Scientists Are Concerned About a Strange Hole Expanding Alarmingly

In the frozen landscape of Siberia, a vast scar in the Earth is growing so quickly that it can be seen from space. Known as the Batagay megaslump, or sometimes the “Gateway to the Underworld,” this strange hole is not a meteor crater or a secret cave. It is a massive collapse caused by thawing permafrost, where once-frozen ground loosens, sinks, and slides away as temperatures rise.

What makes scientists concerned is not just the hole’s size, but what it represents. The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the planet, and the Batagay megaslump shows what can happen when frozen ground that stored ice, soil, and ancient carbon for thousands of years begins to break apart. Satellite images show it has expanded dramatically since the 1960s and tripled in size between 1991 and 2018.