Environmentalists - about the catastrophe at the Nord Streams: even worse than you can imagine

Scientists are already sharing preliminary conclusions about the poisoning of the Baltic and the atmosphere.

Yekaterina Maksimova

Since the destruction of the gas pipelines, there has not been a single official comment or statement from PJSC Gazprom, Rostekhnadzor or representatives of the scientific community.

Meanwhile, various assessments and conclusions appear in the media space. There is, for example, such an assumption: at the time of the emergency, the one-time emission of methane into the atmosphere is comparable to the 20-year emission of 5.8 million cars.

Ecologist, representative of the Russian Ecological Society Nikolai Pushkin notes that the negative effect has yet to be assessed, but he is sure that a serious blow has been dealt to the ecosystem.

"This is a gas release, greenhouse gas entered the atmosphere ... This is a man-made accident, for which, I think, we will pay for another five years. This is the minimum. Can you imagine how much gas was released at once?! We are fighting some kind of emissions there from our factories, cars. And here ... ", says Nikolai Pushkin.

According to him, the scale of the catastrophe on gas pipelines is indeed comparable to the long-term emissions of millions of running cars.

"According to tentative estimates, I think it is. Everyone will get it: both us and neighboring countries. Ecology - it does not obey borders and political laws. What happens in one territory is inextricably interconnected with neighboring territories and, in general, with the whole atmosphere. It doesn’t happen that in one place they littered and only there it smells. The negative effect, I’m afraid, will be even much greater than we still assume, "Pushkin summed up.

Russian scientist, ecologist, hydrologist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Danilov-Danilyan , on the contrary, believes that in the face of a lack of information from experts, such "horror stories" are not correct.

Novye Izvestia was told the scientists the following: "Where did this figure about millions of cars come from? I'm not at all sure that this is so. Gas pipelines, oil pipelines - they are all sectional. That is, this does not mean that when the gas pipeline is depressurized, all the gas will immediately jump out "It doesn't happen like that. For example, oil pipelines have depressurization sections for several barrels and that's it. Everything is sectional. Such figures are bullshit. Now a lot of things will start to be said, we need to wait for the conclusions of the examination."

According to him, the examination will take at least three weeks. "It all depends on what information will be available, including design information. In three weeks, experts will cope. According to the law, it relies on three months for design work, but here it's easier. Let's wait," the scientist urges.

About what happened, is happening and will continue to happen in the waters of the Baltic because of the large volumes of escaped gas, Philip Sapozhnikov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told NI.

According to Sapozhnikov, with such a pipe diameter (almost one and a half meters), tens of millions of cubic meters of gas escaped from the sections of gas pipelines. Gas in the form of large bubbles is dissipated due to their collision with each other, and when rising to the surface, the gas diffuses into the water column. That is, there is a supersaturation of the aqueous solution with gases. Simply put, the Baltic in the spaces in the areas of accidents was poisoned.

“When this phenomenon occurs, of course, those creatures that are found there begin to suffocate. There is a lot of gas around, the gills are burned, the covers are burned. Then these creatures die,” Sapozhnikov explained. According to him, several people died in each of the damaged areas. tons of fish, plankton, zooplankton.

Moreover, the gas, which is lighter than water and which is carried by the current, will gradually escape into the atmosphere, which will lead to the death of birds and mammals - they can get burns of the mucous membranes and simply suffocate, being on the surface of the water in places of massive gas discharges of the water column.

The gas will completely come out of the water only in a couple of weeks, says Philip Sapozhnikov.

Philip Sapozhnikov believes that the putrefactive phenomena (a huge number of dead creatures will be at the bottom of the Baltic) the sea itself will "recycle" only closer to winter. The gas dissolved in water will be partially processed by bacteria that have physiological adaptations to the use of light hydrocarbons.

Recall that last Monday, the operator of Nord Stream, Nord Stream AG, announced damage to both strings of Nord Stream as a result of explosions. It was about three gas leaks from pipelines that run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. There is an investigation. According to preliminary information, the damaged gas pipelines cannot be repaired.

On Thursday, September 29, there was another gas leak, as reported today by the Swedish Coast Guard.

The countries of the European Union almost directly claim that Russia arranged the sabotage. The Russian side, in turn, speaks of an act of international terrorism. The criminal case was initiated under Art. 361 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (act of international terrorism).