The heat intensity of the flames has dropped by more than 75% over the past three years, according to an analysis by Capterio.
When will Turkmenistan’s ‘Gates of Hell’ burn out? Satellite images indicate flames reducing
Turkmenistan’s Darvaza Crater, better known as the “Gates of Hell,” is a fiery pit about the size of a football field whose flames have burned continuously for decades. However, a series of infrared satellite images suggests the fire is beginning to lose strength.
The crater’s exact origin remains uncertain. According to local accounts cited by The New York Times, Soviet geologists discovered a natural gas deposit beneath the Karakum Desert during the 1960s or 1970s. During the exploration process, the ground collapsed, creating the massive crater. To prevent the release of toxic gases, the geologists reportedly set the gas on fire.
At the time, they believed the blaze would burn itself out within a matter of weeks. Instead, the flames have continued for more than 50 years because underground natural gas continues to feed the fire.
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Since then, Turkmenistan has said it has been working to control gas leaks. In 2025, the government announced that the flames had been reduced after two wells were drilled near the crater to extract natural gas.
According to an analysis by Capterio, a company that monitors natural gas flaring, the heat intensity of the flames has declined by more than 75% over the past three years. The company believes the fire may have started weakening even before the wells were drilled, although it did not identify a specific cause.
According to Carbon Mapper, a California-based nonprofit organization, the crater released an average of about 2,900 pounds (1.45 tons) of methane per hour between 2022 and 2025. That is significantly less than the methane emissions produced by many of the world’s largest oil and gas fields.
The crater’s flames convert methane into carbon dioxide, which is less harmful to the climate because methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. In other words, the “Gates of Hell” helps prevent methane from escaping directly into the atmosphere.
According to Daniel Cusworth, Carbon Mapper’s chief scientist, smaller flames do not necessarily mean the crater has become more harmful to the environment. And because methane is highly flammable, it is unlikely that the fire will go out completely.