The bulges are caused when permafrost beneath the soil melts due to "abnormally warm" weather - allowing methane gas to escape and head to the surface
Large bumps are appearing in the ground in Russia's Yamal and Gydan peninsulas as underground permafrost melts, sending gas into the air.
The phenomenon is down to "abnormally warm" weather, according to Russian website TASS .
Photos show huge craters in the soil where the ground has swelled and burst.
Scientists estimate there are another 7,000 of these methane gas bubbles trapped underground.
Many of the craters have been spotted by satellites flying over the remote Arctic wilderness, while scientists have launched expeditions to examine others.
Experts are trying to map the locations of the methane bubbles to limit their impact on energy supplies and transport routes.
The phenomenon became widespread in the summer of 2016 - a year when there was abnormally warm weather in northern Russia.
Alexey Titovsky, director of the Yamal department for science and innovation, told The Siberian Times : "At first such a bump is a bubble. With time the bubble explodes, releasing gas. This is how gigantic funnels form.
"Scientists are working on detecting and structuring signs of potential threat, like the maximum height of a bump and pressure that the earth can withstand."
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