A longer-term fix could still be years away and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Scientists and officials are advising hikers to be careful around the ice cave.

Reindeer herders in Russia's Arctic have discovered what scientists say is the first-ever cave bear carcass with soft tissues intact in the region's rapidly thawing permafrost.

In the largest study of glacial lakes ever conducted, researchers using satellite data from NASA and Google Earth have found the volume of water in glacial lakes has increased by 50 per cent since 1990 as glaciers melt due to climate change.

The frozen carcass is 80 per cent intact and may be around 34,000 years old. Two extinct cave lion cubs were also found here in the Abyisky district of Yakutia last year close to a tributary of the remote Tirekhtyakh River.