On February 24th 2015, it was announced that two mysterious craters found in Serbia last July were not the only ones. Researchers have now found a total of seven craters so far, and it is believed that it is possible that there may be more. Two of the craters have turned into lakes, while another is rimmed by 20 mini craters.
Vasily Bogoyavlensky, a scientist with the Moscow based Oil and Gas Research Institute has called for more and serious research of the cause of the craters. He believes that rising global temperatures may have caused the permafrost to melt. This melting in turn has caused pockets of methane trapped beneath the surface of the ice to explode, releasing the gas into the atmosphere.
Five of the craters are located on the Yamal Peninsula, while another crater labeled B2 is located in the Yamal autonomous district, which is home to a major oil field. Bogoyavlensky's concerns are two fold. Workers in the oil fields may be at risk from explosions of pressurized gases if there is more melting of the ice. His other concern, is that more methane being released into the atmosphere may add to rising global temperatures. This could cause more ice to melt.
Bogoyavlensky says that he doesn't want to scare anyone, but it is known that even though methane doesn't last long in the atmosphere, it can however cause more of an increase in climate change than CO2. He say that not enough is known about how the craters were created and an urgent investigation is needed.
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