Bouncy houses are pretty cool — but not necessarily something we’d want to find in nature.

Siberia’s melting permafrost has led to some puzzling geological marvels: first giant sinkholes, and now, grassy methane trampolines. After a particularly warm summer, hitherto frozen tundra has begun to thaw, releasing greenhouse gases that were held captive beneath the ground for millennia.

Your support powers solutions-focused climate reporting — keeping it free for everyone. All donations DOUBLED for a limited time. Give now in under 45 seconds.
Secure · Tax deductible · Takes 45 Seconds

Stories like this don’t tell themselves.

Make others like it possible. Your support powers solutions-focused climate reporting — keeping it free for everyone. Give now in under 45 seconds.
Secure · Tax deductible · Takes 45 Seconds

The Siberian Times reports that methane and CO2 spew out of these waterbed-like bubbles when popped. Researchers found 15 of them on an island off Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula — and judging from this clip, we expect they gleefully stomped on every last one of them. I mean, we would.

methane pocket

Siberian Times