Nord Stream leaks: Thousands of tonnes of methane may have dissolved in Baltic seawater; marine life impacts unclear

Sub: IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

A new study has shed light on the fate of methane released from the September 2022 explosions damaging the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic sea.

Environmental Impact:

While a significant amount of methane escaped, 10,000 to 50,000 tonnes of it likely dissolved in the surrounding water after the blasts.
While the immediate environmental impact remains unclear, the research highlighted potential consequences for the marine ecosystem.
The environmental implications of excess methane– a potent greenhouse gas- include local impacts on water carbon budgets and changes to the composition of microbial organisms.
The incident is one of the largest known methane leaks, surpassing previous smaller leakage sites.
Nord Stream pipelines transport a massive amount of natural gas from Russia to northern Germany.
Methane Estimates:
- European Space Agency observed 79 tonnes of methane per hour reaching the atmosphere.
- Researchers estimated 40,000 tonnes were released into the atmosphere over seven days.
- Another study suggested 220,000 metric tonnes emissions.

Scientific Expedition:

Objective: To measure dissolved methane and its impact on the marine ecosystem.
Methodology: Collected water samples from various depths and measured atmospheric methane concentrations.
Findings: Estimated dissolved methane between 10,000 and 55,000 metric tonnes, potentially underestimated.

Biological Impact:

Microbial Changes: High methane concentration may promote growth of methanotrophic bacteria, affecting the Baltic Sea microbial food web.
Plankton Studies: Ongoing analysis of plankton samples collected during the expedition.

What is the Nord Stream Pipeline?

Nordstream consists of two pipelines, which have two lines each.
Nord Stream 1 was completed in 2011 and runs from Vyborg in Leningrad to Lubmin near Greifswald, Germany.
Nord Stream 2 which runs from Ust-Luga in Leningrad to Lubmin was completed in September 2021 and has the capacity to handle 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year once it becomes operational.
The twin pipelines together can transport a combined total of 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year to Europe for at least 50 years.
The Nord Stream crosses the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of several countries including Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and the territorial waters of Russia, Denmark, and Germany.
In Germany, the pipeline connects to the OPAL (Baltic Sea Pipeline) and NEL (North European Pipeline) which further connects to the European grid.

Methane emission-

Methane is a short-lived climate forcer (SLCF), a compound that warms or cools the Earth’s climate over shorter time scales – from days to years – than greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, whose climatic effect lasts for decades, centuries or more.
Methane has a lifetime in the atmosphere of about ten years. But per molecule, it’s a much more potent greenhouse gas over that period.
So it’s responsible for a large part of the warming that we’re experiencing today.
The Global Methane Assessment 2021 states that the atmospheric concentration of methane has more than doubled since pre-industrial times.
Methane is second only to carbon dioxide (CO2) in driving climate change.
Limiting warming to 1.50C or likely 20C requires deep, rapid, sustained reductions of other greenhouse gases, such as methane, alongside rapid reductions of carbon dioxide emissions to net zero.

Source: DTE