GHGSat measures its largest emission from a single source ever from Nord Stream 2 leak

• Emission rate of 79,000 kg/h is equivalent to over 2 million pounds of coal being burned in an hour

Updated Oct 5, 2022 – On Friday, September 30, 2022, at 6:28 am EDT (10:28 UTC), a GHGSat high-resolution satellite measured the largest emission detected by the company’s constellation to date coming from the Nord Stream 2 leak in the Baltic Sea at a rate of 79,000 kg/h. This is a substantial emission equivalent to more than 2 million pounds of coal being burned in an hour.

“What our satellites observed is a significant emission coming from one of the four leaks in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and underscores the critical role technology can play in a crisis situation,” said Stephane Germain, founder and CEO of GHGSat. “Moving forward, satellite observations and data will play an increasingly important role in the detection and mitigation of significant emissions, such as this.”

Figure 1: High-resolution satellite measurements by GHGSat of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline leak in the Baltic Sea on Sept 30^th, 2022, taken 2.5h apart.

The company had previously published an emission recorded on the same day from a different GHGSat satellite, which has since been reprocessed with a revised source rate of 29 metric tons per hour. Despite being recorded later, it was published first as the downlink from that satellite was made available first.

As of Sunday, the Danish Energy Agency announced that the series of leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines had been stopped. A GHGSat satellite had a clear observation over Nord Stream 2 on October 3^rd and did not detect any emissions, confirming the Danish Energy Agency’s announcement.

Figure 2: High-resolution satellite measurement by GHGSat of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline leak in the Baltic Sea on Sept 30^th, 2022, at 10:28:12 UTC.

Figure 3: High-resolution satellite measurement by GHGSat of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline leak in the Baltic Sea on Sept 30^th, 2022, at 12:56:32 UTC.

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GHGSat satellites measured another very large emission earlier this year from an individual industrial site – nearly 90 metric tons per hour from the Raspadskya Mine, in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. Thirteen distinct methane plumes were measured during a single satellite pass, ranging in size from 658 to 17,994 kg/h on January 14, 2022 with further plumes observed on January 22^nd and May 27^th.