Reports on global warming from Siberia

New warning about climate change linked to peat bogs

Expert says deadly gas released from melting permafrost region will lead to 'awful' consequences for global warming.

By Vera Salnitskaya

Thaw of the frozen bogs, which take up as much as 80 per cent of the landmass of western Siberia, will release billions of tonnes of methane. Picture: Sergey Kirpotin

the Siberian Times,

5 May, 2015

A leading Siberian scientist has delivered another stark warning about climate change and said melting peat bogs could speed up the process.

Professor Sergey Kirpotin, director of the BioClimLand Centre of Excellence for Climate Change Research in Tomsk, said he has concerns over the 'awful' consequences in Russia’s sub-Arctic region.

He said that a thaw of the frozen bogs, which take up as much as 80 per cent of the landmass of western Siberia, will release billions of tonnes of methane – a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide – into the atmosphere. That, he concluded, will greatly speed up the effects of global warming around the world with potentially devastating consequences.

Prof Kirpotin, 51, first made the discovery about the threat 10 years ago when it was found the permafrost melting for the first time since being formed at the end of the Ice Age. Picture: Vera Salnitskaya

'Bogs are extremely important for humanity,' explained Prof Kirpotin. 'Over thousands of years bogs have been absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it at peat deposits. Carbon is a basic component of greenhouse gases. This way, bogs function as a sort of natural freezer as they don’t let the carbon build up in the atmosphere.

'However, the permafrost in northern areas of western Siberia has started melting. As the permafrost thaws, it creates new lakes and old ones get bigger. This way, all the organics trapped in permafrost started decomposing rather quickly. Obviously, a lot of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are released into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.'

He added: 'There is a so-called methane threat in the north of the bog. On top of that, the ice shelf is also thawing releasing methane hydrates and something really awful is happening.'

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Probes with methane. Sergey Kirpotin(left) and Rinat Manasypov holding the probes of snow, taken on Vasyugan Mire this winter. Pictures: Vera Salnitskaya

Various experts have been examining Siberia’s bog land, and its changing conditions, for decades. The bogs covering western Siberia spread out to a total of 7.5million hectares and give the region a unique eco-system. Within this region, the Vasyugan Mire bog is the largest anywhere in the world.

At more than 53,000km sq in size – making it bigger than Switzerland – Vasyugan Mire is 10,000-years-old and is famous around the world for its rare flora and fauna. Under ice and snow for much of the year, recently tourism officials launched a bid to attract wildlife lovers and environmentalists to the area.

The BioClimLand centre was established a year ago and mainly focuses on climate studies, with a special laboratory for biochemical and remote environment monitoring.

Prof Kirpotin, 51, first made the discovery about the threat 10 years ago when it was found the permafrost melting for the first time since being formed at the end of the Ice Age.

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'Bogs are extremely important for humanity. Over thousands of years bogs have been absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it at peat deposits.' Pictures: Sergey Kirpotin

He warned at the time that it could be an 'ecological landslide that is probably irreversible'. Now it seems the situation is more advanced than first thought. He said: 'The Arctic regions are more subject to climate change. There are so-called hot spots in the Arctic and northern western Siberia is one of them.

'That’s happening for a few reasons. Scandinavia is warmed by the Gulfstream so the changes there are not as rapid. Canada and Alaska have shorter meridional lengths. Siberia is the largest Arctic territory in the world, besides, there is a vast climate change [from continental] to extreme continental as you move from the west to the east. This way the changes in western Siberia are more extreme and dramatic than elsewhere in the world.'

The new warning comes just weeks after another Russian expert said the Arctic could be completely ice-free within just 40 years.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Oleg Anisimov said there is now evidence that temperatures are rising four times faster in the frozen region than the rest of the planet.

It would mean open water at the top of the world by 2050, with nothing more than a few floating icebergs where the North Pole was once located

Will the Arctic be ice-free in 40 years? Expert claims temperatures in polar regions are rising four times faster than the rest of the planet

• Professor Oleg Anisimov said Arctic temperatures are rising fast

• This means that there will be open water in the polar region by the 2050s
• Forecasts that the region's temperature will rise by 7°C within a century
• Melting permafrost is already causing damage

Daily Mail,

25 February, 2015

The Arctic could be completely free of ice in just 40 years as a result of global warming, one of the world's leading climate change experts has warned.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Oleg Anisimov said there is evidence that temperatures are rising four times faster in the frozen region than the rest of the planet.

This means that there will only be open water in the polar region by the 2050s, with nothing more than a few floating icebergs at the North Pole, according to the Russian academic.

Alarming: The Arctic could be completely free of ice in just 40 years as a result of global warming, one of the world's leading climate change experts has warned. This map shows rates of erosion on the Arctic coast, with the fastest rates marked in red

Professor Anisimov, from the State Hydrological Institute in St Petersburg, gave his stark warning during a lecture in the Sakha Republic - the coldest part of Russia.

He forecasts that the region will see temperature rises of up to 7°C within a century.

‘For several reasons, the Arctic climate change is more intense and faster than in other regions. There is a reduction in snow and ice cover, which has a protective function,’ he said.

‘On average over the last year, the minimum area of sea ice has decreased from 5.4 to 5.3 million square kilometres [two million square miles]. Over the past 10 years, the reduction of sea ice in the Arctic was by 13.7 per cent.

Shocking pictures from Siberia (one is pictured) show the collapse of buildings due to melting permafrost. According to environmentalists, as the snow and ice melts, the ability of the Arctic region to reflect heat back into space is reduced and the rate of global warming is accelerated once more

Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Oleg Anisimov (pictured) said there is evidence that temperatures are rising four times faster in the frozen region than the rest of the planet

‘By the middle of the century it may be that the Arctic Ocean will be completely ice free.’

Environmentalists and climate change scientists have long known about the potential disaster in the Arctic as a result of rising global temperatures. 

The Yakutia region is experiencing climate change at a rapid rate and a 1884 map (pictured) shows Arctic islands that have already vanished

The sea ice is already at the lowest ever level recorded, with the WWF warning that a rise of just 2°C would be enough to melt the remaining floes.

As well as rising sea waters, climate change could threaten delicate ecosystems and marine life.

According to environmentalists, as the snow and ice melts, the ability of the Arctic region to reflect heat back into space is reduced and the rate of global warming is accelerated once more.

This could spark increasing numbers of forest fires and unpredictable storms and, at worst, bring a halt to the Gulf Stream which warms Europe.

The Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, is experiencing climate change at a quicker rate than other parts of the world, The Siberian Times reported.

A map of the region from 1884 is already radically different to today's, with Arctic islands having vanished under rising sea waters.

Professor Anisimov predicts overall increases of about 7°C by next century in Russia's frozen north.

Shocking pictures from Siberia highlighted by the academic show the collapse of buildings due to melting permafrost.

In 2007, as part of an Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for research on the impact of global warming, and is considered one of the world's most eminent experts on the subject.

He said: ‘If the global temperature got warmer by 0.85°C in 100 years, in Yakutia the winter temperature will have increased by 3.5°C.

Professor Anisimov said: ‘If the global temperature got warmer by 0.85°C in 100 years, in Yakutia the winter temperature will have increased by 3.5°C.' This picture shows s house destroyed by melting ice on Yenisey - the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean

As well as erosion (areas of which are marked on this map), climate change has been blamed for the series of unexplained craters appearing throughout Russia

‘That is, global warming here is four times faster. According to our forecasts, the temperature in the north will increase by six to seven degrees by the 2100s.’

Other scientists have already speculated that global warming could be partly responsible for the series of unexplained craters appearing throughout Russia.

They believe warming air is melting thick permafrost, leading to the accumulation and release of volatile ‘fire ice’ gases which then explode to create the giant craters.

Almost two thirds of the Russian land mass lies within a permafrost zone and there are concerns that any melting of this could cause potential problems for infrastructure, such as buildings in cities and pipelines.

‘Projected changes in the permafrost seriously threaten the Russian economy, primarily due to the increased risk of damage to the infrastructure of the Far North,’ Professor Anisimov said.

The US-based Natural Resources Defence Council said it is vital to pay attention to environmental changes at the top of the world.

‘The Arctic is global warming’s canary in the coal mine.

Most scientists view what is happening now in the Arctic as a harbinger of things to come,’ the council said.

...GLOBAL WARMING MAY BE THE CAUSE OF ENORMOUS HOLES IN RUSSIA

Four new mysterious giant craters have appeared in the Siberian permafrost in northern Russia, sparking fears that global warming may be causing gas to erupt from underground.

Scientists spotted the new holes, along with dozens of other smaller ones, in the same area as three other enormous craters that were spotted on the Yamal Peninsula last year.

The craters are thought to be caused by eruptions of methane gas from the permafrost as rising rising temperatures causes the frozen soil to melt.

It has sparked fears that the craters could become more common as climate change continues to warm and led to warnings that the area is facing a looming natural нdisaster.

Unexplained: The first of the new craters discovered, named B1 (pictured above), shows signs of an huge eruption of gas. Four new mysterious giant craters have appeared in the Siberian permafrost in northern Russia, sparking fears that global warming may be causing gas to erupt from underground

One of new craters, surrounded by at least 20 smaller holes, is just six miles from a major gas production plant.

Experts have predicted there could be up to 30 more are waiting to be discovered.

Scientists, however, are still largely baffled by the exact processes causing the craters.

Professor Vasily Bogoyavlensky, deputy director of the Moscow-based Oil and Gas Research Institute, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has called for 'urgent' investigation of the new phenomenon amid safety feыrs.

Until now, the existence of only three Siberian craters had been established when great caverns in the frozen landscape were spotted by passing helicopter pilots.

'We know now of seven craters in the Arctic area,' Professor Bogoyavlensky told The Siberian Times.

'Five are directly on the Yamal peninsula, one in Yamal Autonomous district, and one is on the north of the Krasnoyarsk region, near the Taimyr peninsula.

'We have exact locations for only four of them. The other three were spotted by reindeer herders.

'But I am sure that there are more craters on Yamal, we just need to search for them. I would compare this with mushrooms.

'When you find one mushroom, be sure there are few more around. I suppose there could be 20 to 30 craters more.'

Two of the newly-discovered large craters - also known as funnels to scientists - have turned into lakes, revealed Professor Bogoyavlensky.

'It is important not to scare people, but this is a very serious problem. We must research this phenomenon urgently to prevent possible disasters.

'We cannot rule out new gas emissions in the Arctic and in some cases they can ignite.'

Global warming could happen quicker in Russia's coldest region

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The collapse of the corner of the building in the center of Yakutsk in 1999, pictured by Mikhail Grigoriev. The building of a military unit, located in the lower reaches of the Yenisei River, badly damaged by thawing of permafrost and collapsed due to the melting of permafrost section of the building in Chersky settlement pictured by Vladimir Romanovskiy/University of Alaska Fairbanks