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Study offers new explanation for Siberia's permafrost craters

Mysterious craters that first appeared in the Siberian permafrost a decade ago were caused by climate change-driven pressure changes that explosively released methane frozen underground, a new study reports. The research offers a fresh take on the origins of the craters first sighted on Russia's Yamal Peninsula in 2014.

The new study finds that the region's unusual geology, coupled with climate warming, kickstarted a process that led to the release of methane gas from methane hydrates in the permafrost.

"There are very, very specific conditions that allow for this phenomenon to happen," said Ana Morgado, a chemical engineer at the University of Cambridge and one of the study's authors. "We're talking about a very niche geological space."

The research was published in Geophysical Research Letters.

The case of the exploding permafrost