China used advanced satellite technology to monitor Nord Stream leak
- The Gaofen-5 02 satellite provided the first accurate estimate of the leak from the suspected act of sabotage, scientists involved in the project say
- The country is currently building up its own database of carbon emissions, including methane
The Russian-built pipelines supplying natural gas to Europe were hit by a series of explosions on September 26 in a suspected act of sabotage by unknown parties.
Most greenhouse gas monitoring satellites can only measure the total emissions over vast areas, but the Chinese scientists say, without providing precise details, they can narrow the area measured significantly.
On October 1, Canadian satellite operator GHGSat released the first publicly available estimate based on satellite data collected the previous day, which showed that a ruptured spot on the pipe Nord Stream 2 was leaking gas at a rate of over 20 tonnes per hour.
But the data collected by China’s Gaofen-5 02 satellite at the same location on the same date suggested the leak could have reached 70 tonnes per hour.
In a statement posted on the website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics on October 3, the Chinese team said they had confidence in their results.