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The Batagaika Crater in the Siberian town of Batagay, Russia. August 9th, 2018. The crater, known as the "hell crater" to locals, is a thermokarst depression, or permafrost “megaslump.” Roughly half a mile long and 300 feet deep, the Batagaika Crater started forming in the 1960s after nearby forests were cleared, exposing the ground to sun that heated up the ground, and the permafrost underneath it (when permafrost laced with ice thaws, earth collapses and forms craters and lakes). To this day the crater continues to grow. The ancient soils of Arctic permafrost, seen in the wall of the crater, hold the organic remains of leaves, grass, and animals that died thousands of years ago, during the Ice Age. All that carbon had been safely bound in frozen earth—until now. ..Arctic permafrost is thawing much faster than expected, releasing carbon gases that could drastically speed up climate change. (Katie Orlinsky, for National Geographic) NO SALES, THIS MATERIAL IS FOR SINGLE USE PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT OR FOR A TEMPORARY ONLINE PUBLICATION, AND MAY BE USED EXCLUSIVELY TO PUBLICIZE THE 2020 WORLD PRESS CONTEST AND EXHIBITION. IT MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED AS PART OF AN ARTICLE OR ANY OTHER ITEM THAT CONTAINS NO DIRECT LINK TO WORLD PRESS PHOTO AND ITS ACTIVITIES. THE PICTURE MAY NOT BE CROPPED OR MANIPULATED IN ANY WAY. KEYSTONE PROVIDES ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTED HANDOUT PHOTO. THE COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY A THIRD PARTY.