Table of Contents
Page 1
(VIDEO 34 sec.) Helicopter pilot’s video that brought Siberian craters to world attention
Scientists are still searching for the cause of Siberia’s giant craters
(VIDEO 3:28 MINUTES) Two new craters were discovered in late July, 2014, in the Yamal and Taymyr Peninsulas in northern Siberia.
Of the second and third new Siberian craters found, one had appeared in 2013.
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By February, 2015, satellite images revealed even more Siberian craters.
Page 4
(VIDEO 1:08 MIN.) Scientists descend into the largest (60m outside diameter) Siberian crater under safety of solidly frozen winter ice.
Field examination of the Siberian Craters was unsafe during the arctic summer.
Page 5
What is a pingo, and why should we care to know?
A pingo once existed at each crater site.
Pingos are useful markers of a permafrost landscape.
Relicts of collapsed pingos provide keys to geologic and atmospheric history
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To know a pingo is to know a geologic and atmospheric event.
Every pingo forms around a growing, lens-shaped, ice core.
On flat, continuous permafrost, pingos form from the top down (closed system, by hydrostatic pressure).
On sloping, discontinuous permafrost, pingos generally form from the bottom up (open system, by hydraulic pressure).
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What, exactly, is permafrost?
Page 8
(VIDEO 6 MIN. 47 SEC.)”Thawing Permafrost – Changing Planet” (National Science Foundation)
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What does a landscape tell us about permafrost?
If you see both tundra and pingos, you are likely above 64̊ of latitude, in an area of continuous permafrost.
(VIDEO 57 sec.) Siberian Craters: Scientists call for urgent investigation.
If you see both tundra and “tundra-forest,” known as “taiga,” you are likely between 64̊ and 60̊ of latitude, in an area of discontinuous permafrost.
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(VIDEO 1 min. 2 sec.) Iceland Lesson 4 – Plate Tectonics
Is the perennial permafrost melting?
Page 11
(VIDEO 1 min. 44 sec.) “Amazing video of exploding under ice methane gas in Siberia”
What process caused the Siberian craters to be so enormous?
Page 12
(VIDEO 3 min. 42 sec.) Can gas bubbles sink ships? – Bermuda Triangle – BBC
What do Siberian craters, seabed “pockmarks,” and the Bermuda Triangle have in common?
Page 13
(VIDEO 7 min.) Carbon Fluxes in the East Siberian Sea (Stockholm University ocean expedition)
Page 14
(VIDEO 3 min. 33 sec.) University of Texas program to analyze methane clathrates in the Gulf of Mexico
(VIDEO 7 min.) German expedition off the coast of New Zealand exploring for potential methane hydrate deposits for commercial extraction
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A working theory: “Gas hydrates are key.”
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