In one of the planet's coldest places, 130 km south of Russia's Arctic coast, scientist Sergey Zimov can find no sign of permafrost as global warming permeates Siberia's soil.
As everything from mammoth bones to ancient vegetation frozen inside it for millennia thaws and decomposes, it now threatens to release vast amounts of greenhouse gases.
Permafrost covers 65% of Russia's landmass and about a quarter of the northern landmass. Scientists say that greenhouse gas emissions from its thaw could eventually match or even exceed the European Union's industrial emissions due to the sheer volume of decaying organic matter. Whole cities sit on permafrost and its thawing could cost Russia 7 trillion roubles in damage by 2050 if the rate of warming continues, scientists say.
Bison were trucked and shipped this summer from Denmark, along the Northern Sea Route, past polar bears and walruses and through weeks-long storms, before their ship finally turned into the mouth of the Kolyma River towards their new home some 6,000 kilometres to the east. And global-scale models suggest introducing big herbivores onto the tundra could stop 37% of Arctic permafrost from thawing, the paper said.Nikita Zimov, Sergey’s son, was walking in the shallows of the river Kolyma at Duvanny Yar in September when he fished out a mammoth tusk and tooth.
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