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Melting layer of ice at bottom of Arctic Ocean causing problems

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By Tom Campbell via SWNS

A melting layer of ice at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean is creating giant sinkholes and hills along the seabed, reveals a new study.

The thawing of submerged permafrost at the edge of the ocean is being driven by climatic events which started during the last Ice Age, say scientists.

Many studies have warned melting permafrost, ground that remains completely frozen for more than two years, destabilizes land and could threaten populations living nearby.

Now researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have discovered it's also redrawing the Arctic Ocean's seafloor.

Repeated mapping surveys with MBARI’s autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) revealed a massive sinkhole developed over just nine years. (Eve Lundsten MBARI / SWNS)

This could be bad news for nearby infrastructure, like roads, train tracks, buildings, and airports, which are already hugely expensive to maintain.

Lead author Dr. Charlie Paull said: "We know that big changes are happening across the Arctic landscape, but this is the first time we’ve been able to deploy technology to see that changes are happening offshore too.

"This groundbreaking research has revealed how the thawing of submarine permafrost can be detected, and then monitored once baselines are established.”

The researchers used "advanced underwater mapping technology", including autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and ship-based sonar, to examine the Canadian Beaufort Sea floor.

They mapped the seafloor down to a resolution of a one-meter square grid, or roughly the size of a dinner table, and discovered dramatic changes were taking place as a result of thawing permafrost.

MBARI’s autonomous underwater vehicle recovered after a successful mapping mission in the Arctic Ocean. (Charlie Paull MBARI / SWNS).

In some areas deep sinkholes, some larger than a city block of six-story buildings, had appeared and ice-filled hills called pingos had risen from the seafloor.

On land, melting permafrost has been blamed on rising global temperatures from human-driven climate change.

But these underwater changes are the result of much older, slower climatic shifts dating back to the last ice age, the researchers say.

Dr Paull said: "There isn’t a lot of long-term data for the seafloor temperature in this region, but the data we do have aren’t showing a warming trend.

"The changes to seafloor terrain are instead being driven by heat carried in slowly moving groundwater systems."

Monitoring these complex changes could prove vital for local populations who may otherwise suffer the consequences.

Co-author Dr Scott Dallimore said: "This research was made possible through international collaboration over the past decade that has provided access to modern marine research platforms such as MBARI’s autonomous robotic technology and icebreakers operated by the Canadian Coast Guard and the Korean Polar Research Institute.

"The Government of Canada and the Inuvialuit people who live on the coast of the Beaufort Sea highly value this research as the complex processes described have implications for the assessment of geo hazards, creation of unique marine habitat, and our understanding of biogeochemical processes.”

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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