The Batagaika crater, near the Siberian town of Batagay, Russia, formed by melting permafrost, first appeared in the 1960s and is now nearly a kilometer long and 86 meters deep. It is growing at a rate of between 10 and 30 meters a year

The wall of the Batagaika crater, which was formed by melting permafrost near the Siberian town of Batagay, Russia, hold the organic remains of vegetation and animals that died during the Ice Age.

Geophysicist Sergey Zimov carries a rod to determine the depth of frozen ground at a research station in Ambarchik, Yakutia, northeast Siberia, Russia.

Wild horses roam in the Pleistocene Park located along the Kolyma River, near Chersky, Siberia. The Pleistocene Park is a nature reserve, research station and large-scale scientific experiment established by geophysicist Sergey Zimov and his son Nikita. They believe that by recreating the ecosystem of the Pleistocene era, which was dominated by grasslands and large mammals, they can slow down permafrost thaw.

The Batagaika crater in Yakutia, Siberia, is a massive thermokarst depression, a land slump caused as a result of melting permafrost.

Nikolai and Svetlana Yaglovsky, an indigenous couple, travel to check their salmon nets on the Kolyma River near Chersky in northeast Siberia. They still make a living hunting and fishing, though some of their neighbors have had to leave after thawing permafrost caused their homes to subside.

The Alatna River flows through the Gates of the Arctic National Park, Alaska, USA. The river is becoming a corridor for wildlife such as beaver moving north into the warming Atlantic.

Josiah Olemaun, a young whaler, takes a break from stacking whale meat in the family ice cellar in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, USA. A single whale can feed a community for nearly a year, if the meat is properly stored.

Whale meat sits at the bottom of the Olemaun family’s ice cellar, in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, USA. Even if the permafrost doesn’t melt, warmer temperatures can cause the meat to spoil.

Kenyon Kassaiuli, Jonah Andy, Larry Charles, and Reese John cross a flooded walkway in Newtok, Alaska, USA, on an early summer bird hunt. Their village is rapidly sinking and shrinking as a result of warming weather, thawing permafrost and erosion.

General News,1st Prize

Straight Voice