Large volumes of the potent greenhouse gas methane are estimated to be leaking into the atmosphere from damaged European pipelines stretching from Russia to Germany that several EU leaders have said were sabotaged.

While the precise volume of methane escaping into the atmosphere from underwater pipelines is difficult for scientists to quantify with certainty, experts say the amount estimated to be coming from four leaks detected in the Nord Stream pipelines is likely to be significant.

If only one of the two leaking pipes were to release all their contents, it would represent about twice as much methane as was emitted during the 2015 Aliso Canyon leak from underground storage in California, one of the worst ever recorded, said Paul Balcombe, honorary lecturer at Imperial College London in chemical engineering.