16 July 2019 (The Siberian Times) – After a month of warm, dry weather and wildfires, the huge crater nicknamed ‘Mouth of Hell’ is now under direct threat.

The fear is that flames burning on the rim of the depression will weaken the permafrost and cause a major enlargement of the Batagai or Batagaika ‘megaslump’, seen as a wonder of Siberia.

Already growing by some 30 metres a year, say scientists, the destruction of trees are likely to rapidly increase the speed of an phenomenon visible from space.

Map showing wildfires around the Batagai megaslump in Siberia, 16 July 2019. Graphic: The Siberian Times
Map showing wildfires around the Batagai megaslump in Siberia, 16 July 2019. Graphic: The Siberian Times

Reports say the destruction of the tundra is ‘alarming’ in the Verkhoyansk district of Yakutia region, also known as the Sakha Republic.

‘In the Batagai area, fire is raging on the world-renowned depression,’ reported Vesti Verkhoyanya.

One account says the the impact of lighting in ‘dry’ thunderstorms is akin to carnage from ‘incendiary bombs’. […]

Smoke rises from a wildfire near the Batagai megaslump in Siberia, 16 July 2019. Graphic: The Siberian Times
Smoke rises from a wildfire near the Batagai megaslump in Siberia, 16 July 2019. Graphic: The Siberian Times

Earlier Dr Petr Danilov, of the Research Institute of Applied Ecology of the North, in Yakutsk, had said: ‘If the wildfires access the depression, it surely will have a strong impact on the speed it grows.” [more]

Hell on fire! Raging bush inferno at Batagai Depression, giant gash in the tundra