In the Far East, the Batagay crater continues to expand, with up to one million cubic meters of frozen ground melting each year. This giant crater in Siberia, known as “Hell’s Gate,” is caused by the melting of permafrost. The crater 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.
Research published in Geomorphology 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 Arctic and ice-rich terrain near the North Pole, with significant ice and sediment loss from Batagay due to its massive size. By 2023, it is expected that Batagay will span 990 meters, significantly larger than its previous width of 790 meters.
Using satellite imagery, field measurements, and laboratory test data on samples from Batagay, researchers have calculated that over 14 Great Pyramids worth of ice and sediment have melted at its rim since it collapsed. Melting rates have remained relatively stable over the past decade along certain edges of
