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<font size="+1"><i>July 3, 2017</i><br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/big-bang-and-pillar-of-fire-as-latest-of-two-new-craters-forms-this-week-in-arctic/">'Big
bang' and 'pillar of fire' as latest of two new craters forms
this week in the Arctic</a></b><br>
</font>By The Siberian Times 2 July 2017 <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAtupbr80pE">Video
description</a> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/big-bang-and-pillar-of-fire-as-latest-of-two-new-craters-forms-this-week-in-arctic/">Photos</a><font
size="+1"><br>
Local reindeer herder witnessed the tundra explosion that led to
birth of new hole in river.<i><br>
</i></font>
<blockquote>Scientists have located two fresh craters formed on
Yamal peninsula this year, with the latest exploding on 28 June
with the eruption picked up by new seismic sensors specifically
designed to monitor such events, The Siberian Times can disclose.
<br>
First pictures of the large craters - or funnels as experts call
them - <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/big-bang-and-pillar-of-fire-as-latest-of-two-new-craters-forms-this-week-in-arctic/">are
shown here</a>, and add to four other big holes found in recent
years and examined by experts, plus dozens of tiny ones spotted by
satellite.<br>
The formation of both craters involved an explosion followed by
fire, evidently signs of the eruption of methane gas pockets under
the Yamal surface. <br>
People in Seyakha village heard a 'loud explosion-like bang' then
saw a fire and clouds of black smoke, according to reports.<br>
Deputy director of the Oil and Gas Research Institute, Moscow,
Professor Vasily Bogoyavlensky said: 'We heard the news (about the
new crater) from a friend who saw a flame of fire and then a
rising pillar of smoke.'<br>
The head of Seyakha village, Igor Okotetto, confirmed he gad been
told about the explosion. <br>
Reindeer herder Mikhail Okotetto gave details of the explosion to
Vesti-Yamal television of the explosion by phone, evidently citing
another herder close to the event. <br>
On 28 June 'there was short but mighty fire' around 10.25 am, he
said.<br>
It was registered by seismic sensors as being timed around 35
minutes later.<br>
'It happened some 35 to 40 kilometres north-west of Seyakha,' he
said on local TV. 'Reindeer herder Yakov Vengo has a camp there. <br>
'There was a hill not far from the camp, and it exploded. <br>
'There were fire, smoke and huge chunks of soil 'flying out' of
the epicentre. <br>
'The hill has vanished.'<br>
The account of an exploding hill is consistent with the scientific
theory that sees the craters as mainly - but not only - formed by
exploding pingo mounds. <br>
Helicopter reconnaissance of the site shows a crater appearing in
a river, so it assumed the 'hill' was beside or abutting the
river. <br>
The crater is some 30-35 kilometres is around 100 km of Russia's
new state-of-the-art Arctic port of Sabetta.<br>
It is in an area of crater-shaped lakes. <br>
The second new funnel is some eight metres in diameter and 20
metres deep and first images show a spectacular classic
crater-shape.<br>
Renideer herders are reported to have seen 'an explosion and
flames of fire' when snow still lay on the ground this year, but
the exact timing of the eruption has not been established. <br>
This new funnel has been examined by a group of scientists led by
Dr Alexandr Sokolov, who found the funnel on 24 June during an
annual expedition for long-term monitoring of terrestrial
ecosystems of Yamal.<br>
A video of the crater was released to The Siberian Times by Dr
Sokolov, deputy head of the Arctic Research station of the
Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch of the Russian
Academy of Sciences<br>
A mound of land along edges of the funnel confirms the fact of the
explosion, Alexandr Sokolov said. <br>
'This plot of land was absolutely flat just two years ago. A year
ago in 2016 it bulged and we could see that soil has cracked
there.'<br>
It is believed the eruption was in the early part of this year. <br>
'The Nenets native people told us they saw fire in winter 2017,
but it might mean January to March or April. <br>
In other words, it exploded when snow was still lying.'<br>
This crater is around 30 km east of the Yerkut scientific station,
and some 230 km north of Salekhard. <br>
The Scientific Centre for Arctic Research said its sensors picked
up the latest explosion.<br>
'On 28 June at 11.00.13 am local time, the seismic network on
Yamal recorded a seismic event, probably associated with the
release of gas,' said a statement from the institute.<br>
'The oscillations are registered by two seismic stations located
in Sabetta settlement and in the area of the Bovanenkovskoye gas
field.'<br>
The sensors have been established amid fears that the erupting
funnels can damage key industrial infrastructure.<br>
The craters are believed to form when underground methane gas -
trapped by permafrost for thousands of years - is released due to
the warming climate in this Arctic region and erupts inside pingo
mounds. <br>
Scientists say several thousand pingos, many filled with gas,
could 'explode' forming giant craters in this region. <br>
Pingos are dome-shaped mounds over a core of ice.<br>
At least ten are known to have exploded in Siberia in recent years
forming large craters, of which four have been closely examined by
scientists. <br>
The largest, 35 metres deep and 40 metres in diameter, is close to
the Bovanenkovskoye deposit.<br>
One sensor can analyse seismic processes non-stop in 200 km
distance around it. <br>
Sabetta port is being built as part of a $27 billion project by
Yamal LNG on the Ob River estuary to export 16.5 million tons of
liquefied gas from the Yuzhno-Tambeyskoye field. <br>
The accounts of explosions creating the recent craters is
consistent with testimony about a bang and 'glow in the sky' seen
100 km from a remote crater on the Taimyr peninsula in Krasnoyarsk
region. This blowout was in 2013, it is believed.<br>
Scientist Dr Vladimir Epifanov, the sole leading expert to so far
visit the site, said: 'There is verbal information that residents
of nearby villages - at a distance of 70-100 km - heard a sound
like an explosion, and one of them watched a clear glow in the
sky.'<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/big-bang-and-pillar-of-fire-as-latest-of-two-new-craters-forms-this-week-in-arctic/">http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/big-bang-and-pillar-of-fire-as-latest-of-two-new-craters-forms-this-week-in-arctic/</a></font><font
size="+1"><br>
</font> </blockquote>
<font size="+1">-more at:<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/discovered-200-plus-arctic-lakes-which-bubble-like-jacuzzis-from-seeping-methane-gas/">Discovered:
200-plus Arctic lakes which bubble like jacuzzis from seeping
methane gas</a></b><br>
By The Siberian Times March 2017 <br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/n0905-7000-underground-gas-bubbles-poised-to-explode-in-arctic/">Space
pictures show</a> the blue-tinted lakes formed in depressions
caused by thawing permafrost on the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas.<br>
A feature of these thermokarst lakes are craters or funnels in the
sediment on the floor through which they are haemorrhaging
methane. These pockmarks are similar to those found on the floors
of the great oceans. <br>
Scientists say these leaks are year round in lakes where carbon
processing and methane emission occur even at temperatures close
to zero degrees Celcius. Detailed study of satellite data from
2015-16 has identified more than 200 lakes which are seen as an
active source of methane emissions. <br>
The gas is of both a biochemical nature, the result of microbial
activity released by permafrost thawing, and catagenesis, formed
in deep ground layers. <br>
</font><font color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/discovered-200-plus-arctic-lakes-which-bubble-like-jacuzzis-from-seeping-methane-gas/">http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/discovered-200-plus-arctic-lakes-which-bubble-like-jacuzzis-from-seeping-methane-gas/</a></font><font
size="+1"><br>
more:<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/n0905-7000-underground-gas-bubbles-poised-to-explode-in-arctic/">7,000
underground gas bubbles poised to 'explode' in Arctic</a></b><br>
By The Siberian Times March 2017<br>
Bulging bumps in the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas believed to be
caused by thawing permafrost releasing methane.<br>
</font><font size="-1" color="#666666"><a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/n0905-7000-underground-gas-bubbles-poised-to-explode-in-arctic/">http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/n0905-7000-underground-gas-bubbles-poised-to-explode-in-arctic/</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUI4IcqDEz4">(video)
Thawing Pandora’s Box: Paul Beckwith on Siberian Methane</a></b><br>
Published on Jun 29, 2017<br>
Epic triplet of video lectures about the new science reports from
the ESAS - East Siberian Arctic Shelf - and its thawing subsea
methane hydrates.<br>
Paul’s youtube channel is at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.youtube.com/user/PaulHBeck">http://www.youtube.com/user/PaulHBeck</a>...<br>
Partly based on an interview by Nick Breeze with Dr Natalia Shakhova
and Dr Igor Semiletov, published at <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://envisionation.co.uk/index.php/">http://envisionation.co.uk/index.php/</a>...<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUI4IcqDEz4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUI4IcqDEz4</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/06/29/economic-cost-climate-change-southern-u-s-biggest-loser/439362001/">Who
will pay most for climate change? South will be biggest loser</a></b><br>
USA TODAY Runaway climate change will make the U.S. poorer and
more unequal, with the South hit the hardest, a new study reports. <br>
In fact, the poorest third of U.S. counties could sustain economic
damage that costs as much as 20% of their income if warming proceeds
unabated.<br>
"Unmitigated climate change will be very expensive for huge regions
of the United States," said Solomon Hsiang of the University of
California, Berkeley, and a co-author of the study.<br>
For each 1 degree (F) rise in the Earth's temperature, scientists
believe the U.S. might see damage equal to 0.7% of the Gross
Domestic Product annually by the 2080s.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/06/29/economic-cost-climate-change-southern-u-s-biggest-loser/439362001/">https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/06/29/economic-cost-climate-change-southern-u-s-biggest-loser/439362001/</a></font><br>
<br>
<b><br>
</b><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/world/asia/obama-indonesia-climate-change.html">Obama
Rues Loss of 'American Leadership' on Climate Change</a></b><br>
New York Times<br>
Former President Barack Obama on Saturday indirectly criticized
President Trump in a speech delivered in Indonesia for withdrawing
"American leadership" on climate change by abandoning the Paris
accord.<br>
"In Paris, we came together around the most ambitious agreement in
history about climate change, an agreement that even with the
temporary absence of American leadership can still give our children
a fighting chance," Mr. Obama said at the Fourth Congress of
Indonesian Diaspora in Jakarta, the capital, according to The
Associated Press...<br>
... Mr. Obama drew a sharp contrast to Mr. Trump’s "America first"
philosophy, without mentioning his successor by name. He called for
nations to come together to confront global challenges like
terrorism and climate change, and he cautioned against "an
aggressive kind of nationalism" creeping into politics...<br>
"The challenges of our times, whether it’s economic inequality,
changing climate, terrorism, mass migration - these are real
challenges, and we’re going to have to confront them together," he
said.<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/world/asia/obama-indonesia-climate-change.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/world/asia/obama-indonesia-climate-change.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://tucson.com/news/local/beyond-frustrated-tucson-climate-change-proposals-from-went-mostly-unheeded/article_1e2f1595-eb1d-5b11-be38-59fed9a4bac3.html">'Beyond
frustrated': Tucson climate-change proposals from 2011 went
mostly unheeded</a></b><br>
Arizona Daily Star<br>
Six years ago, David Schaller tried to make a difference in the
climate and his native city’s quality of life.<br>
After a career at the EPA, Schaller was lead author of a $48,000
blueprint commissioned by Tucson for tackling climate change by
reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.<br>
The report’s most ambitious recommendations for laws and incentives
never became reality. Instead, economics and politics dictated a
voluntary strategy. But many of the voluntary measures weren’t fully
carried out, although the city has taken some steps toward reducing
energy use.<br>
The agenda laid out in 2011 by consulting firm Westmoreland
Associates, which Schaller founded, went a lot farther:<br>
- Mandatory "cool roofs" in new homes to reduce their solar heat
intake.<br>
- Limits on how long vehicles can idle in parking lots, burning
fossil fuels.<br>
- Mandatory energy efficiency retrofits of homes and apartments when
they’re sold.<br>
- Rebates for buyers of electric vehicles, and of new homes with
Energy Star-rated appliances.<br>
These and 30 other recommendations filled Westmoreland’s highly
detailed 360-page report to the city’s advisory Climate Change
Committee...<br>
...But Schaller describes himself as "beyond frustrated,"
disheartened and disappointed at his report’s inability to gain
traction back then.<br>
"It’s been a missed opportunity," he said. "We lost six years. The
fact that they are now talking about revitalizing things is a bit of
admission there has been momentum lost."...<br>
Schaller, now retired, said he hopes that this time, the city makes
sure that what’s approved gets done.<br>
"It won’t happen without somebody taking ownership and assigning
responsibility ... things don’t happen by themselves."<br>
<font size="-1" color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://tucson.com/news/local/beyond-frustrated-tucson-climate-change-proposals-from-went-mostly-unheeded/article_1e2f1595-eb1d-5b11-be38-59fed9a4bac3.html">http://tucson.com/news/local/beyond-frustrated-tucson-climate-change-proposals-from-went-mostly-unheeded/article_1e2f1595-eb1d-5b11-be38-59fed9a4bac3.html</a></font><br>
<br>
<br>
<font size="+1"><b><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/07/03/study-media-still-largely-fail-to-put-wildfires/194733">This
Day in Climate History July 3, 2013 </a> - from D.R. Tucker</b></font><br>
<font size="+1">Media Matters notes that mainstream media entities
have largely failed to point out that wildfires are likely to be
more severe due to human-caused climate change.<br>
</font><font color="#666666"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/07/03/study-media-still-largely-fail-to-put-wildfires/194733">http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/07/03/study-media-still-largely-fail-to-put-wildfires/194733</a></font><font
size="+1"><br>
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