Apr 2nd, 2017: Thermokarst Lakes

[xoxoxoBruce]

In the great white north of Siberia, Russian scientists noticed in satellite images a couple of hundred new lakes have developed.
They are easy to spot because unlike the other lakes these are a pretty turquoise blue… and bubbling.

These six pictures are of one of those lakes between 2013 and 2016, photographed by the Landsat-8(US) and Sentinel-2(EU)
satellites. Yes your tax dollars and European tax dollars are helping the commies. Wait till Trump hears about this.
Oh wait, Russia's our friend.

The lakes are a type of thermokarst lake, which form when thawing permafrost causes the surface to collapse and fill in with
meltwater. But unlike normal, dark thermokarst lakes, these ones are bright blue and bubbling, because of methane that's
leaking into them before escaping into the atmosphere.

One study estimated that by 2100, up to 205 billion tonnes of carbon emissions will be released by permafrost if climate
change continues to intensify, as Sarah Emerson reports for Motherboard. The discovery of the lakes comes the same week as
researchers announced that they're closely monitoring around 7,000 gas bubbles or 'pingos', which have formed in Siberia and
are at risk of exploding to form huge craters.
Previous research had suggested that a global temperature rise of 1.5°C (2.7°F) would be enough to start the melting of
Siberia's permafrost, and scientists are concerned that these lakes and pingos are a sign it's already happening.

I think that should be "announcement" rather than "discovery" of the lakes.

♫ There was a Russian with a bubble,
--and Pingo was his name-o.♪
♫ P-I-N-G-O
--P-I-N-G-O
--P-I-N-G-O♪
♫ And Pingo may go Blammo.♪

link