Investigators have determined that the leakage of of 20 000 t of diesel (about 150 000 barrels) from a reservoir at a power plant in Russia’s Far North was caused by damage from thawing permafrost—just the latest sign of the catastrophic effects climate change is having in the Arctic.
“Entire cities and roads were built on permafrost,” said Guido Grosse, head of the permafrost research unit at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Potsdam, Germany. “When permafrost thaws, the ice deep in the ground that has been there for thousands of years melts, and you lose stability. That has an impact on infrastructure.”