Earth degassing in the Arctic: the genesis of natural and anthropogenic methane emissions

Abstract

Статья поступила в редакцию 29 июля 2020 г.

New Catastrophic Gas Blowout and Giant Crater on the Yamal Peninsula in 2020: Results of the Expedition and Data Processing

“…During the period 2014-2020, in the north of Western Siberia, specialists from the Oil and Gas Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences (OGRI RAS) [6,8,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] carried out comprehensive studies of the onshore and offshore degassing processes (lakes, rivers), including the distribution of thermokarst lakes, at the bottom of which direct signs of degassing were revealed in the form of numerous crater-like objects-pockmarks [69]. A wide complex of geological-geophysical methods and equipment was used in field surveys, including aerial photography from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) [8,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. As a result of 13 field expeditions and on the basis of the interpretation of ultra-high resolution RS data of the Earth from space, the authors from the OGRI RAS for the first time revealed 1860 zones of active degassing with the formation of craters of gas emissions at the bottom of 1667 thermokarst lakes, four rivers and two bays on the Yamal Peninsula [31][32][33][34][35][36].…”

“…A wide complex of geological-geophysical methods and equipment was used in field surveys, including aerial photography from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) [8,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. As a result of 13 field expeditions and on the basis of the interpretation of ultra-high resolution RS data of the Earth from space, the authors from the OGRI RAS for the first time revealed 1860 zones of active degassing with the formation of craters of gas emissions at the bottom of 1667 thermokarst lakes, four rivers and two bays on the Yamal Peninsula [31][32][33][34][35][36]. In addition, a regional connection was established between the identified degassing zones and the areas of increased methane concentration in the atmosphere, recorded by the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) spectrometer on European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-5p satellite [34].…”

“…As a result of 13 field expeditions and on the basis of the interpretation of ultra-high resolution RS data of the Earth from space, the authors from the OGRI RAS for the first time revealed 1860 zones of active degassing with the formation of craters of gas emissions at the bottom of 1667 thermokarst lakes, four rivers and two bays on the Yamal Peninsula [31][32][33][34][35][36]. In addition, a regional connection was established between the identified degassing zones and the areas of increased methane concentration in the atmosphere, recorded by the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) spectrometer on European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-5p satellite [34]. All received data were loaded into the created and constantly developed OGRI RAS geoinformation system "Arctic and World Ocean" [6][7][8][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37].…”

“…In addition, a regional connection was established between the identified degassing zones and the areas of increased methane concentration in the atmosphere, recorded by the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) spectrometer on European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-5p satellite [34]. All received data were loaded into the created and constantly developed OGRI RAS geoinformation system "Arctic and World Ocean" [6][7][8][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37].…”

“…The first such crater-like object was discovered in the central part of the Yamal Peninsula in the summer of 2014 by helicopter pilots, 30 km to the south of the unique Bovanenkovo oil and gas condensate field, the development of which began in 2012 by PJSC Gazprom [6]. The inner and outer dimensions of the crater exceeded 26 and 40 m, respectively, and the depth was about 50 m. This crater was widely known as the Yamal Crater, and the authors assigned it the C1 index in the Arctic and World Ocean geoinformation system [6][7][8][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Soon, in the north of Western Siberia, several more similar craters were discovered, to which the authors assigned the indices C2, C3, C4, etc.…”