Yakutsk on Melting Ice - Suhoi Bombs the Lena at -55C

A city built on ice faces cracks, blackouts and a night at minus 55. When a sudden freeze collides with an early thaw, Yakutsk gambles with everything from runways to rooftops. Journalist Mariana Samsonova returns to the world’s coldest city to probe its uncertain future: pillars sunk into 300 meters of permafrost, insurers nervously eyeing widening fissures, and a Permafrost Institute that keeps seeds, mammoth remains and a lab at minus 8. In the diamond works, managers insist the ground is stable. In the hospital’s cold ward, doctors fight frostbite and revive the deeply hypothermic. And when the Lena River seals too hard and too long, Suhoi bombers are called to shatter the ice before floods do it first. How much is natural cycle, and how much is human heat? What happens if those concrete pillars lose their grip? And why does spring now arrive a month early downstream? Watch Extreme Cities to see the decisions, the denials and the razor-thin margins that keep Yakutsk alive. #Yakutsk #Permafrost #Siberia #ClimateChange #Arctic #LenaRiver #ExtremeCold