The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline in September 2022 heightened geopolitical tensions and triggered an unprecedented environmental event, releasing the largest recorded amount of methane into the Earth's atmosphere and surrounding waters in a single incident.. Three new studies indicate that human activities have released an incredible amount of gas - about 465,000 metric tons of methane, writes IFLScience.

Nord Stream pipelines were used to transport gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea and were seriously damaged in September 2022. An underwater explosion ruptured the NS1 and NS2 pipes near the island of Bornholm in Denmark, causing a flurry of gas to rise to the sea surface.

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The Voice of the Ocean Foundation used an underwater drone to monitor events in the region, as well as outside the leak exclusion zone. Scientists continued to monitor the situation for three months after the explosion, and also collected data on the level of dissolved methane in the surrounding waters.

According to study co-author Bastien Quest, an oceanographer at the University of Gothenburg, he and his colleagues sought to obtain the most reliable estimates, and therefore combined observational data from gliders with surface observations collected by colleagues from the German Ferry Research Institute. As a result, scientists were able to obtain the most complete picture of what happened and what consequences this event had for the environment.

It is known that most of the gas ended up in the Earth's atmosphere, but a significant amount was also absorbed by the sea. In the first hours after the explosion, the level of dissolved methane in the water sometimes exceeded the norm by 1000 times. Overall, 14% of the Baltic Sea had methane concentrations at least five times higher than average natural levels.

Observations also showed that ocean currents transported dissolved methane to 23 marine protected areas in the Baltic Sea. However, Quest says the impacts on surrounding marine ecosystems are still not entirely clear.. The researchers note that one reason is that events of this magnitude have never been observed before..

According to Martin Mohrmann of Voice of the Ocean, researchers still don't know the long-term ecosystem effects of increased methane concentrations.. The good news is that methane is not very toxic, but scientists have never seen a leak of this magnitude before..

Although small concentrations of methane are not harmful, it is not yet clear what high concentrations over a long period of time can do. Mohrmann also notes that the risk assessment for gas pipelines such as Nord Stream should be reassessed. Nord Stream risk assessments (2009) state that the probability of a gas leak is about one event in 20,000 years, and that the solubility of natural gas in water is negligible. Both of these facts are now in question.

Focus previously wrote about how 220,000 tons of methane will affect life on Earth.