26 September 2022 Leakages were foundIn the underground Nord Stream 1 & 2 gas pipelines, which are located close to Denmark and Sweden. Russia owns both pipelines, which were constructed to transport natural gas through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
Officials claimed that the leaks occurred deliberately and not by accident. They were also likely to have been caused intentionally. Although many have made accusations, it is still not known what caused the damage.
Officials discovered seismic disturbances in Baltic Sea. They said that even though neither pipeline was carrying natural gas at the time, they were still containing pressurized methane.
The methane is now being spewed out, creating a wide stream bubbles at the sea surface that can be seen from different satellites in Earth orbit.
Private company GHGSat has satellites that monitor methane emissions from outer space. They used their high-resolution constellation of satellites to determine the leak in the pipeline.
According to a European Space Agency, release GHGSat tasked its radar and microwave satellites to obtain measurements at larger viewing angles and was able to target the area where the Sun’s light reflected the strongest off the sea surface – known as the ‘glint spot.’
They found that the estimated methane emission rate as measured from the first methane concentration measurement on September 30 was 79,000 kilograms per hour. This makes it the largest methane leakage ever detected by GHGSat at a single source.
GHGSat stated that this rate was extremely high considering this image is taken four days after the initial breach and it is just one of the four rupture points in this pipeline.
In a press release The company stated that this amount of methane was equivalent to burning more than 90,000 kilograms (2.5 million pounds) in one hour.
ESA stated that monitoring methane concentrations over water is difficult because water absorbs the most sunlight in the wavelengths used for remote sensing. This makes it very difficult to measure methane concentrations in the sea at high altitudes because the sensor is limited by the amount of light available.
This event was complicated by cloud cover.
Methane partially dissolves in water and is not toxic. However, it is the second most prevalent anthropogenic greenhouse gas in our atmosphere. Climate change.
Craig Donlon, ESA Scientist for Ocean and Ice said that active microwave radar instruments have the power to monitor ocean surface signatures of bubbling Methane through clouds. This overcomes one of the major limitations of optical instruments.
“This gives us a better understanding of the event-timing and disaster.”
To characterize the gas-leakage in the Baltic, additional Earth observation satellites equipped with radar and optical imaging instruments were needed.
Planet Labs’ Planet Dove Satellite showed a bubbling disturbance at the Baltic Sea’s surface that measured 500 to 700 metres (1,640 to 2,300ft).
These views were also captured by satellites:
As the gas from the pipelines was emptied, there was a marked reduction in the diameter of the methane disturbance. This occurred several days later. This animation, taken from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 Satellite, confirms that this is true. It shows views from September 30, 2022 and October 3, 2022.
Here is a map of where the pipelines are located. Although the threat from the leak is gone, there are still repercussions to this catastrophe.
This article was first published by Universe Today. Please read the Original article.
