Just FYI Siberian Times has been prone to exaggeration of science in the past. While I am not disputing underground methane explosions happen, it is worth reading ST with a health dose of skepticism.<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Siberian_Times" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Siberian_Times</a>
This reminds me of The Swarm [1], a fiction book that starts with freak events happening around the world's oceans. The first of them is about a species of marine worms that, together with bacteria, destabilise the methane clathrate in the continental shelf. This causes the continental slope to collapse, creating a tsunami that hits the North Sea's coasts and kills millions.<p>[1] - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swarm_(Sch%C3%A4tzing_novel)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swarm_(Sch%C3%A4tzing_nove...</a>
I'd call bullshit, but is seems like real fiery explosions throwing 100 tonne objects and some material 300 meters.<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341905295_Complex_of_Geophysical_Studies_of_the_Seyakha_Catastrophic_Gas_Blowout_Crater_on_the_Yamal_Peninsula_Russian_Arctic" rel="nofollow">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341905295_Complex_o...</a><p>You'd think some sort of satellites, like a lightning satellite would pick it up.
Are there any pictures of what's inside the hole? After melting permafrost uncovered many items of archeological interest, I wonder what one may find in one of these craters.
Honest question - in the event of the release of entrapped methane under permafrost, what would be better:<p>- To have it released to the atmosphere?<p>- To have it combusted?<p>I understand that these explosions are dangerous, but would it be better to have it slowly leak to atmosphere?
And the only way to prevent this is for Russia to become a major meat producer and to convert northern forests into grassland, like they were before our intervention. <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_Park" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_Park</a>. Sadly there are not enough people, and not enough economic freedom in Russia to make this into reality.