Methane emissions from the Nord Stream subsea pipeline leaks

Stephen J. Harris (), Stefan Schwietzke, James L. France, Nataly Velandia Salinas, Tania Meixus Fernandez, Cynthia Randles, Luis Guanter, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, Andreea Calcan (), Ilse Aben, Katarina Abrahamsson, Paul Balcombe, Antoine Berchet, Louise C. Biddle, Henry C. Bittig, Christian Böttcher, Timo Bouvard, Göran Broström, Valentin Bruch, Massimo Cassiani, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Philippe Ciais, Ellen Damm, Enrico Dammers, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Matthieu Dogniaux, Emily Dowd, François Dupouy, Sabine Eckhardt, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Wuhu Feng, Mengwei Jia, Fei Jiang, Andrea K. Kaiser-Weiss, Ines Kamoun, Brian J. Kerridge, Astrid Lampert, José Lana, Fei Li, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Jean-Philippe W. Maclean, Buhalqem Mamtimin, Julia Marshall, Gédéon Mauger, Anouar Mekkas, Christian Mielke, Martin Mohrmann, David P. Moore, Riccardo Nanni, Falk Pätzold, Isabelle Pison, Ignacio Pisso, Stephen M. Platt, Raphaël Préa, Bastien Y. Queste, Michel Ramonet, Gregor Rehder, John J. Remedios, Friedemann Reum, Anke Roiger, Norbert Schmidbauer, Richard Siddans, Anusha Sunkisala, Rona L. Thompson, Daniel J. Varon, Lucy J. Ventress, Chris Wilson and Yuzhong Zhang
Additional contact information
Stephen J. Harris: United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (UNEP’s IMEO)
Stefan Schwietzke: United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (UNEP’s IMEO)
James L. France: Environmental Defense Fund Europe
Nataly Velandia Salinas: Environmental Defense Fund Europe
Tania Meixus Fernandez: United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (UNEP’s IMEO)
Cynthia Randles: United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (UNEP’s IMEO)
Luis Guanter: Environmental Defense Fund Europe
Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate: United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (UNEP’s IMEO)
Andreea Calcan: United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (UNEP’s IMEO)
Ilse Aben: SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Katarina Abrahamsson: University of Gothenburg
Paul Balcombe: Queen Mary University of London
Antoine Berchet: Université Paris-Saclay
Louise C. Biddle: Voice of the Ocean Foundation
Henry C. Bittig: Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW)
Christian Böttcher: German Environment Agency
Timo Bouvard: Service de Thermo-hydraulique et de Mécanique des Fluides
Göran Broström: University of Gothenburg
Valentin Bruch: Deutscher Wetterdienst
Massimo Cassiani: NILU
Martyn P. Chipperfield: University of Leeds
Philippe Ciais: Université Paris-Saclay
Ellen Damm: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Enrico Dammers: TNO
Hugo Denier van der Gon: TNO
Matthieu Dogniaux: SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Emily Dowd: University of Leeds
François Dupouy: Service de Thermo-hydraulique et de Mécanique des Fluides
Sabine Eckhardt: NILU
Nikolaos Evangeliou: NILU
Wuhu Feng: University of Leeds
Mengwei Jia: Nanjing University
Fei Jiang: Nanjing University
Andrea K. Kaiser-Weiss: Deutscher Wetterdienst
Ines Kamoun: Université Paris-Saclay
Brian J. Kerridge: STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)
Astrid Lampert: Institute of Flight Guidance
José Lana: Enagás Transporte SAU
Fei Li: Nanjing University
Joannes D. Maasakkers: SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Jean-Philippe W. Maclean: GHGSat Inc.
Buhalqem Mamtimin: Deutscher Wetterdienst
Julia Marshall: Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre
Gédéon Mauger: Service de Thermo-hydraulique et de Mécanique des Fluides
Anouar Mekkas: Service de Thermo-hydraulique et de Mécanique des Fluides
Christian Mielke: German Environment Agency
Martin Mohrmann: Voice of the Ocean Foundation
David P. Moore: University of Leicester
Riccardo Nanni: TNO
Falk Pätzold: Institute of Flight Guidance
Isabelle Pison: Université Paris-Saclay
Ignacio Pisso: NILU
Stephen M. Platt: NILU
Raphaël Préa: Service de Thermo-hydraulique et de Mécanique des Fluides
Bastien Y. Queste: University of Gothenburg
Michel Ramonet: Université Paris-Saclay
Gregor Rehder: Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW)
John J. Remedios: University of Leicester
Friedemann Reum: Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre
Anke Roiger: Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre
Norbert Schmidbauer: NILU
Richard Siddans: STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)
Anusha Sunkisala: Deutscher Wetterdienst
Rona L. Thompson: NILU
Daniel J. Varon: Harvard University
Lucy J. Ventress: STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)
Chris Wilson: University of Leeds
Yuzhong Zhang: Westlake University

Nature, 2025, vol. 637, issue 8048, 1124-1130

Abstract: Abstract The amount of methane released to the atmosphere from the Nord Stream subsea pipeline leaks remains uncertain, as reflected in a wide range of estimates1–18. A lack of information regarding the temporal variation in atmospheric emissions has made it challenging to reconcile pipeline volumetric (bottom-up) estimates1–8 with measurement-based (top-down) estimates8–18. Here we simulate pipeline rupture emission rates and integrate these with methane dissolution and sea-surface outgassing estimates9,10 to model the evolution of atmospheric emissions from the leaks. We verify our modelled atmospheric emissions by comparing them with top-down point-in-time emission-rate estimates and cumulative emission estimates derived from airborne11, satellite8,12–14 and tall tower data. We obtain consistency between our modelled atmospheric emissions and top-down estimates and find that 465 ± 20 thousand metric tons of methane were emitted to the atmosphere. Although, to our knowledge, this represents the largest recorded amount of methane released from a single transient event, it is equivalent to 0.1% of anthropogenic methane emissions for 2022. The impact of the leaks on the global atmospheric methane budget brings into focus the numerous other anthropogenic methane sources that require mitigation globally. Our analysis demonstrates that diverse, complementary measurement approaches are needed to quantify methane emissions in support of the Global Methane Pledge19.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08396-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:637:y:2025:i:8048:d:10.1038_s41586-024-08396-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08396-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().