Another leak in the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea was discovered on Thursday. A second in Swedish waters, after two were known in the Danish economic zone. Western security services now assume that it was sabotage. Aerial photos show that near the Danish island of Bornholm, masses of gas bubble up to the surface from about 50 meters below sea level. Like a garden hose with water after use, pipelines – even when not in use – are still filled with gas. According to the Danish Energy Agency, more than half of the natural gas has already escaped, and by Sunday they could have been completely drained.
These are very large amounts and of course “it contributes to global warming,” says SZ science editor Hanno Charisius. The main component of the most diverse types of natural gas is always methane. That doesn’t stay in the atmosphere for as long as CO2, but only about twelve years. “But the impact on the atmosphere is about 25 times greater than that of CO2.” In the short term, methane contributes “a lot more to global warming than if the same amount of CO2 were released into the atmosphere,” says Charisius.
Further texts on the gas leaks can be found here: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/nord-stream-pipeline-leck-klima-umwelt-1.5665671
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/germany-energy-crisis-liveblog-pipeline-nordstream-leck-1.5665937
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/politik/nord-stream-1-nordstream-2-sabotage-e628658/
You can find the obituary of the rapper Coolio here.
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