{"id":28975,"date":"2023-07-25T21:13:31","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=current-affairs&#038;p=28975"},"modified":"2023-07-25T21:13:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:43:31","slug":"expansion-of-permafrost-thawing-batagaika-crater","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/expansion-of-permafrost-thawing-batagaika-crater","title":{"rendered":"Expansion of Permafrost Thawing: Batagaika Crater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Context:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Batagaika crater<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the world&#8217;s largest permafrost crater, is expanding at an alarming rate due to the thawing of the permafrost, a phenomenon catalysed by global warming.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>About\u00a0 Batagaika crater:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Location<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The crater is located in the <\/span><b>Sakha Republic<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sakha is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>one-kilometre-long gash<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that reaches depths of up to 100 metres.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It began forming in the 1960s after <\/span><b>deforestation led to the melting of the underground permafrost, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">causing the land to sink.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is Permafrost?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-28976 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/25.4-222x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"222\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/25.4-222x300.png 222w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/25.4-360x486.png 360w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/25.4.png 376w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Frozen Region: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Permafrost is a type of ground or soil that <\/span><b>remains frozen at or below the freezing point<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit) <\/span><b>for two or more consecutive years<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>High latitude regions: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is found in regions where the temperature remains consistently cold throughout the year, typically in <\/span><b>high-latitude regions near the poles, such as in the Arctic and subarctic regions.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Impact of permafrost thawing:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Infrastructure Damage:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The thawing permafrost has had devastating effects on n<\/span><b>orthern and northeastern Russia,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> causing infrastructure damage such as buckling roadways, splitting houses, and disrupting pipelines.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Release of greenhouse gases:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The permafrost holds gigatonnes of methane and carbon dioxide in the subsoil.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Accelerating Warming:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Their gradual release would lead to an acceleration of global warming which in turn would accelerate the melting of the remaining permafrost, a phenomenon known as the <\/span><b>permafrost carbon feedback cycle.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Release of viruses and bacteria: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists have found microbes that are over 400,000 years old in permafrost.Many of the viruses that have plagued humanity such as <\/span><b>bubonic plague and smallpox <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are believed to lie dormant in this frozen stratum.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Damage to ecosystems and their biodiversity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Melting Siberian permafrost is turning tundra into muddy landscapes,<\/span><b> killing local flora and starving wildlife <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that feeds on it.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When permafrost beneath lakes melts, water seeps into the ground and disappears, causing droughts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Landslides and geological accidents:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Cities built on permafrost can experience landslides as the cement-like ice melts. The Batagaika crater, <\/span><b>caused by thawing permafrost and deforestation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, best illustrates the problem.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiatoday.in\/science\/story\/worlds-biggest-permafrost-crater-has-a-warning-for-earth-2410945-2023-07-24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>India Today\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context:\u00a0 The Batagaika crater, the world&#8217;s largest permafrost crater, is expanding at an alarming rate due to the thawing of the permafrost, a phenomenon catalysed by global warming. About\u00a0 Batagaika crater: Location: The crater is located in the Sakha Republic. Sakha is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/expansion-of-permafrost-thawing-batagaika-crater\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Expansion of Permafrost Thawing: Batagaika Crater<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[2906,722,2907],"paper-wise":[2089],"subject":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/28975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/current-affairs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/28975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28975"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=28975"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=28975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}