Greenhouse gas emissions due to leaks in gas pipelines, risk of environmental damage
Mysterious leaks in two of Russia’s main gas pipelines running through the Baltic Sea to Europe are causing greenhouse gas emissions. It has led to climate concerns and increased fears of environmental catastrophes.
However, it is not yet clear how far the situation will go. These two gas pipelines, Nordstream-I and Nordstream-II, are at the heart of the energy crisis in Europe following Russia’s attraction to Ukraine.
Moscow has cut gas supplies to Europe through the pipeline several times since Western sanctions have imposed on Russia over its operations in Ukraine. This raised fuel prices in Europe, and countries started looking for alternative fuels.
It detected three leaks recently in two pipelines. Europe and Russia have also cited sabotage as a possible cause for the leak. It has seen bubbles rising above the seawater due to gas escaping through pipeline leaks.
Cristopher, the Head of Denmark’s Energy Agency, said, “The pipeline leak was “huge,” and it could take up to a week for gas to stop flowing through Nordstream-II.
Neither of the two pipelines is currently operational. However, both pipelines contain natural gas. Most of this gas is composed of methane (CH4). Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane is the most responsible greenhouse gas for climate change.”
David McCabe, an Atmospheric Chemist at Clean Air Task Force (a nonprofit organization), said, “Many uncertainties exist. However, if both pipelines go wrong, the effects of climate change will be catastrophic, perhaps even unprecedented.”
McCabe and other greenhouse gas experts claimed, “The extent of the leak in the pipeline, the temperature of the gas in the pipeline, how fast the gas is escaping, and how much the water will absorb the gas before it rises to the surface are still unknown.”
However, due to the abundance of methane in both gas pipelines, the risk of damage from this gas release is very high, and this matter is of great concern.
Methane gas is more than 80 percent strong increasing global warming than carbon dioxide over 20 years.
According to Scientists, if methane gas emissions can reduce largely in the next few years, it can achieve significant progress in preventing climate change.
Scientists still cannot figure out precisely how much methane has been released into the atmosphere from Russian gas pipeline leaks.
