Sky News Profile picture
The full story, first. Free, wherever you get your news @skynewsbreak for breaking news. Live on the Sky News app: https://t.co/B2AP8GvitH

Jul 21, 2021, 11 tweets

A mammoth graveyard, the sinking ground and the carbon hidden beneath the surface.

Sky’s @DiMagnaySky reports from Arctic Russia to find out what ancient animal remains the thawing permafrost is unveiling and what this has to do with climate change

#DailyClimateShow

This is one treasure of the thawing permafrost - a mammoth bone.

Here in Duvanny Yar lie other animals which roamed what were then Arctic grasslands in their millions during the Pleistocene era, from two million to fifteen thousand years ago

trib.al/qYAt6vu

It was 30C when @DiMagnaySky arrived in Chersky - not quite the temperature you expect for Arctic Russia.

Nikita Zimov, who runs a scientific research station with his father just outside of Chersky, has a stark warning about permafrost 👇

trib.al/qYAt6vu

So what is permafrost?🧊

Permafrost is the layer of permanently frozen soil which stretches beneath 65% of Russian land.

It also lies beneath up to a quarter of the northern hemisphere’s land mass

trib.al/qYAt6vu

Permafrost doesn’t only hold the bones of long-extinct animals.

It’s estimated that permafrost globally holds some 1,400 gigatonnes of carbon - over 1.5 times the amount of carbon in the atmosphere now

trib.al/qYAt6vu

“These roots are essentially plants that were frozen in the soil at the time that the mammoths were roaming.”

From inside a permafrost cave, Sky’s @DiMagnaySky explains how as the remains of dead plants in the permafrost thaw and decompose, they release further gases

And the more permafrost that thaws, the more buildings will collapse 🏠

In Chersky, residents have had to move out of their homes as walls buckle. This story is being replicated across the Arctic’s rusting Soviet towns and cities

trib.al/qYAt6vu

Is there a solution to thawing permafrost?🧊

Nikita Zimov and his father want to return the Arctic to how it was in the mammoth era.

They want to bring herbivores back to graze on grasslands, and yes, that includes bringing camels to the Arctic🐫!

Restoring the grasslands would capture more carbon and therefore would help keep the permafrost cool.

So far, the Zimovs have around 150 animals - but they would need millions for their rewilding plan to work

trib.al/qYAt6vu

You can watch @DiMagnaySky’s report at 6:30pm on the #DailyClimateShow tonight.

📺 Sky 501 / Freeview 233
📱 Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

trib.al/eXJErC1

The Big Thaw: Russia's disappearing permafrost

Watch the full report here 👇

Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.

A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.

Keep scrolling