Salekhard

Siberian reindeer herders and scientists are working together to figure out how to predict rain-on-snow events that turn tundra into deadly ice.

Rain began to fall on the already snow-covered Yamal Peninsula, an Arctic region of northwest Siberia, in November 2013. Rain fell for the next 24 hours.  As rain saturated the snow, the temperature dropped below freezing, turning the precipitation into a thick, icy crust. 

The world’s biggest reindeer population is up for big vaccination as regional authorities in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug act to stave off outbreaks of anthrax.

Underneath the ground is a thick layer of permafrost and trillions of cubic meters of natural gas. Development is the main source of concern for the reindeer herders who increasingly are hindered by new pipelines, roads and railway lines.

More than 658,000 reindeer are up for vaccination in order to prevent another outbreak of the deadly bacteria infection.

Thawing ground that revealed an infected reindeer carcass is believed to have resulted in a case of anthrax that killed a 12-year-boy and sickened eight others.

Seventy-two nomadic herders, including 41 children, were hospitalised in far north Russia after the region began experiencing abnormally high temperatures

Animals cannot forage for lichen under the snow crust on the Yamal peninsula.