The Baltic Sea ecosystem is monitored after the gas leak Less money for the environment and climate

Environment and climate are losers in the government’s budget. In numbers, the appropriations for measures for valuable nature will decrease by 45 percent in 2023 and a further 10 percent in 2025. This means that you will go from today’s 2 billion kroner to 910 million kroner in three years.

The leaks on the Nordstream pipelines have created a concern that the ecosystem will be damaged. But it is uncertain how big the impact will be.

”We don’t know that and that’s why it’s so important to be on site from the beginning and have continuous monitoring,” says Thomas Dahlgren, marine biologist at the University of Gothenburg. ”This is mainly done with the help of gliders, small autonomous research craft that collect data and send it via satellite to researchers on land”.

He further believes that there is no previously measured release of methane gas that is comparable to this. The methane will be broken down by bacteria, but it is unclear how quickly and what impact it will have. In October, three gliders from the University of Gothenburg were placed in the area to collect water data.

Isak Kleist