Marine scientists have discovered deep sinkholes – including one larger than a city block of six-story buildings – and ice-filled hills that have formed "extraordinarily" rapidly on a remote part of the Arctic seafloor.
Highlights
- Scientists find sinkholes and ice-filled hills that have formed “extraordinarily” rapidly on a remote part of the Arctic seafloor.
- It’s the first time an area of submerged permafrost, a frozen layer of Earth’s surface, has been surveyed in this way.
- The greatest change was a depression 95 feet (29 meters) deep and 738 feet (225 meters) long and 312 feet (95 meters) wide – around the size of a city block made up of six-story buildings.
- The researchers found 41 steeply sided holes in the more recent mapping that weren’t there before.
- They also found “numerous” hills, typically 164 feet (50 meters) in diameter and 33 feet (10 meters) high.