Ancient paintings are 'rising from the grave'

A recent oil spill in the Arctic Circle in Russia is the first sign of the unpredictable calamities coming from global warming.

29/5 days, a diesel tank of the city power plant Norilsk, Russian Federation, located above the Arctic Circle crack, causing losses of about 21.000m ³ diesel, largely Ambarnaya river overflow, making 180.000m ² area contaminated area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly afterwards had to declare a national emergency and mobilize all forces involved in dealing with this environmental 'disaster'.

The Ambarnaya River changes color due to the oil spill disaster. (Photo: USA Today).

Many assumptions were made during the investigation. However, sharing with RBC, Norilsk Taimyr Energy said that the oil spill occurred because the foundation piles of the reservoir suddenly subsided. The underlying reason may be that the permanent ice surface in this area is showing signs of melting when affected by global warming.

Primarily covered in the Northern Hemisphere, permafrost is the frozen layer of earth that is thousands of years old. This permafrost forms a belt across Alaska, Canada and Russia, with depths ranging from several to hundreds of meters.

Deep inside this frozen soil is about 1.7 trillion tons of carbon in the form of frozen organic matter. Not only includes authentic rotting plants or animals trapped in sediments, permafrost contains carbon, mainly methane and CO ₂ , twice the Earth's atmosphere.

The melting of the permafrost is happening 70 years earlier than expected. (Photo: Russian Beyond).

When the ice melts, the amount of CO ₂ and methane will be released, causing the greenhouse effect. According to a report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in September 2019, a large part of the permafrost may melt in 2100 if countries around the world do not join hands to take measures to reduce emissions. CO ₂ pollution into the environment.

At the same time, the melting of eternal ice could be the 'key' to freeing ancient pathogens trapped in ice.

In 2014, a huge but harmless virus called Pithovirus Sibericum was discovered hibernating in Siberian ice for 30,000 years.

In addition, in 2016, a young victim died in the extreme northern part of Siberia during an anthrax outbreak. Scientists believe the source of the disease likely came from the remains of infected reindeer found in the permafrost melting.

Melting ice affects not only humans but also many plants and animals living in the area. (Photo: The Guardian).

From a positive perspective, the melting of permafrost could benefit the Arctic oil industry. But if humans act too deeply into the interior soil, scientists warn that our actions will awaken the return of the original viruses .

At the same time, the permafrost is a serious and costly threat to infrastructure, potentially eroding buildings, roads and huge oil pipelines that are famous in the north of the country. Russia.