Swedish seismologist: Two explosions thundered near Nord Stream

The SVT publication reports that several Swedish monitoring stations registered powerful underwater explosions in the area of ​​​​the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines on Monday.

– There is no doubt that explosions are happening, says Bjorn Lund, associate professor of seismology at the Swedish National Seismic Network SNSN.

The triple gas leak on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines on Monday made headlines around the world. According to Nord Stream, the leaks caused “unprecedented” damage.

Now, measurements by the Swedish National Seismic Network show that two separate explosions were recorded near gas pipelines on Monday. The magnitude of one of them was 2.3 on the Richter scale, which corresponds to a noticeable (for that place) earthquake, and was recorded at monitoring stations throughout the country.

– You can clearly see how the waves are reflected from the bottom to the surface. There is no doubt that it was an explosion or a blast wave. Our seismological station in Kalix recorded this,” says Bjorn Lund, associate professor of seismology and director of the Swedish National Seismic Network, which measures earthquakes and explosions in Sweden.

The first explosion was recorded at 02.03 on Monday night, and the second – at 07.04 in the evening of the same day.

Gas leak warnings came from the Swedish Maritime Administration at 13:52 and 20:41 on Monday, after ships found blisters on the surface.

The map shows three leaks on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines Photo: TT Graph

“SVT Nyheter” received the coordinates of the measured explosions, and they are in the same area where the gas leaks were recorded.

– This is very close to the coordinates recorded by the Swedish Maritime Administration. In the case of the most powerful explosion, the distance is six kilometers, says Bjorn Lund, who says that their measurements usually have an error of two to three kilometers.

“Usually we get information about explosions”

The last time such a seismological event was recorded in this area was in 2016. According to Bjorn Lund, this is not the areawhich is commonly used for military exercises.

– Usually we get information about explosions that are carried out under water, but sometimes not. In this case, we did not receive any information.

He doesn’t want to speculate about how the explosion could have happened.

– It is very unclear what happened, and it is not for me to comment on it. The only thing we can do is compare the seismic waves with what we’ve seen before to understand what caused them. Whether it was an explosion or something that happened inside the pipe.

According to Bjorn Lund, information about the explosions was passed on to the Swedish armed forces. The press service of the Swedish Armed Forces wrote to SVT Nyheter that they do not want to comment on this information.

As we reported earlier, Russian military experts believe that this sabotage was carried out by British combat swimmerswhose base is in Norway.

What is the point of undermining gas pipelines?

– And the meaning of all this is very simple: Germany should not have any chance now, in the autumn-winter period, to start receiving Russian gas via Nord Stream.

Besides The United States began to actively lure German business, which has been hit by high energy prices, writes the WSJ. They are attracted by the stable cost of energy and state support. The American economy is benefiting the most from the energy crisis in Europe, the author of the article believes.

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