Scientists say that the warming of the atmosphere from the damagedNord Stream line only has a small impact on climate change.

The European Union believes there was a deliberate act that caused the leaks.

Danish authorities said the leaks will likely continue for at least a week despite the fact that the pipes were not in operation.

With only rough estimates available as to how much natural gas might bubble up through the Baltic Sea, scientists expressed concerns about climate and environmental impacts but stressed that the amount of methane involved was a tiny fraction of global emissions.

Jeffrey Kargel, senior scientist at the Planetary Research Institute in Arizona, called the leak "disturbing".

He said that the amount of gas lost from the line was not a climate disaster.

What gas is leaking?

Methane is the main component of natural gas.

This is about 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide on a century-long timescale, but it only lasts for a decade.

Grant Allen, professor of atmospheric physics at the University of Manchester, said that some of the methane will be converted into CO 2 in the water.

He said that most of the gas would reach the sea surface as methane.

Even though methane is not abundant in the atmosphere, it is responsible for 30 percent of the global rise in temperatures to date.

How big is the leak?

There is a lot of uncertainty about the amount of gas in the pipes.

Allen said that there was an estimate of up to 177 million cubic meters of natural gas in the area.

He said it was equivalent to the natural gas used by 124,000 UK homes a year.

The emissions from the leak could be equivalent to eight months of Denmark's total greenhouse gas emissions, according to estimates by the environmental group.

An aerial view of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline methane leak.
(Swedish Coast Guard/AFP)

According to Paul Balcombe, a lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, the estimated amount of gas in the pipes is between 150 and 300 million gallons.

He told the Science Media Center that it was unlikely that they would release everything.

The Aliso Canyon leak was the worst methane leak in the United States, he said.

He said that it would have a big impact on the environment and climate.

According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, there is an estimated potential leak from the two pipes.

He said that this figure is significant but that it is probably only 1.5 percent of the total methane emissions from oil and gas operations in Russia.

According to the International Energy Agency, this was 18 million tons in 2020.

How does it compare to global emissions?

The amount of methane that leaks from fossil fuel operations every year is estimated by the IEA to be equivalent to all the gas used in Europe's power sector.

Piers Forster is the director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds.

The effect is small compared to the daily leaks from the world's poorly-maintained gas networks.

The incident shows the need to switch from fossil fuels to combat climate change and ensure energy security.

The clean energy transition has been charged by the energy crisis caused by Russia.

Kargel said that the leak was a reminder of the need to cut greenhouse emissions.

He said that the global climate is changing with huge impacts on extreme climate.

Agence France- Presse.