5 terrifying facts about the melting permafrost

Science by Nina Pullano Updated: Feb. 20, 2024 Originally Published: Sep. 7, 2020

As its name suggests, permafrost is meant to remain permanently frozen.

But Arctic soil is rapidly melting — twice as fast as other parts of the world. Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images

>> That has major consequences for humans and the environment. Here are 5 effects you need to know.

1. Melting permafrost will making climate change worse Shutterstock

As it melts, the gas will be released. NASA says permafrost could become a permanent source of carbon by 2100.

Maja Hitij/Getty Images News/Getty Images Carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming, is locked inside permafrost.

Permafrost melting on Alaska's North Slope. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Charles Miller

2. Giant craters in the Earth are forming

Arctic craters are opening up due to another gas — methane — building up underground.

Siberia's Yamal peninsula saw a 160-foot-deep hole erupt in August.

3. Buildings are toppling

Wetter, softer ground means buildings and other structures will crumble.

In May, a Russian oil tank spilled, polluting Ambarnaya and Daldykan rivers and turning them red.

Metal poles support a building under renovation due to damage caused by the thawing permafrost during a summer heat wave on Svalbard archipelago, August 2020. Sean Gallup/Getty

4. Melting land exposes relics of the past

Tap to see Dogor, an 18,000-year-old puppy found in Siberia. >>

Ancient landscapes and animals — sometimes perfectly preserved — are revealed when the icy tundra melts. Center for Paleogenetics/Twitter

5. Old diseases could come back

Anthrax escaped permafrost in 2016. It made 13 people sick and killed more than 2,000 reindeer.

Maybe the freakiest element exposed by melting land? Diseases . France 24

Read more stories about what's lurking beneath the ice.