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

  • June 21, 2024
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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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

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

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