feet wide on average.

A study was published on Monday PNAS detailing the findings.

Study co-author Charlie Paull from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute said: “We know that big changes are happening across the Arctic landscape, but this is the first time we’ve been able to deploy technology to see that changes are happening offshore too.

“Clearly, such large changes would have significant implications for any infrastructure that might be placed on the seafloor. Currently, there is little infrastructure in this remote region of the Arctic. However, this may change as continued warming makes the region more accessible,”

But interestingly, the trends in the melting ice did not suggest that it has been caused by climate change.

Instead, Mr Paull said that the “evidence suggests that the submarine features we observed forming are essentially sinkholes and retreating scarps, collapsing into void space left behind by the thawing of ice-rich permafrost”.

He added that this is caused by heat getting carried in at a slow pace in the groundwater systems.

Thawing permafrost has resulted in dramatic to changes to the Arctic landscape.

This includes alterations like ground collapses, the formation and disappearance of lakes, and the emergence of mounds known as pingos.

In the Russian Arctic, huge craters were created by a build-up of methane gas which in the ground that exploded unexpectedly.

But the research team said the it is unlikely that these sinkholes were created by that process.

DON’T MISS 
India hands Russia lifeline: Modi and Putin poised for huge deal [INSIGHT] 
ISS horror: Putin sparks panic for 2 NASA astronauts as they spacewalk [REVEAL] 
Ancient Egypt researchers’ astonishing find in Tutankhamun’s tomb [REPORT] 

Their study was the first on to survey area of submerged permafrost in this particular way.

Mr Paull said: “Since this is the first study of the decay of submerged permafrost, we don’t have long-term data for the seafloor temperature in this region. The data we do have aren’t showing a warming trend in these waters 150 meters (almost 500 feet) deep.”

Last year, Arctic sea ice has reached the second lowest levels on record, according to researchers who described it as a “crazy year up north”.

The minimum levels it reached that year were 3.74 million square kilometres (1.44 million square miles) on September 15, according to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Mark Serreze, director of NSIDC, said: “It’s been a crazy year up north, with sea ice at a near-record low… heat waves in Siberia, and massive forest fires.

“The year 2020 will stand as an exclamation point on the downward trend in Arctic sea ice extent. We are headed towards a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean, and this year is another nail in the coffin.”

Source: Read Full Article

Previous post ‘Kyiv will be defended!’ Citizens prepare for battle as Russia begins missile attacks
Next post Google Maps user spots huge wooden ‘pirate ship’ sailing off the coast of Brazil