Introduction: Two Nordic natural gas pipelines were deliberately destroyed, resulting in a large amount of methane emissions, which is likely to be the largest greenhouse gas emissions on record so far. In response, Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson said: "People who order this should be prosecuted for war crimes and jailed."
According to Associated Press on September 28, since the main component of natural gas is methane, the methane emissions caused by the leakage of the Nord Stream pipeline are equivalent to one-third of the total greenhouse gas emissions of Denmark throughout the year, and may also be five times the greenhouse gas released by the Aliso Canyon disaster.
Natural gas pipeline leak (Photo source: Reuters)
In 2015, the natural gas leak in the Alice Canyon in the United States was the largest methane leak in US history, with a total of about 100,000 tons of natural gas leaked.
The Beixi project operation company issued a statement on the 27th saying that the three pipelines of the Beixi pipeline suffered "unprecedented" damage on the same day and the maintenance time cannot be evaluated for the time being.
These leaks all occur in international waters. Two are in the Denmark exclusive economic zone, and the third is in the Swedish exclusive economic zone. Shortly before the leak was discovered, explosions occurred in the waters of Denmark, Norwegian and Finland .
The Nord Stream Natural Gas Pipeline is responsible for transporting from Russia to Germany the gas that is urgently needed for heating and industry. Previously, it had been suspended for several weeks.
North Stream Pipeline (Photo source: Reuters)
According to the official worst-case estimate provided by the Danish government, about 778 million cubic meters of natural gas leaked this time. Jackson, a climate scientist at Stanford University and David Hastings, a retired chemical oceanographer at , Florida, calculated separately by , which was equivalent to releasing about 500,000 tons of methane, five times the largest methane leakage emission in U.S. history!
Jackson said: "Whoever gives the order should be prosecuted for war crimes and put in jail!"
Another chemical engineer who worked in the offshore oil and gas industry and now works in the environmental protection organization, Andrew Baxter, believes that even if the Danish government's estimates are too high, he conservatively estimates that the methane leaked in the Nord Stream is still more than twice the Aliso Canyon disaster.
He said: "This is catastrophic for the climate."
Paul Balcombe, of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, said that the methane bubbles that everyone sees on the surface of the ocean are signs of "strong upward flow."
He said: "Even if it releases only a small part of it, it will indeed have a very big impact on the environment and the climate."
It is reported that methane is a major factor in climate change and the main cause of current climate damage. In absorbing the heat of the sun and warming the earth, it has an effect of 82.5 times that of carbon dioxide .
In addition, natural gas leakage also brings carbon dioxide emissions.
Christopher Bertsau, head of the Danish Energy Agency, said that the gas emitted by the three leakages of " Nord Stream-1" and "North Stream-2" is about 32% of Denmark's annual carbon dioxide emissions. Denmark's carbon dioxide emissions from in 2020 will be about 45 million tons.
Berthau stressed: "We believe that so far, one of the pipelines has discharged half of the gas. We are talking about a large-scale natural gas leak of millions of cubic meters."
At present, the sea is full of methane, which means that the risk of explosions in the leaked area has also increased significantly.
It is reported that the Nord Stream Pipeline is made of 12 cm (5 inches) thick steel and is coated with concrete on the surface. They are located on seabed at a depth of 70 to 90 meters, causing great difficulties in repairs.
After the Nord Stream pipeline leaked, European natural gas prices rose sharply. Reuters reported that the current natural gas price is still lower than the highest record this year, but it has doubled compared with the same period last year.
The operator of the Nord Stream pipeline assessed the loss of this leak as "unprecedented".Although neither Nord Stream pipeline was transporting natural gas to Europe at the time of the incident, the leakage incident made it impossible for Europe to obtain natural gas transportation through the Nord Stream-1 this winter.
(Perspective Society Comprehensive Xinhuanet , China Environmental Network , Jimu News Report)
Editor: Cheng Yi
Proofreading: Li Xuying
Audit: Gong Zimo
Audit: Gong Zimo
Audit: Gong Zimo
