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Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

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Re: Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

#71
post #70
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany was among those countries that were against NATO memberships for Georgia and Ukraine in 2008.

And Germany got what they wanted, and Russia invaded Georgia the very same year. Merkels and Schröders are how we got here. German military is now planning for missile attacks against their infrastructure: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nato-russia-missile-strik...

Germany did not get what they wanted, Georgia and Ukraine got the Bucharest declaration that they will eventually become NATO members.

Russia attacking the rest of Europe is just fear mongering.

Re: Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

#72
post #17

Better realtime data may improve actionability, and the big audience reach may influence the overall narrative. Independent measurements are extremely important to have for science and data validation. But monitoring methane has been going on for a few years. NASA even has a portal: https://methane.jpl.nasa.gov https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Coperni...

Yes, NASA (JPL) did some of the original work on remote-sensing measurements of methane emitters.

The bulk of the methane emission events displayed on the (excellent) portal you linked come from EMIT, an imaging spectrometer on ISS.

EMIT was made to map ground mineral composition for climate studies, but it does gather a visible-to-IR spectrum across the mid-latitudes at a 60m resolution. This spectrum bears the imprint of any atmospheric methane, allowing them to back out a CH4 concentration from the spectrum as a side product separate from the original mineral-mapping goals.

(Some history: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33427748)

Re: Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

#73
post #2

Meanwhile, memory holed: >The Nord Stream breach released between 56,000 and 155,000 tonnes of methane into the atmosphere, making it among the largest methane emissions ever recorded from a single point https://www.newscientist.com/article/2342081-nord-stream-lea... https://archive.ph/Yb20f

You don't really need a memory hole to make people forget about these leak events.

The Aliso Canyon leak in LA in 2015 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliso_Canyon_gas_leak) was comparable size (~100,000 tonnes CH4) and is also dimly recalled.

Re: Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, current consensus is that it was likely the Ukrainians. They are the obvious suspects, but they were initially ruled out because it was thought they didn't have the capabilities.

When the attack happened, I first reckoned [1] the suspects as US [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32996564

Why would the Russians sabotage for themselves?

Re: Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

#75
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently I've been thinking there should be a term limit for PMs/Chancellors Tatcher, Merkel, Putin - if they would have a 10 year limit, things would be much better.

Putin has “updated” term limits several times. For the UK and Germany, this makes sense, however.

If he would choose to leave after 2 terms, he would be a positive figure in Russian history. Now, he will be responsible for the collapse of the Russian Federation.

Re: Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

#76
post #71
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Germany got what they wanted, and Russia invaded Georgia the very same year. Merkels and Schröders are how we got here. German military is now planning for missile attacks against their infrastructure: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nato-russia-missile-strik...

Germany did not get what they wanted, Georgia and Ukraine got the Bucharest declaration that they will eventually become NATO members. Russia attacking the rest of Europe is just fear mongering.

Because Russians would never do that, right?

Except perhaps for:

Livonian War The Polish-Russian War of the 1600s The Great Northern War The Russo-Turkish Wars The Partitions of Poland The Crimean War The Winter War The Invasion of Czechoslovakia or some other

Re: Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

#77
post #71
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Germany got what they wanted, and Russia invaded Georgia the very same year. Merkels and Schröders are how we got here. German military is now planning for missile attacks against their infrastructure: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nato-russia-missile-strik...

Germany did not get what they wanted, Georgia and Ukraine got the Bucharest declaration that they will eventually become NATO members. Russia attacking the rest of Europe is just fear mongering.

Russia attacking the rest of Europe is just fear mongering.

Unfortunately this absolutely not the case, as applies to the Baltics and Moldova. The threat to those countries is very real.

Re: Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the attack happened, I first reckoned [1] the suspects as US [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32996564

Why would the Russians sabotage for themselves?

As I said, the motivation isn't particularly compelling. But it should be noted that were Russia to have done it, it wouldn't have lost very much (the pipelines were no longer in operation at the time of the explosion, with NS2 never coming online, and NS1 having been shut off "indefinitely" a few weeks prior) and risked relatively little blowback, as Russia had already lost all credibility in the West when it invaded Ukraine. The gains aren't much, though. Primarily, it would have been a punitive action ("You want to support Ukraine? Okay then, freeze to death come winter!"), although it was noted at the time that the explosions weren't that far from a new Norway-Poland gas pipeline that had just come into service--a demonstration of capability. Unclear attribution could also be used as a lever to try to weaken NATO, by sending the US and EU into mutual recrimination.

All said, it looks like a low-risk, low-reward situation for Russia, which isn't exactly compelling evidence.

Re: Google is making a map of methane leaks for the whole world to see

#80
post #77
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany did not get what they wanted, Georgia and Ukraine got the Bucharest declaration that they will eventually become NATO members. Russia attacking the rest of Europe is just fear mongering.

Russia attacking the rest of Europe is just fear mongering. Unfortunately this absolutely not the case, as applies to the Baltics and Moldova. The threat to those countries is very real.

What is the evidence for that?
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