09.02.10
Siberia is Melting
Frozenology
Tony Wood: Siberia is MeltingThe apocalyptic scenes in European Russia – thousands burned out of their homes, millions of hectares of crops destroyed, Moscow wreathed in smoke from smouldering peat bogs – have dominated news reports. Further east, as Tony Wood discovered, the permafrost is melting. The city of Yakutsk is in the middle of the coldest inhabited region on earth, the Sakha Republic. Temperatures of -68°C have been recorded there. The permafrost extends 250 to 350 metres below the city. Elsewhere it reaches depths of almost a mile. The effects its melting will have, both locally and globally, are potentially devastating