Arctic methane emissions permafrost thawing. Near the bottom of the first sinkhole, air contained unusually high concentrations of methane, according to tests conducted by the researchers. This hypothesis points to the destabilization of gas hydrates containing huge amounts of methane gas. According to researchers at Norway's Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate (CAGE), through a process called geothermal heat flux, the Siberian permafrost which extends to the seabed of the Kara Sea, a section of the Arctic Ocean between the Yamal Peninsula and Novaya Zemlya, is thawing. According to a CAGE researcher, Aleksei Portnov, Methane hydrate is leaking in an area of at least
Cape Baranov Fedor Baranov (1886–1965). Located near Cape Baranov, roughly to the SSE of the cape, the Prima Polar Station of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute closed down in 1996 and reopened in June 2013 as a private venture. This is currently the only Arctic research facility operating in Severnaya Zemlya. Cape Baranov is located in the northern part of Bolshevik Island facing the Shokalsky Strait. This headland stretches out northwards in an unglaciated lowland area west of the mouth of Mikoyan Bay. Cape Baranov Cape Baranov (; "Mys Baranova") is a headland in Severnaya Zemlya, Russia. The Laptev Sea shore